Help Diagnosing problem on 2007 Infiniti G35?

Picus · 04-04-07, 07:54

Hey guys - I detailed this 2007 Infiniti G35 tonight. The car was in rough shape for it's age; likely due to a bad "hand wash" at another detail shop in the city. Overall the car came out ok; I was reasonably happy with it. However, the passenger side of the car exhibited some issues. Here are the relevant bits of data I was able to pick up.

1) The entire passenger side reacted differently to polishing; it seemed much softer than the driver side (which was soft to begin with) and the hood/bumpers/roof/rear deck.

2) The passenger side had picked up a lot more marring from the improper wash.

3) Most important: I found some weird spots on the passenger side front door and rear fender, seen below. These spots could not be felt, they were not etchings or deposits. Claying and polishing *did nothing* to them. I tried hi temp EC, Megs 80, 106ff, clay...nothing, they did not budge.

4) the rear quarter had solvent popping. I've seen this probably 200 times, and it's pretty evident.

I told the client in my opinion the passenger side had been repainted... does anyone have any ideas? I also thought maybe it was faded paint from shipping tape, but polishing (even heavy polishing) did nothing at all.

Any ideas are appreciated. I've been thinking about it all night without any other explanations coming to mind.

Superior Fine · 04-04-07, 08:01

Appears the areas you mention have been refinshed. The stains look to be under the clear coat (if 2 stage) . It could either be bleed through of the base coat and/or just bad prep/contamination before being top coated with clear.

Setec Astronomy · 04-04-07, 08:01

Hmmm...that's not some sort of CC failure? If not, it sure looks like something that got painted over...nice OP on the front fender, too.

cj99si · 04-04-07, 08:09

It really looks like burned paint.. I cant imagine you did it once, let alone 14 times? did you use a rotary? what do the befores look like?

Picus · 04-04-07, 08:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Superior Fine

Appears the areas you mention have been refinshed. The stains look to be under the clear coat (if 2 stage) . It could either be bleed through of the base coat and/or just bad prep/contamination before being top coated with clear.

They are definitely under the clear. Like I mentioned, I polished to no avail - no movement in stains, no black on pads. Nothing. I'm glad you agree that it looks like a refinish. I appreciate the input.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Setec Astronomy

Hmmm...that's not some sort of CC failure? If not, it sure looks like something that got painted over...nice OP on the front fender, too.

Definitely not cc failure. That was my first guess (I said to the owner when I saw them "I think I know what this is"), I was wrong - no black on pads, no movement in stains. PTG reads slightly higher than the rest of the car.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cj99si

It really looks like burned paint.. I cant imagine you did it once, let alone 14 times? did you use a rotary? what do the befores look like?

PC only, one pass with HT HC/orange then 106ff/white when I took that pic. The stains were there when I started (I polished to see if I could remove them). No befores of that panel, but here is one of the fender:

I mentioned to the owner that I was 80% sure it was a re-spray. It looks like I was probably correct. I still can't think of any other possible solution. I have eliminated that is is clear coat failure, fading from shipping tape, a paint burn, etchings, etc...

Remember, these same stains were also on the rear quarter too (no pics, sorry). Similar to the ones above, but smaller stains - also on the rear quarter, some solvent popping (which confirmed in my mind that it was a respray).

FWIW, I feel terrible for the owner. Only ~900km and he gets a terrible "hand wash", and then finds out his passenger side was probably re-sprayed prior to receiving the car. Uhg.

cj99si · 04-04-07, 08:41

If they were there before you started then some one re-sprayed tried to buff and burned the paint, cause thats burnt paint for sure. its good that the owner saw it before though.

RyanDe680 · 04-04-07, 08:43

Have you tried wetsanding the area with some 2500 or 2000 perhaps to see if you can get some of it removed?

rydawg · 04-04-07, 08:47

Any close ups? Looks like chemical pop, orange peel, and chemical sink under the base coat. When the car was done it was not blocked properly and did not allow the bodywork/primer to cure proper...maybe? If I was right in front of it then I could tell you in 5 seconds. I

From looking at the OP on the front fender and from what you say it is a bad repaint. I know I just did a black pontiac last week with some paint issues and marred very easy too. Took a while to blend it in.

Is there any black paint on the pad that you used? If not than most likely it is under the clear. I know everything looks ten times worst under those halogen lights.
Also the clear coat over the primer spots due to chemical sink under the basecoat/clear and the more you buff it the more you highlight it and make it. I have seen this before numerous times on blacks especially.

That sucks and I hope they do not try to blame you for it. I also hope it is not a burn through and make sure you check your pads and see if there is black paint transfer. If there is none than it is under the clear and you are not at fault.

Let me know what happens and hope all goes well!

Ryan

optimusp517 · 04-04-07, 09:05

from the look on the front fender in the first picture it seems to have TONS of orange peel if you notice. I don't recall a car ever looking that bad with orange peels...

Picus · 04-05-07, 05:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by RyanDe680

Have you tried wetsanding the area with some 2500 or 2000 perhaps to see if you can get some of it removed?

No I didn't. He's going to confront the dealer, so I didn't want to create any obvious signs of tampering. I hit it hard with HT HC/orange though, and nothing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rydawg

Any close ups? Looks like chemical pop, orange peel, and chemical sink under the base coat. When the car was done it was not blocked properly and did not allow the bodywork/primer to cure proper...maybe? If I was right in front of it then I could tell you in 5 seconds. I

From looking at the OP on the front fender and from what you say it is a bad repaint. I know I just did a black pontiac last week with some paint issues and marred very easy too. Took a while to blend it in.

Is there any black paint on the pad that you used? If not than most likely it is under the clear. I know everything looks ten times worst under those halogen lights.
Also the clear coat over the primer spots due to chemical sink under the basecoat/clear and the more you buff it the more you highlight it and make it. I have seen this before numerous times on blacks especially.

That sucks and I hope they do not try to blame you for it. I also hope it is not a burn through and make sure you check your pads and see if there is black paint transfer. If there is none than it is under the clear and you are not at fault.

Let me know what happens and hope all goes well!

Ryan

I'll see if I have closeups, it was sort of hard to get pics of it at all. No black paint on the pads I used, I checked that first.

The owner saw it before he brought the car to me, so we know I didn't do it. I saw it before I even buffed the area; so it was definitely there before I worked on it.

Thanks for the input guys. I feel safe saying it was a poorly done repaint.

Picus · 04-05-07, 05:53

Found a closeup; I uploaded it full size for viewing here:

http://gtaindetail.com/IMG_7453.JPG

Here is a smaller version: