ChatGPR: Nick Priest
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Gene Fetty: [00:00:00] Hey, what's up guys? Gene Fetty with a, a i back with another one of our chat, GPR series. Uh, in this episode or this session, uh, we've got Mr. Nick Priest at Collision Tech, Nick on social. Uh, Nick is a, uh, body Man, former or former body man, recently turned PDR Tech, uh, and also co-host of the Smash Masters podcast with Mr.
Stefan Esche. Did I get it right? I said it wrong because you break iFix47 and I believe you two met. We'll get into that. I believe you two met through your social media influence. So Nick, welcome to the show. Uh, give us a little bit of background. How, how did you get into body work? How did you end up where you are today and where does blue pull fall into that?
Nick Priest: Well, I got into body work around 2002. Um, early teens. So, um, I started doing that. I got into building total cars, cutting [00:01:00] cars in half, putting them back together, all that stuff. So, back then, um, to me in my world, uh, fixing small dents wasn't really in the, in the category. We had a lot of old ways, a lot of them old grumpy man body ways like you're talking about.
So, um, I did get the pleasure of learning all those and, you know, being able to do them. So, uh, we're to about 2010, I started into, uh, production collision work. I got into all that stuff. Uh, done pretty good with it. Learned a lot of new things and about 2018, I started like, uh, uh, I mentioned the, uh, glue pulling the glue pulling kit, right.
Got that, got started up and, uh, that was. That was a learning curve back then. There wasn't really, the process is down pat, at least out in the open, you know?
Gene Fetty: Yeah. That's, that's early collision glue pull. That's, that's right. When one of our other guests, Dave Schaulat, like he was coming, just coming into KECO, KECO was just making [00:02:00] those moves into collision around then.
Yeah.
Nick Priest: So I, it wasn't really. I guess dominant then it was just starting to really kick off. So, um, I did that, uh, struggled through that for a little while. I've got that down pat and then 2020, I started picking up, uh, PDR tools and making the transition to where, you know, I am today. I started my own business last month, officially finally got out of.
Uh, the body shop part completely. So, um, yeah.
Gene Fetty: Out of collision and into full, uh, full PDR. That's awesome. So maybe it's an early trend, but I feel like I'm starting to see an early trend of body technicians who are embracing, uh, GPR embracing top quality repairs, uh, tighter finishes, uh, moving into some push tools.
Are, what are you seeing, right, because you, you were pretty in touch and you have a pretty decent following on social of body techs or, or younger techs wanting to [00:03:00] get into body. Is that something that you're seeing that, that the GPR is helping to, to drive higher level repairs? Uh, and, and switch techs maybe from being just a parts changer to, uh, back into a true craftsman.
Nick Priest: Yeah. So, you know, you look on social media, you see KECO and Danny hacker going all over the world and you see all these, uh, groups of body techs just coming together. But yeah, when you, if you, if you just don't look at that and you get down into the everyday shops, the guys that don't know who all who KECO is don't know all that.
Um, yeah, they're still looking at, at. Individual social platforms and trying to figure out how they can get into it. And I get questions all the time. How can I get, you know, what tools do I need? How can I get started in this? You know, what, can you give me some pointers? So it's definitely out there. It's, we're still in an early stage, I think, but, right.
Um, yeah, people are definitely grasping onto it. Whether or not, [00:04:00] not everybody wants to go to PDR work or, or do that. Of course. Sometimes they, you know, they just want a little better, easier way. To, to get their documented time, cause you know, that's been a big deal. Uh, like getting the light and writing the estimates.
Right. That's been a huge help. Um, yeah, just little stuff like that. There's, there's, there's questions that, um, I'm doing my best to try and help answer. And I know you guys are doing the same. Sure,
Gene Fetty: sure. Yeah, it's, it's really an exciting time. Even. Even with where GPR is moving into the collision space, right?
We're still early, right? And that, and that learning curve or the adoption curve, right? We're still very, very early, uh, in that space. So what, so you said you started with key code tools and tabs. Did you jump right in and buy a full system to just start with some small tools? Where, how did you start and did you buy it or did the shop?
