How perfect should it be

BAKER · 11-01-06, 01:07

Not sure if this is the right forum, but hoping to get some answers. Got my hood repainted yesterday and picked the car up today. 2006 Audi A3, brilliant red, I am the only one to touch the paint. Had a dent from a rock on the highway that I couldn't live with. They took the dent out, and I made them repaint the hood with it off the car to prevent overspray. My problem is how perfect should the job be? There are a few dimples in the paint, maybe from lint? Being an autopian I noticed them. The real problem is there are two pieces of hair under the clearcoat that I find very noticeable. The body shop, very reputable dealer here, is having me bring it back next Tuesday to buff out the marks. Will they have to re-clearcoat the hood to get the hairs out? Should I accept these flaws or am I right to ask it be repaired?

StumpyDetailing · 11-01-06, 01:12

There are a few lines you could use...

"If I didn't want it perfect, I would have gone with Maaco!"

If the car is perfect otherwise, why would you accept new flaws in something that you had fixed? Bodyshop repairs should be unnoticable... If done correctly.

GregCavi · 11-01-06, 02:08

The only thing that i would find acceptable is very very light swirling. I have a local shop in my hometown that does excellent paint work. The only thing I see once in a while is super light spider webbing probably from an unsuitable paint towel.

With that said holograms and terribly eaten up paint from a buffer is unacceptable. Also on the list of unacceptables is HAIR, severe or unmatching orange peal.

You paid to get your hood done, Have them redo it until it is done RIGHT!

Greg

Accumulator · 11-01-06, 05:01

BAKER- It *oughta* be perfect, but in reality that doesn't always happen. The hairs I would *not* accept, but other flaws might be the best the shop can do. When the S8 had its deer-incident repairs (at Stoddard Imported Cars, well regarded for concours-level Porsche restorations) I had them redo some areas over and over (a long, long process with me driving a loaner)...their filtration system in the paintbooth just wasn't good enough for a truly perfect job; I could argue for perfection, they could agree, but the job just wouldn't turn out perfect and they weren't gonna buy a new paintbooth over it. Much as it grated on me (and still does), I decided to just get on with my life and live with the imperfection, though I still toy with the idea of having a better shop redo it someday. I now have a guy who could probably do it, but I just don't want to reopen that can of worms.

Yeah, they'll have to wetsand down to get the hairs out and then shoot some more clear. No biggie as long as nothing *else* gets on it before the new clear dries. If the red paint matches just right I'd probably just have them fix the hair-issue and live with the rest.