West Coast Bus Painters

[travlinman]

The paint on my 4106 is in need of some touch up and I have some minor body damage as well ( fiberglass ). I'm looking for recommendations for a west coast painter who can work on a time schedule. I have been trying to work with Mike at Willy's but just can't get him to commit to a time when he can do the work. I'm just not to excited to sit in Eugene while he gets his act together.. or not as it sounds like he has done to others. I found these guys down in Chico, http://www.thepaintdepartment.com/index.htm

Anyone have any work done there?

Thanks for any advice you guys can provide,

TM

[luvrbus]

There is a 1/2 dozen different paint shops around Eugene that does paint work on buses try the the guy at County Paint and body then the ones out at the industrial park west of town,if you think Mike is bad take it to The Paint Dept in Chino you may get it back this year lol they do Fleetwoods repair work if a Fleetwood product come in your goes to the back of the line been there done that gig but they do good work


good luck

[JohnEd]

Shop price.  West of town is usually cheaper.  I guess being near the University of Oregon adds cache and being in Springfield subtracts.  Eugene in summer.....snow birds in reverse.

Clifford is correct again.  He knows so much about so many places and specialties that I am growing convinced that Clifford is actually a group of people.

John

[Gary W]

Willy's Custom Concepts in 7940 South C Street Springfield, OR  97478  paints buses, does great work . Seen some of his work at BUS'N USA. Here is the link to his web site.

Gary



http://www.willyscustomconcepts.net/index.html

[Dave5Cs]

Better re read the add for 'The paint shop", Its in Chino which is down by Santa Maria area but inland.
Chico like you all are saying is way up North by Me.

Just trying to help Dave

[travlinman]

Looks like I may have try and access a bit more patience, sometimes I love this Bus and sometimes.... well you know...

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated as always.

TM

[Boomer]

I've had buses painted by Vic at Paint Department in Chino, and Mike Wilson in Springfield.  Had a good experience at both places although in Oregon you don't get ripped off for Calif. sales tax.  Also had trucks and buses painted at Hieser in Seattle with no problem (WA sales tax there).  TEC Equipment (Volvo truck distributor) has a collision/paint facility in Wilsonville, OR, you might try them if all else fails.  Best to pin down Mike, he's about the best around IMHO.

[travlinman]

Boomer,

Thanks for your advice, pinning Mike down is proving to be quite difficult. With the longer days I'm getting the itch to be back on the road and paint is the missing link in my current travel plans. Depending on how Monday goes I will follow up on your recommendations. Thanks

Dave,

Thanks for setting my Cali geography straight.

[luvrbus]

TM,Mike does have a problem with his time management sometimes, me I never get impatient with him but here lately ever place I go Boomer is one step ahead of me from remolding to paint lol


good luck

[Jackling54]

So is the general consensus that Tpd will do good work at a reasonable price ?

[rv_safetyman]

I spent a few days at the Paint Department ( http://www.thepaintdepartment.com/the%20paint%20department.htm#1 ) while I was doing an system install.  Vic and others gave me several tours. I was amazed at the quality of the finished product, but a bit amazed at how they got there. 

I was fortunate to study under some really great painters in the Denver area (too bad only part of their skills rubbed off ).  I even worked as a paint prep guy at a production shop for a short period.  That does not make me even close to an expert.

I was always taught to lay the paint on carefully so that the finish work was minimal.  The Paint Department takes the opposite approach.  They kind of squirt the paint at the vehicle and then spend a ton of time doing color sanding.  They have what appears to be some minimum wage folks who spend all day sanding vehicles.   A whole team (maybe 5 folks) will attack a vehicle and then move on to the next one.  They have perhaps three of those crews.

Not saying that is bad, just quite foreign to me.  Maybe that is what you need to do with huge vehicles.  I can see where overspray would be a problem and that might dictate the different process.  However, they were sanding a whole lot more that overspray.

Jim

[luvrbus]

Only thing I had a problem with Vic was my paint job on my MCI 8 took 4 weeks longer than he told me turn out nice but had a few trouble spots he took forever to it get right.
Wayne and Andy's Eagle they look good I do know Terry's patience was getting to him on Andy's bus lol I'll go with Boomer Mike is a tough act to follow that guy will fix the paint for free as long as you own the bus he repaired some for me that I did for free can't hardly beat that service


good luck

[rv_safetyman]

Clifford, as I say, The Paint Department paint jobs I saw were great.  You have seen Mike Wilson do his wonderful work.  Does he do a ton of color sanding?

I was talking to Vic about being an installer for my system.  Never worked out.

My booth at Indio was across the isle from their beautiful booth a couple of times.  The first year they had a really good looking gal doing most of the presentations.  She sure drew the crowd!!  I think Vic told me that she was the scheduler.  The next year she was not there and the crowds were smaller.  Vic told me that he had to have a layoff and she was one of the ones let go.  

Vic did tell me that they had contracts with some OEMs to do repair work and that was a good profit center for them - thus the priority .

One of the bodymen took a lot of  time to show me how he had repaired (indeed hand fabricated most of) the front fascia on motorthome where the part was no longer available.  Amazing, well done, job.


Jim