Why Maple paint jobs start with a hood full of chips
Most towns send us paint work that began as a collision. Maple sends paint work that began as a road. Teston Road and the roads north to the aggregate pits carry gravel trucks from early morning, and the stone that comes off the back finds the hood, the lower bumper and the leading edge of the roof of every car that follows one. A two-year-old SUV from a Major Mackenzie subdivision can arrive with a hood that looks shot-blasted, hundreds of chips to the primer, and no single incident to point to. Add the mud and dust from the new housing phases, and the front of a Maple car ages faster than the rest of it.
The colours make it harder. The driveways here are full of pearl and tri-coat whites on new SUVs, deep metallic greys on the pickups, and the occasional red that has been sitting in an unshaded driveway since the trees were planted. The older village streets near the GO station add the other end: cars a decade or more old with clear coat peeling off the roof and hood in sheets. Those are two very different paint jobs, and both come through the door in a normal week.
Matching a colour that has been in the sun since delivery
A paint code gets you the family, not the shade. The same code on a white pearl can have several factory variants, and every one of them has drifted in the sun. So the colour is mixed, sprayed on a test card, and held against the car in daylight before any panel is coated, then adjusted until the card disappears against the fender. On a tri-coat that means matching the base, the pearl layer and the clear as a set, and the blend into the next panel is wider than on a solid colour because the pearl shows every edge.
Preparation is the work nobody sees. Chipped hoods are sanded to a sound base rather than filled chip by chip, primed, blocked flat and sealed. Peeling clear coat is taken back to where the old finish still holds, because new clear over failing clear fails with it. The panel is sprayed in a booth, the clear is cured with heat, and the finish is sanded and polished so the texture matches the factory panels beside it. The refinish is warranted for life, which is only a promise we can make because the prep was done properly.
- Colour mixed to code and proven on a spray-out card in daylight
- Blending into adjacent panels, wider on pearls and tri-coats
- Chipped hoods sanded to a sound base, not spot-filled
- Booth-sprayed, heat-cured, polished to match factory texture
Timing the drop-off around the toll and the rental
A single-panel refinish usually takes a few days, a hood and bumper together closer to a week, and a roof with peeling clear can run longer because of the prep. Plan the drop-off around that. If the paint is part of an insurance claim, the rental through your coverage is booked for the morning you arrive, so the 407 toll or the free run along Major Mackenzie to the 404 is a one-way decision. If you are paying outright, which is common for chip damage, a Maple household with a spare vehicle can often do without a rental, and a second driver following you down makes the drop-off a single trip.
Pick the car up in daylight if you can. Fresh paint should be judged outside, not under shop lights, and we would rather you look at the blend in the sun beside Fairview Mall than discover a question on your driveway. For the first few weeks the finish is still hardening, so hand washing beats the brush wash on Rutherford and waxing waits until the clear has fully cured.
Questions people ask
Will you paint just the hood, or does the fender have to be done too?
The hood is refinished and the colour is blended a short way into each fender so there is no visible line where new paint meets old. On a solid colour the blend can be narrow; on a pearl white it is wider. You are not paying for two full panels, only for the blend that makes the hood disappear.
Is stone-chip damage from a gravel truck on Teston something I can claim?
Rarely in practice. A single identifiable incident with a plate number can be pursued, but a hood peppered over months has no other driver to attach to, and a comprehensive claim would carry your deductible. Our estimator writes the estimate and tells you plainly whether the number is worth a claim or simpler to pay directly.
How soon after new paint can the car go through a car wash?
Usually a few weeks for a brush wash, and longer before any wax or sealant. The clear coat has been heat-cured in the booth, but it continues to harden in the weeks after, and a hand wash in that window costs nothing. We give you the timing for your specific job when you pick the car up.