Our 10,000 sq. ft. facility underwent a six-month renovation in 2006, including safety improvements and equipment upgrades. A great deal of time and thought went into the selection of the right tools. Everything in our facility is either new or updated including the ceiling, lighting, heating and compressed air systems. Our goal was to provide a clean, bright, comfortable and organized environment in which to work. We are very pleased to inform you that we have achieved excellent results. Below is a brief description of the some of the equipment that went into the shop.

The heart of every good body shop is the spray booth. This provides a clean, dust-free environment in which to paint vehicles while also limiting and filtering all emissions. A quality finish starts with a quality booth. We chose WELBILT USA to construct and install our spraybooth. They are well known for making quality booths that are reliable and efficient. The booth we specially ordered is larger than standard booths, measuring 30 feet by 14 feet. This allows for the vehicle to be refinished at the same time as the car's addition components - painted bumpers and side skirts, wheels, etc. - ensuring excellent color match and lower operating costs. The spraybooth also has a built-in direct fire heating system rated at 1.5 million BTU's which allows the topcoats to be "baked”. This allows for quick job turnaround and factory finish in both appearance and durability.

Another key ingredient in every shop is the paint system. ALL PAINTS ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL! Many shops consider cost as the main factor when choosing a paint system. While cost is a very important consideration, QUALITY and DURABILITY are even more important. We proudly use GLASURIT as our refinishing system. Glasurit is and has always been considered the best paint on the market. They're an OEM supplier to the many car companies (including BMW and Mercedes) which means that more than likely your vehicle left the factory with Glasurit paint. Others may argue that there are other paint systems that are just as good but the difference is easily visible. Glasurit is part of BASF and is made in Germany.

A vital decision that all shops face is in choosing a frame machine. When working on today's high end German unibody frames, one name is obvious: CELETTE, who has been making frame machines for over 70 years. They've always been on the cutting edge of frame repair and often set the standard that the industry follows. They were the first to come up with the idea of a dedicated fixture bench. In plain terms, each car has its own specific set of fixtures or "jigs". These jigs are attached to the bench via MZ bases (shown). These jigs act as the measuring system for the unibody. They're designed to line up to various critical construction points. These points must align with the jigs precisely. This system can detect a unibody off by even a couple of millimeters. No other measuring system comes close to the accuracy a CELETTE bench offers. This is the best possible way to detect and repair frame damage. This is also how vehicles are built at the factory, on a bench with fixed jigs. And isn’t that what we all want? …a car that looks like it did when it came from the factory.

An often disregarded yet key piece of technology is the welding equipment. Most assume that a torch set up and a MIG welder is all shops need to operate. Years ago, one or two different types of steel were used in cars, but today, with the introduction of dozens of different types of alloys, a new modern spot welder is necessary. HSS (high strength steel), aluminum (sometimes up to 10 different grades) and magnesium are just some of the materials manufacturers are using in today’s vehicles. These materials are no longer reserved for exotic cars or race cars – they're being used in ordinary assembly line applications. Some of the new HSS being utilized, including Boron steel, cannot be cut with a conventional blade or welded with a MIG. The saw blade will quickly burn up and the weld applied by the MIG welder will not penetrate properly and will FAIL immediately. Boron steel is now being used in vehicles as part of the cabin structure.It provides extreme rigidity and increases the safety of the passengers. It can be found in the roofs of vehicles as well as the floors, including door posts, center posts and cowl areas. The only way to cut this steel is with the new generation of plasma cutters. The only way to weld this material is with a new computer-controlled spot welder. We purchased the best plasma cutter and spot welder on the market. The W&S INVERTASPOT spot welder is a state-of-the-art tool that can handle welding all of these new materials with ease. The W&S INVERTASPOT welder is not only Freoncooled but also water-cooled at the tip. This allows for continuous welding without heat distortion much like the factory. Also, and most important, the appearance and integrity of the weld is as close to factory specifications as possible. Visually and structurally, the welds are perfect. The welder’s computer-controlled brain is fully upgradeable. Even as new more rigid steels are introduced in the future, this machine will be able to handle them after a software upgrade. It will never become obsolete like most of today’s spot welders. We also use a state-of-the-art MILLER MIG for all other welding applications.

These are some of the important improvements we've made at Kos-Tom Collision. As we know all this equipment is only as good as the personnel who operate it. Our most important attribute is the knowledge and experience that our staff possesses. Whether it's sourcing the correct parts or straightening and refinishing vehicles, each member of our staff has spent years specializing in their particular area of expertise. Many of us worked together in the same "BMW only" repair facility. Co-owner and Chief Painter Andy Petaludis has been painting vehicles for 20 years. In that time Andy used exclusively Glasurit products. Collectively we have the ability to return a vehicle to pre-accident specifications and give the repair the "factory" look and durability. All of our staff have also attended factory training classes in the past and will continue to do so to insure that we are all kept up-to-date on new repair procedures.

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