Nick Priest: No, I, uh, I convinced the shop to buy it. And it was on an aluminum panel. Okay. And it was a KECO set. It was a smaller set. It, uh, it [00:05:00] come with a bridge puller, a couple of tabs, a glue gun, heat gun, and, uh, maybe a K bar. Yeah, it was a K bar in there. Okay. A couple of small attachments. So it was a relatively small kit, but it was enough to get you going.
Right. It was enough to, you know, get, uh, acquainted with glue pulling.
Gene Fetty: So, yeah. And how did that, work? How did that change your approach to repairing cars? We shared this story a little bit yesterday, but I'd like the, I'd like the world to hear it a little
Nick Priest: bit. Yeah. So, um, like I said, there was a little bit of a learning curve back then, so it was kind of a struggle, but I didn't let that get to me.
You know, I went ahead and struggled through it, but after you get the process down, you can move so much metal. So much faster than you could with, uh, key tabs or wiggle wire, even tack and pull plates. It's just, and if, if you make a bad pool, you just peel it off and start over. It, it, you, you didn't do any intrusive damage to the panel.
Gene Fetty: Right? Yeah. That's, that's a big [00:06:00] thing that, and it was always something we talked about at KECO was right. Traditional body repair methods, create damage to fix damage. And, and gluteal repair is the exact opposite. Where the first thing you're doing is Reducing the size of the damage. You're shrinking damage right from the word go.
Yes. Yeah. That's a big, big difference. Um, if there's a body tech out there listening, maybe one of your followers. Uh, they're kicking around the idea of, of glue pull repair or, or thinking about trying to talk the shop into it. What advice would you give to a technician or a shop that's, that's thinking about dipping their toes into the, into the glue pull
Nick Priest: repair world?
Uh, well, I would, I would say, uh, start with, if you can start with training, um, start with just, you can start with just the basics, kind of like I did. Um, it's always better. You know, to, to be acquainted with more of the tools, but, um, like everybody else has mentioned, get a glue, stick [00:07:00] with it, learn it, and, um, see what you can and can't do with it.
And who knows you can, you can fix there's all these glues give you a wide variety of things you can do. So I would say. Yeah, the training is the most important at this point. It'll get you a lot faster than having to struggle through it with months of, you know, trial and error and wasted
Gene Fetty: material. Right.
Well, I was thinking you can either spend time. If you don't have any money, you spend your time. If you got a little bit of money, spend your money, and you can buy that time back and learn faster.
Nick Priest: Yeah.
Gene Fetty: For
Nick Priest: sure. For sure. And obviously if you got a shop willing to invest in you, then that's, that's, you've got a really good shop to begin with.
Gene Fetty: So, yeah. No, no question there. Uh, so, you've attended, now, in person training. What are your thoughts on, on an in person training event? How does that benefit a technician, uh, even somebody who's been going pulling for years,
Nick Priest: uh, well, after getting, uh, uh, getting out of the class, I think I'd have to carry the information home in a [00:08:00] backpack.
There's so much to, uh, to learn. There's so much, you don't really every, at the end of every session, you'd say, you know, is there, is there a question? Does anybody have questions? There really isn't because, um, you explained it and to so much detail a little bit. I mean, all you really need is, is just the tools and, uh, And the stuff and go.
Right. It's great.
Gene Fetty: So get some training, buy some tools and go to town. Yep. I like it. You're hired. We did not pay him to say that. No, no, no. It's just, it is a really great course and I would highly encourage anybody to go through it. Nice. So, so Nick, you've built a pretty good, uh, maybe a little step away from glue pulling more into just day to day.
You've built a pretty good following on social media. Uh, in the, in the trades, right? And, and you see that with like, uh, Blue Collar Kyle was the first one that, that came to mind. Uh, and we see Stephan, uh, and other ones that are out there. What does it take to get started, [00:09:00] right? For, for the guys that are out there that, that are a technician like Nick or like myself.
