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Eagle Automotive Goes Green
Eagle Automotive body shop manager Dave Burkholder has been using friendly ‘green’ paint on vehicles needing body work.
“The environmentally-friendly paint we used is called Sikkens Autowave, a water-based paint that we get from a supplier in Prince George,” said Burkholder.
“It’s manufactured by a Dutch company called AzkoNobel. Their products have been on the market for a long time; we’ve been using their paint in the bodyshop for 20 years, even before it became fashionable to ‘go green’.”
AzkoNobel was a pioneer in waterborne paint technology. Their top-of-the-line autobody paint, Sikkens Autowave, is a superior paint product that is much more environmentally friendly. It contains less VOC (volatile organic compounds) emissions and therefore is less harmful to the environment.
The product produces a beautiful, long lasting finish that customers love.
“The problem with the old kinds of paints that we used to use in our body shop work was the solvents in the paints. They would evaporate into the atmosphere, releasing toxins into the air,” said Burkholder. “All our paints are water-based. Everything has been switched over, to the water-based, Sikkens Autowave brand. It’s definitely more environmentally friendly, but it is expensive.”
“We also have to have the paint shipped carefully from Prince George. Because it’s water-based, it will freeze, so it has to be over 50 degrees F. inside the truck, to prevent freezing."
“One of the features in our process is we have a bake room, where the vehicle sits after being painted. It dries the painted surface much quicker than airdrying, which gives the customer a faster turnaround time for getting his/her vehicle back on the road.”
AzkoNobel is the world’s largest manufacturer of powder coatings. Their solvent-free paints help protect everything from cars to metal furniture to window frames.
