The Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) will present the results of its week-long blend study at 4 p.m. on Nov. 1 during the second half of the Collision Industry Conference (CIC)’s meeting in Las Vegas.

The study was conducted in August with major North American refinish companies AkzoNobel Vehicle Refinishes, Axalta Coating Systems, BASF Automotive Refinish, PPG Industries, and Sherwin-Williams Automotive Finishes with parts donated by Ford Motor Co. to analyze the time necessary to perform a full refinish on a panel and the time necessary to blend the same panel. The results will be covered in CIC’s Parts & Materials Committee presentation. To register for the CIC meeting, click here.

“We’ve contended for a long time that blending a panel takes more skill and near-equal amounts of time as it does to apply refinish across an entire outer surface of a panel,” said SCRS Executive Director Aaron Schulenburg, in a news release. “This is an issue that our members have routinely raised as a concern, and we are very excited to share the results of the study during the CIC presentation at the SEMA Show.”

Blending is defined as the application of color to a portion of an undamaged adjacent panel for the purpose of facilitating the appearance of color match into the area, followed by an application of clearcoat to the entire blended panel.

The estimating databases produced by Audatex, Mitchell, and CCC (MOTOR) establish unique refinish values for collision parts. All three estimating products identify a formula for blending outer surfaces as 50%, or 0.5 per refinish hour, of the unique full refinish operation value they have developed on panels using 2-stage paint.

The study was conducted at the Global Finishing Solutions (GFS) Center for Excellence, at the GFS headquarters in Osseo, Wisconsin. It was monitored and audited by DEKRA North America, the world’s largest unlisted expert organization in the TIC (testing, inspection, certification) industry, according to the SCRS news release.

Ford donated new hoods, fenders, and front door shells for the 2018 Ford F-150 to be used in the study. The pickup truck was selected as the test subject vehicle based on parts availability and its position as the most appraised truck in 2021, according to data provided by CCC Intelligent Solutions.

At the conclusion of the test, all 45 parts donated by Ford and 10 part stands donated by 3M and SCRS as well as miscellaneous materials from the research project, were given to Chippewa Valley Technical College (CVTC) in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

“Ford welcomed the opportunity to support the SCRS Blend Study with F-Series parts,” said Ford Director of Strategy and Collision Business Jen Boyer, in the release. “The fact the Chippewa Valley Technical College is able to use the study parts ongoing for collision education is especially rewarding for us.”

The CVTC program was identified as a viable donor through the Collision Repair Education Foundation (CREF) and because of the school’s partnership with GFS.

“I want to express my sincere gratitude for the donation of the Ford parts and body panel stands that were used in the SCRS time study to our program,” said CVTC Program Director and Auto Collision Repair and Refinish Technician Instructor Jerry Goodson, in the release. “We, in September, moved to a newly built facility that has over 15,000 square feet of space dedicated to collision repair. I am fortunate to have a greatly proactive advisory committee and some outstanding employers within our district that understand the need for technical education to train our future workforce.

“Since we are publicly funded, we are always mindful of our budgets and donations like these from many different organizations help us train our students on the latest technologies. With the donation of over 40 aluminum body panels and part stands, we will be set to teach aluminum repairs for years to come!”

The formal ribbon-cutting for the new facility was held Sept. 29.

CVTC offers a one-year Auto Collision Repair & Refinish Technician program that provides hands-on auto body repair training. The programs cover skill development in estimating, frame repair, mechanical systems repair, plastic repair, structural repair, vehicle refinishing, and weld-on panel replacements. The program is certified by the National Institute for Automotive Services Excellence (ASE) in the areas of painting and refinishing, nonstructural analysis and damage repair, and structural analysis and damage repair.

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Featured and secondary images: SCRS and five North American refinish companies conducted a blend study on 2018 Ford F-150 panels that were donated by the OEM to analyze the time necessary to perform a full refinish on a panel and the time necessary to blend the same panel. (Credit: SCRS)

Chippewa Valley Technical College (CVTC)’s new 15,000-square-foot facility in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.