Thanks for the honest opinion! I was actually about to order 4 more 6 tube T5HO fixtures to add to the ceiling lol!
I'm just worried it wont be bright enough, guess I should probably hold back on that one.
Ummmmmm... Yeah.
I was hoping the all white everything would bounce the light around and soften the effect.
"All white everything" will help overall brightness; and to some minor extent, it will also help with dispersion & diffusion. But it still can't perform miracles. Light in the wrong place is still light in the wrong place; and making that "a TON of light in the wrong place" doesn't change that.
The only way I can think of getting a bit more even coverage is to have the bulbs run vertical all along the garage on the walls. The reason I can't do this is because of all the cabinets, wall mounted pressure washer, extension cords, tables, etc I have along the outside. I have no choice but to put the lights higher up.
That's probably not as much of a problem as you are imagining. If you put the RIGHT lights on/near the ceiling, and especially if you put them in the RIGHT places, they'll do a remarkably good job of lighting up what you NEED to light up, without inducing skin cancer in the process.
In addition, some form of portable lighting such as mentioned by "BHR4CE1" will go a long way toward filling in whatever "gaps" remain, and have the advantage of being easily repositionable for such tasks as checking for fine scratches & swirl marks by observing the reflection of the light source in the finish. If you're willing to put some money into this (and from your comment above that you were about to buy several more IBZ-654s "just because", I'm guessing you are), one good approach would be to build a small stand/cart to mount one of these:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lithonia-Lighting-2-ft-White-LED-High-Bay-Light-IBH-11L-MV/203812710
...facing more-or-less sideways, and preferably with some adjustability in terms of "tilt". Ideally, I'd probably also want the height to be somewhat adjustable, from about knee-height to about shoulder/head-height. But even without that last bit of refinement, it should work pretty well.
Or, for a LOT less money, even this $35 special:
http://www.lowes.com/pd_394366-40642-UT-1005_4294935637__?productId=3699574
could go a long way toward solving the side-illumination problem. One of the neater features is that the entire top section (with it's own handle & feet) can be quickly disengaged from the tripod/stand via one hand-knob, and then placed on the floor for low-angle illumination. Kind of a "best of both worlds" thing. But, as always, high-output halogen bulbs **** up a TON of power and get REALLY hot; so it remains only an "if nothing else" solution.
I will be angling all the lights towards the car at a close to 45 degree angle when possible.
Probably not necessary. Again, with the RIGHT fixtures in the RIGHT places, the light WILL be dispersed widely enough to make such "aiming" a moot point.
I also managed to find someone locally selling some reflectors for 8 foot fixtures that I'm going to use and modify to aim the lights a bit.
Stay away from 8-foot fixtures. First, you don't need them. Second, they don't do anything that pairs of 4-foot fixtures won't do, except force you to mount them in non-ideal locations and reduce your potential switching flexibility.
I am worried about the lighting not being very even. And since I can only mount them on the ceiling or near the top of the walls.. The only way I can think of by making sure the lights are even is to literally cover the ceiling with lights.
Well, you're clearly being a bit paranoid about this. But ironically enough, despite reaching a bogus conclusion, the fundamental thinking process which led you there is actually NOT all that far off the mark. The point is, in a sense you DO indeed want to "cover the ceiling with lights", so to speak -- but I'm speaking FIGURATIVELY, not literally. Furthermore, you DO NOT need to use overkill-bright fixtures. Given your 10-foot ceiling, standard twin-tube F32T8-based "strip" lights, such as:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lithonia...rescent-Strip-Light-C-2-32-120-GESB/100543144
will do the job just fine, when PROPERLY spaced. Or, for still more dispersion/diffusion, and at least some impact-protection, use "wrap"-type fixtures, such as:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lithonia-Lighting-2-Light-Utility-Light-3348-2L32W-WRAP/100654395
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lithonia...hite-Fluorescent-Light-Fixture-3324/202192968
http://www.lowes.com/pd_163697-337-WP232RLU_0__?productId=3181895
http://www.lowes.com/pd_336745-13537-336745_0__?productId=3686312
http://www.lowes.com/pd_384285-337-WP217RNKLLU_0__?productId=50077497
Which is why I thought about adding 4 more 6 tube fixtures to each corner of the ceiling. This way the 2 car ceiling will likely have fixtures almost beside each other.
That would be
GROSS overkill -- and probably not as effective as what I suggested above, despite being ridiculously over-bright.
I'm not too worried about it being too bright. The more light the merrier.
Up to a point, that's fine. As I've stated many times, as a general rule, it's really difficult to really have "too much" light; it's more usually a matter of not putting the light in the right places. But what you've been proposing is unquestionably in the "too much" category, regardless of placement.
The shop that I use to work in had over 40 tubes of T5HO bulbs in a 1 car bay as an inspection center.
That too is completely over the top, and would be approaching 1,000 lumens/ft.^2 for a "typical"-size single garage bay! Either those lights were HORRIDLY placed, or there were other issues in play.
Yep I have my own arsenal of portable lights as well. Both halogen and LED and even xenon. I also use hand held swirl finders as well as an assortment of headlamps.
I have a hard time imaging why you would need more than one GOOD portable/adjustable light, unless more than one person will be working at a time.
Start by making a simple floor plan drawing of your shop including your lighting layout (complete with fixture types) and locations of work benches / inspection areas.
Agreed. It's time to get at least some sort of specific layout worked out.
