Found out my paint booth filter was 6 months overdue

Got a cloudy finish on a red 2018 F-150 hood last Tuesday. Spent 4 hours sanding and repolishing. Finally went to the booth manual and saw the filter replacement sticker was from last March. I been running that thing since August. Never thought about it before. How often do you guys swap yours out?

3 comments

3 Comments

ryanm601mo ago

Had a buddy who learned this the HARD way last year. He was painting a customers classic mustang and kept getting this weird orange peel that would NOT lay down flat. Spent nearly a whole day messing with his gun settings and pressure thinking it was his technique going bad. FINALLY called an old timer he knew and the first thing the guy asked was when he last changed the filter. My friend just went silent. He had been using that same filter for almost 8 months without even thinking about it. After he swapped it out the paint laid down perfect on the first try. He still feels dumb about it and checks that filter sticker every single month now.

logan5251mo ago

Man 8 months is wild lol. Did he ever figure out if it was just a cheap filter or a high quality one that clogged up that fast? I'm curious if spending more upfront would have saved him that whole day of frustration.

emery2901mo ago

Man I used to be one of those guys who bought the cheapest filters possible thinking they all do the same job. Figured it was a waste of money to spend extra on something that just catches dust. But after hearing stories like this and actually seeing it happen to a buddy of mine who had the same problem with his paint job on a motorcycle, I completely changed my tune. He swapped from a cheapo filter to a middle of the road one and suddenly his clear coat stopped fisheyeing on him. Now I buy the decent ones and replace them every 3 months like clockwork, never going back to the bargain bin stuff.