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Herkules Equipment Corporation introduces Sparkle Clean, an aerosol spray cleaner that can quickly spot-clean all painting equipment, specifically paint guns. Brought back by customer requests, Sparkle Clean was originally created by Herkules back in 2002, and now due to the industry concerns on VOC levels, Sparkle Clean has been reformulated so that it has a low VOC content to support a safe work environment. 

Effective with either solvent or waterborne paints, Sparkle Clean provides a method to quickly clean stubborn paint off of paint guns immediately, with the more comprehensive and thorough gun cleaning to be performed in a paint gun washer for the next project or at the end of the day. An attached straw allows Sparkle Clean to be sprayed into small paint gun crevices easily.

Cleaning and properly maintaining a paint gun ensures quality paint jobs and long equipment life. Sparkle Clean will assist in proper paint gun maintenance while reducing solvent and cleaning solution usage and costs.

Herkules Equipment Corporation, established in 1984, is a leading manufacturer for the Automotive Paint & Body Repair industry, having designed, manufactured, and patented the first Paint Gun Washer. We have been manufacturing quality vehicle lifts and scissor lift tables for close to 30 years, providing many different industries ergonomic solutions for countless applications. Herkules also supplies Air Jacks, Handling Equipment, and Crushing Equipment.

For more product information, please contact Herkules at 800-444-4351, or at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit our website at www.herkules.us/Sparkle-Clean.php.

Sullivan PDR Estimator™ has launched what it calls a “game changer” for the PDR process, making it possible for anyone to accurately and easily estimate the cost of using paintless dent repair (PDR) for dents of any size. Up until now, the only way to estimate for door dings and large dents has been to call a PDR technician for an in-person appraisal. This has been an inconvenience for body shops and dealerships, and also has resulted in estimate delays for waiting customers---wasting time for everyone involved. The recent launch of the Sullivan PDR Estimator™ web application has changed that, allowing anyone to get quick, accurate estimates on the spot.

Paintless Dent Repair (PDR) has saved the automotive industry billions of dollars compared to conventional repair costs over the last several decades. Until now, however, PDR use hasn’t reached its full potential because it has simply been too difficult for body shops and car dealers to get accurate estimates in a timely fashion. The Sullivan PDR Estimator web-app is the solution, giving shops the ability to give a customer two bids for a job---one for conventional repair, and one for PDR. Giving the customer a choice has proven to be very effective at capturing the business of self-pay customers on their first visit. Shops that have aggressively gone after self-payers have been able to build their self-pay business to as much as 20-30% of their overall revenue.

Owner Jim Sullivan explains his vision of “PDR for every car!” by pointing out that nearly every vehicle that arrives for service at a body shop, a dealership, or any other type of automotive service center, has various dents and dings that could be fixed by PDR. These customers could be captured by using this easy-to-use estimating software to write accurate PDR repair estimates, and then having in-house PDR technicians do the repairs, or teaming up with a local PDR company in order to get the repairs done. “Taking two minutes to estimate dents during an oil change or when a vehicle is brought in for other collision repairs could earn the shop some considerable add-on revenues,” Sullivan explains.

For additional information about Sullivan PDR Estimator, please visit the website at: http://www.sullivanpdrestimator.com

Pro-Spray® Automotive Finishes, a division of Alco Industries, has introduced an economical, quality alternative for meeting low basecoat/clearcoat VOC requirements – the new Pro-Spray® 3.5 VOC Solvent Basecoat System.

“This system is a viable option to waterborne basecoat in VOC-compliant markets, and is an affordable choice for walk-in and non-waterborne collision repair shops,” said Tom Gardner, director – business development. “It utilizes existing Pro-Spray products, so it doesn’t require a major investment.”

For example, the system uses Pro-Spray solvent toners, low-VOC binders and the new BCA-200™ Activator / Reducer. The compliant basecoats can be used over Pro-Spray 2.1 VOC sealers and 2.1 VOC primers, and topcoated with any Pro-Spray 2.1 VOC clearcoats, to meet the strictest air quality mandates.

These compliant basecoats also offer an improved formula featuring a new binder-to-color ratio for optimized coverage, sprayability and color quality. Painters can expect 25 to 50 percent improved coverage and truer color than what is offered by other compliant systems.

In addition, the system has more than 63,000 3.5 VOC basecoat color formulas, providing users with one of the most comprehensive color palettes in the industry.