The autobody industry, in keeping with the ever increasing demand for advanced products and systems that ensure compliance with tougher global environmental standards, is continually being challenged to develop these products without exponentially increasing cost or compromising the quality of finish. While most of the emphasis has been placed on paint, clear coats, spray booths and equipment, very little advancement had been made in the area of abrasives until now.

One company that has been a world leader in the research and development of the most technologically advanced abrasive products for over 70 years is Kovax Corporation (formerly Komatsubara Abrasive Mfg. Co.) of Japan. From their state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, products are packaged and distributed under the Eagle Abrasives brand. The company has taken a product generally viewed by most body shops as “material cost,” and positioned it into a valuable tool that saves time, improves quality of finish, and actually helps reduce overall operating cost.

Eagle Abrasives are designed to be the perfect compliment to the global autobody, paint and manufacturing industries. The cutting edge technology used in the manufacturing of Kovax/Eagle products and systems were developed to improve upon the standard, multi-step systems that many other abrasive companies (bound by the use of outdated technology and materials) market to autobody shops and technicians. The majority of these systems are labor intensive and require more material to complete comparable jobs.

Converting to waterborne
Many shops are concerned about the potential for increased investment in equipment, and a potential increase in drying time, to accommodate the switch to waterborne paint systems. All Eagle products are designed to cut fast, but leave a very shallow scratch.

Starting with the most basic wet and dry sandpaper (from the coarsest to the finest grits), Eagle has improved many of the processes, materials, and systems that have been the accepted standard for many years. While providing a durable product with consistent quality, Eagle’s products are designed to decrease the number of steps, and amount of time and material needed to the entire spectrum of the autobody and manufacturing industries.

When it comes to top-coat sanding and matching factory finishes, Eagle has developed roller coating and micro-finishing sanding technology (Tolex and Buflex Systems) that produces  scratch patterns finer than 3000 grit, and significantly reduce the need for heavy compounds, all while reducing buffing time up to 70%. With this process, the problem of scratches reappearing is all but eliminated.

Systems such as Buflex will remove a 1500 scratch while leaving a finish above a 3000 equivalent (when other systems would require an additional topcoat sanding step or the use of heavy compounds and increased buffing time), thus reducing the number of steps needed in the sanding process.

Waterless sanding
While other brands of abrasives mix in some larger stones to achieve the cutting speed, their products will leave a much deeper and irregular scratch, requiring additional steps and material to remove the deepest scratch. Eagle offers the most advanced dry topcoat sanding products (Yellow Film/Tolex) that all but eliminate the need for water throughout the sanding process. These products are especially attractive to environmentally conscious “green shops” and to those shops that are required to stay in compliance with waste water regulations.