Edwards Collision Studios in Rocklin, CA, was established in 2014 as a Porsche restoration shop by father and sons Dave, Cole and Joe Wolcik, who chose to name it after their shared fifth-generation middle name.
“No one can pronounce Wolcik,” Joe said with a laugh.
“We had a passion for Porsche,” Joe said of the reason the family started the Porsche restoration shop. “We still do. We have a clientele that we’ve built based on friendships and cars. We go to local Porsche shows, and it’s kind of a network of Porsche people.”
Edwards Collision Studios
Rocklin, CA 916-899-7661
edwardscollisionstudios.com
Company At A Glance...
Type: Collision Repair
Facility Employees: 12
In Business Since: 2014
Number of Locations: One
Production Space: 9,600 square feet
Several of the Porsches that came into the shop had minor collision damage. Due to their extensive experience in the automotive repair industry---Dave has 40 years, Joe has 20 and Cole has experience as a paint technician representative---the Wolciks already had relationships with insurance companies and dealerships, so they started taking on claims.
Today, Edwards Collision Studios repairs about 55 vehicles per month, with a crew of ASE- and I-CAR-certified technicians, offering complete collision repair. The family-run business---which also includes sister Crystal, the CFO---recently leased a neighboring building to double production space, so they could break down the repair process into separate departments: disassembly, structural, paint and reassembly, making it possible to fine tune the quality in each department and place technicians in the departments where they shine best.
Joe said though the shop repairs all makes and models, it tends to attract owners of high-end luxury cars---Porsches still make up about half of the shop’s repairs.
“Our slogan is ‘perfecting the art of collision repair,’ because that’s the way we look at it; we think of vehicles as works of art,” Joe said. “We came up with ‘studio’ in the name because our European-style workshop tailors every customer’s requests to their repair needs. One customer is adamant about OEM parts while another is completely adamant about metal finishing and no fillers, another about the color match with no blending to keep thickness consistent with the rest of the vehicle. We tend to take our time and tailor the repair process.”
To achieve the results demanded by their clientele, the Wolciks looked for the best paint booth they could find, ultimately investing in a USI Italia Chronotech booth, installed in May.
“We had three booth companies in here, what we thought were the top three, and USI outshined all the others,” Joe said.
Joe said he was most impressed by the USI Italia booth’s electronic control management system.
“We were impressed with how it tracks repair orders, the efficiency and heat control,” Joe said. “We’re able to look at all that and fine tune it to what we need.”
Many of the cars that come to Edwards Collision Studios are exotic, made of different materials like carbon fiber, with an array of different composites requiring specific heat cycles.
“We are able to fine tune these heat cycles to the manufacturer recommendations,” Joe said. “For example, Ferrari wants its cars baked at 100 degrees, because it doesn’t want the resins to release on its parts.”
Joe said the booth also heats up quickly. “We’re also able to ramp it up to 202 degrees in three minutes, which has improved cycle time in the paint department tremendously, double to be exact,” he said. “That allows us to grow in other departments because we no longer have a bottleneck in the paint shop.”
The USI Italia booth allows the shop to duplicate factory texture, Joe said, which also helps cycle time because the painter doesn’t have to try to do so in the polishing stage.
In addition, the booth’s filtration system “is amazing,” Joe said. “It’s moving 20,500 CFM of filtered air and any dirt that does somehow get through is so microscopic, it takes little time or effort to sand it out.”
All of this adds up to returning pristine cars to customers faster than ever.
“Customers like having their vehicles back quicker,” Joe said. “What used to take three days, we’re doing in one day now.”
Joe praised his booth’s installer, CleanRoom Paint Shop. “They came out for the demo, training and tech support,” he said. “They were here once a week after the initial install helping us fine tune this thing, which is impressive service.”
Joe said over the years, he has learned no matter what goals a customer has for their car’s repair outcome, they all have one expectation in common---for the car to look like it was never repaired in the first place. The USI Italia booth absolutely helps Edwards Collision Studios achieve that every time.
“We focus on the quality of the repair over price, timelines or anything else,” he said.
USI of North America
201-405-7760
Company Contact: Stefano Moretto
s.moretto@usius.com
www.usius.com
Facebook: @USI-of-North-America
Instagram: @usiitalia
To read more auto body shop profiles in the October 2023 Shop and Product Showcase, click here.
