Professional body dudes! I have a question...

[saltfuture]

I've been doing the body work on my 71 firebird by myself. I'm enjoying learning, and picking up all my info from forums and youtube. This is a great site and all, but is there a forum specific to bodywork that has a large pool of talent to ask questions and learn from?

[charchri4]

Yes there is. A couple of them but this one is the best IMO. http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/tech-help/ There is a paint tab and a body work tab and lots of good info.

This is another option but the guys on hotrodders build very cool cars so that is where I go for info. http://www.autobody101.com/forums/

[mitch_04]

Check out spiuserforum.com. It's geared towards users of Southern Polyurethane (great company) products, but there is a large amount of talent that share their opinions and techniques as well. They have a section dedicated to the use of their products and another section for anything autobody related. Although I don't frequent Hot Rodders, I've read a large amount about it's downfall in the last few years. Seems like it's getting crowded with know-it-alls who actually don't know much, but push their untested advice and are offended when you suggest anything else may work. I'm sure there is a great amount of knowledge there, but just beware that it may not all be proven knowledge! Of course, that goes with any forum.

Other than that, just search Google for what you want to know and keep an eye on familiar forums that pop up. If you keep finding good advice from a site, stick with that site. Another tip that works on any forum (generally) is to go into the section you want to learn from, then click on "replies" or "views". It will then show all the threads from that section in order of most views or replies, whichever you clicked. Generally the threads with the most information have a large amount of one or the other.

[mikey]

Autobodyonline.com it's a web portal for professional techs I haven't been on there for awhile but it's usually a good source of technical assistance

[chevelletiger]

Kustomkulturelounge.com,theres quite a few pros on there to help you out.search for redbaron his name is steve baran.steve use to work for house of kolor but now works for akzo nobel coatings. hes a great guy and will answer most autoboy and paint questions,also helped me get waterborne certified.
Phil

[Auto Rod Technologies]

http://www.spiuserforum.com

[mitch_04]

I've spent quite a bit of time on kustom kulture as well, great if you are into airbrushing. There is a decent amount of auto body work on there as well, but I feel I've learned more from the site Auto Rod posted. Barry, the owner of SPI, answers all sorts of technical questions and gives you the reasons instead of just what to do. He also posts his phone number... HIS phone number, not SPI, for any questions.

[saltfuture]

Thanks a lot, guys. Lots of good advice here.