Transition to waterborne
When it was first decided to transition to waterborne, there was a question as to how well the paint would work in the Louisiana humidity. This turned out to be a non-issue. With the top-of-the-line waterborne-ready BloTherm downdraft paint booth, Trey and Hanner were ready to go with the waterborne paint on day one. Once the painter was trained in spraying PPG Nexa Aqua Base, the conversion went smoothly.
    “We were willing to do it. And our PPG jobber was eager to help a shop convert to waterborne,” said Trey and Hanner. “Not every shop would want to do it. Other shops are neither well equipped nor adequately certified. Since we had such a modern shop, we decided to lead the way as the first and only waterborne shop in the state of Louisiana.”
    When first equipping the shop, they bought the spray booth that had future capabilities for waterborne and anything else that was coming along. “We didn’t want to have any regrets down the road,” the two men said. Distributors helped with the purchase of gun washers and guns capable of spraying waterborne. Air volume is critical to properly dry paint. Additional dryers were purchased for this purpose. Air flow is more important than heat. You can have all the heat you want, but air is what dries the car.
    Along with the large compressor already in the shop, another huge compressor was added to the system. All the lines from the dryers to the paint booth are copper, so there is no rust in the lines to contend with.

    Although waterborne paint is the primary painting process, the shop still retains its solvent based paint supplies if needed. Within the next four or five years, Louisiana is expected to enact legislation that will force shops to either convert or close their doors. Advanced Collision is already far ahead of the curve.
    The waterborne system is stored in cabinets that fit nicely in the shop. One of the few concerns is keeping the paint from freezing. If the product freezes, the properties will change and the effect will not be right. The storage cupboard is not a mixing bank. With waterborne, everything stays suspended. Just shake a few times and it is ready to go. Solvent needs 15 minutes to agitate.
    As the first and only waterborne shop in Louisiana, Advanced Collision has a valuable marketing tool. The shop does a lot of radio advertising emphasizing the green efforts going on. Apart from waterborne paint, the shop uses biodegradable products and thinner is recycled.

All-Star staff
You are only as good as the people around you—Trey McCann
    One mainstay of the business is the quality of the technicians who work at Advanced Collision. It is a younger crowd of determined workers. “If you put our employees against other shops, we would win hands down. We have the best estimator, the best body man, the best painter – the cream of the crop in this one shop from the detail guy to our estimator Melanie Elliott. We are truly an all-star team.
     “Our people cannot get any more certified,” said Trey. “And as new technology comes along, we continually educate our staff to stay on top of the field.”

Gratitude
Trey and Hanner are adamant that they could not have succeeded without the help of many people along the way. Trey is very appreciative of the skills he learned from Ronnie Posche, owner and operator of Ronnie’s Collision in Natchitoches, where he worked as a body tech for seven years.
    Hanner sends his thanks to John Eskew, a retired body shop owner, for introducing him to the autobody profession and teaching him that you have to always be honest and assure quality in every job.
    Both men wish to acknowledge Hank and Sandra Hollingsworth, owners of Multi Task company, for their guidance and assurance, as well as John Moreau