Um, What, what would your advice be to somebody who wants to start creating content and putting it out there? How do you get started doing that? Um, I
Nick Priest: would say, um, just be engaging, uh, be supportive of the other people, um, be encouraging to people. And, um, if you're brand new to social media, video editing, like I am, then, um, a lot of these people will give you advice and, and, uh, steer you in the right direction.
So that would be my, some of my main advice for that.
Gene Fetty: Nice. And what do you use to shoot your content? Are you just grabbing your phone? Is it that simple? You got a camera? I use a GoPro and
Nick Priest: I use my phone. Okay. That's really all I use. Right. You don't need a bunch of heavy equipment to start out. Um, you just really need a tripod and, um, a couple of ideas and you can run
Gene Fetty: with it.
And that's it. Nice and easy. Uh, how did you and Stefan get hooked up and how did the, the smash masters [00:10:00] podcast or show, how did that get started? Yeah, so we
Nick Priest: met on actually tick tock. Okay. Uh, about Two years ago now, he, he didn't have much following then and I didn't either. So, um, again, like, uh, my, uh, my advice, just being supportive of people now, it was through that, you know, he had videos coming out and I would just like and comment on his stuff and, um, I would come out with videos and he started doing the same and, you know, for, you know, it was kind of collabing on a few things, dance, he would get on, uh, TikTok live and then.
I would join in on his tick tock live and other guys. And, uh, yeah, that's just to have those conversations and just have daily, uh, conversations of, you know, fixing collision, repair, damage, and, and, uh, talking just kind of like we are here and said, just on live on tick tock.
Gene Fetty: Right. That's pretty cool.
Social media. That's, that's, I call it the good side of social media. That's [00:11:00] what the, the PDR space, right. Welcome to the PDR space. It's a really small, like, we, we're all over the world, California, right? Texas, Arizona, V. S. Chicago, Pittsburgh, South Dakota. We're all sitting in this room, Mississippi. Yeah.
We're all here because of social media, right? It's, it's what has, has drawn and made the world smaller in a good way. So yeah, don't be afraid to put it out there and share and be encouraging. I would, I would second Nick's, uh, advice there.
Nick Priest: Yeah. Yeah. Just always be encouraging and, um, you know, just leave the negativity at the house.
That's, that's, that's all I really have to say. Nice. Uh,
Gene Fetty: so, uh, we'll part with this. What is your favorite glue pool repair tool or tab? My favorite glue pool repair tool or tab or hammer knockdown, whatever. What is, what is your, what is your favorite go to tool? What, what are you going to go to first? What are you going to lean to?
Well, um, as
Nick Priest: far as, uh, uh, uh, uh, a [00:12:00] tab, I would say probably just depending on, on the dance, I like gangrene tabs, the square tabs, I like those kind of, but. Glue. I use, uh, I've been using ants and collision glue, and you can do big dance. You can do small dance. And it is difficult really to let some of those small tabs go, even after you spray alcohol on it.
So
Gene Fetty: when you follow the
Nick Priest: process, man, it's ridiculous. And I would say, um, well, it really just depends on the damage, but my go to tool would be like a I don't know, a rod would be ultra dent tools, 36 double band with screw on to any screw
Gene Fetty: on. There you go. Yeah. The 36 double band, especially from dent craft, uh,
Nick Priest: I've got a dent craft one too.
So it's got a different little band on it. So between those two, I mean, you really can get
Gene Fetty: a lot of places you can go down on a door and go up on a fender. Yep. Yep. Great tools. We're good deal. [00:13:00] Nick. Well, thanks for coming by. Thanks for attending the training yesterday and make sure you guys go follow him at collision tech underscore Nick, uh, and the smash masters videos, uh, page on Facebook and YouTube, YouTube and catch that show.
I think it's every other Monday at 8 PM Eastern and recorded. So check it out. Episode two was a really good episode. So yeah, make sure you watch that one. All right, Nick. Thanks so much. Thanks.
