Appreciation post: the old timer who told me to stop chasing every dent with a grinder

Keith Butler · 2026-10-07T11:35:04.984984+00:00

I was 22 and working at a body shop in Bakersfield when a guy named Ray with 30 plus years in the trade watched me burn through a quarter panel on a 2004 Civic. He walked over, killed my grinder, and told me to slow down and let the metal tell me when it was ready. I figured he was just old and slow, so I kept at it my way. Two weeks later I warped a brand new panel on a customer car and ate a $480 come back to fix it right. Ray just looked at me and handed me his 80 grit DA and said try it my way this once. Now I run the same slow pass he did and I have not toasted a panel in months. Any of you got a Ray in your life who handed you the right way to do something after you already messed it up?

🎙️Chatter Central

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Appreciation post: the old timer who told me to stop chasing every dent with a grinder | Auto Body Repairers - Chatter Central