Smart Repairs are becoming increasingly popular. This is because both energy prices rising and more cars are being damaged cosmetically rather than heavy accident damage (thanks to the latest tech in ADAS etc).

Here are some of our top picks for Smart Repairers to help you get the job done quickly and efficiently. 

Masking Materials

Masking Materials are probably the first things a SMART repairer needs to make sure they carry out a good repair. Masking is key to ensure a good clean local repair is carried out.

Masking Tape - A good quality tape that has good tack and can handle the odd splash of water and doesn't leave tacky residue behind is the INDASA Tape. 

Foam Tape - Foam tape is great for going off edge lines and for door shuts. Foam tape has been around for years and is still one of the most used types of foam tape even though there are loads of different variations and types of foam tapes now. We still think that the original foam edge works a treat and does what it is supposed to do. Take a look at the INDASA Foam Tape here.

Fast drying Clearcoat - A good fast drying clearcoat that holds its gloss even after being force dried is very beneficial to a SMART reparer.  Something like the MULTI-MIX HS2 Clearcoat would be ideal with the 10 minute bake hardener known as the Air Dry Plus Hardener. More info here on the clearcoat

Mini Sanding discs

Mini Sanding discs help keep the area being repaired as small as possible. The 3M 75mm sanding discs are common and great quality. Click the blue font above to find out more info.

Mini Air tools - Mini air tools help to keep repair area small and also if using air are usually low air consumption for use on smaller compressors which smart repairs are usually done from. Take a look at our range of small air tools for SMART repair here.

There are lots of different products on MYAUTOSTORE feel free to take a look at our full range of products and if you have any questions drop us a message or call us!

The past few years we have seen many "limited edition" and fancy guns released but these guns don't bring anything to the table as far as new technology is concerned. Most spray gun manufacturers will do this to keep their brand relevant in between the big new tech releases and keep customers engaged in the brands. There's nothing wrong with this by the way!

So what's new regarding technology and which gun is the next best gun? Take a look below to find out.

Personally I think the major change in spraying in a long time has to be the SATA X nozzle setups that can be found on the SATAjet X 5500 released back in 2018. These new nozzle setups have meant that even painters who didn't like the typical SATA spray style may now like them. Here's why.

Instead of launching a new body and calling it a new gun, SATA worked on developing the actual spraying/atomising technology of the gun itself. Therefore releasing the I and 0 Nozzle setups. I think you can guess why they called it the I and 0?

The I setup

As you can see the I setup is very even, thin and tall. This would be my favourite for applying metallic finishes for example.

This would be a little "slower" than its equivalent 0 nozzle like for like but more controlled. Some people on the shop floor increase the fluid tip size to make it quicker however we recommend following the manufacturer TDS sheets to make sure everything is ok!

The 0 Setup

As you can see from the above O nozzle setups these are a lot wetter and heavier application these are generally quicker at applying the paint than the I nozzle when comparing like for like setups. most current SATA users will like this setup due to its quick application style.

There are many reasons why painters would like the I or O nozzle sets and its mostly down to personal preference and I think its great SATA have been concentrating on the Fan patterns rather than just bringing loads of air caps out!

SATA have a brilliant team here in the UK so if you are still unsure which one to get you can always get in touch with them but i hope the above explanation has helped! you can take a look at our range of SATA spray guns here or by clicking on the fan patterns above. 

The next spray gun manufacturer to actually focus on the spraying/atomising technology side of things is IWATA. This Year ANEST IWATA have released the Series 2 Spray gun which was a totally unexpected release which surprised everyone! 

Before we go into the new gun lets talk about their flagship technology that they're known for. Split Nozzle technology.

As you can see the nozzle has splits cut into it. This design directs airflow straight down in front of the tip meaning that the paint begins its atomizing process right at the tip. Your probably thinking that all guns atomize at the tip right? Well most guns that don't have split nozzles allow the paint to travel slightly out of the tip and gets pulled into the atomised area that the air cap creates to pull the paint from the tip then atomise on to the job whereas the IWATAS split nozzle atomizes at the tip and then gets pulled into the air caps area of atomising onto the panel. This is all a very simple way of describing things by the way. Your local IWATA representative would have a far in depth view on this!

So now we know about the nozzle lets talk about the new series 2 of the IWATA. 

As a painter myself I'm going to be honest here and say I did not like the Series 1 iwata. they was too technical, they taken ages to setup and over time with wear and tear they just didn't work properly! When they was new and setup correctly yes they worked very well. IWATA does agree with some of these statements as mentioned in their videos. Now with the series 2 they have made some tweaks to the body to eliminate some of these issues such as the the air valve issues and issues with the fluid tip not sitting correctly.

IWATA have three models with various air caps to choose from.

There are many types of air cap configurations available so take a look at the iwata guide here. Here you will be able to select which one IWATA recommend and you can see what IWATA series 2 spray guns we have for sale here.

I hope that you found this useful and feel free to drop us a message if you have any more questions!