Typical Body Shop Hackage

**David Fermani** · 03-15-2015, 12:18 PM

Here`s a classic example as to why most body shops don`t know what they`re doing when it comes to polishing paint. Sure, they can perform excellent collision repairs, but when it comes to polishing paint it`s surely not their forte! This is an example of the "quality" a local high end body shop (actually part of a chain who claims to do precision work) does. The quality of the repair from a fit and finish perspective is ok, but they failed miserably with their polishing attempt. This car`s repairs were completed approximately 1 month prior. I guarantee that these swirls were not noticeable when the client picked up their vehicle from the shop. After a few washes all the oily fillers wore away to show the true finish. Having visited this shop before (actually most of their locations), this doesn`t really surprise me. Especially considering they pride themselves for using 3M`s Perfect-It Finishing system. Let`s just say that my client was more than surprised when I sent them these pictures after doing a decon wash.

**Swanicyouth** · 03-15-2015, 02:02 PM

They Perfected-It alright. I haven`t really had any compelling reason to use anything by 3M; other than their Post-It notes.

**LeadingEdgeDetail** · 03-15-2015, 03:27 PM

My work neighbor is a body shop, and he showed me his `polishing cabinet`... LOL.

He was bragging about how good the 3M Perfect-It polish was, and how it doesn`t contain fillers. He told me to be careful of fillers.

I think they use it because it is body-shop-safe, as in doesn`t contain silicones etc.

**JSFM35X** · 03-15-2015, 06:17 PM

Looks like NYC graffiti-LOL

**Lonnie** · 03-30-2015, 09:27 AM

Dave:
What decon wash system do you use or is the decon a series of specific steps and methods you use to expose this polishing "perfecting" nightmare??

I am truly amazed at the ignorance (meaning, they simple do not know) what "detailing" and "polishing" means to the average car owner. Maybe it`s because I have seen your posted workmanship and those of your professional ability within this forum that I now KNOW what those terms mean and what true detailing is suppose to look like. It`s an education that I am more than grateful for that has be obtained from all the fellow Autopians who take the time to share their expertise with me and like-minded detaiing do-it-your-selfers within this forum. Thanks again.

**MiVor** · 03-30-2015, 11:36 AM

I guess some body shops are like hack maintenance shops that do shoddy work and charge for stuff they don`t even do!
The client should at least take those pics to the shop and tell them he`ll never be back and neither will anyone he knows that will listen!

**Stokdgs** · 03-30-2015, 01:47 PM

Thanks for posting this, David !

I recently had a man stop me in the Safeway parking lot in Folsom, asking me about his black Mercedes..
When I told him it was all swirled up, he said - oh ? I just had it Detailed at the Dealership and they said its supposed to look like that...

Lucky my Jeep was clean so we walked over to it and looked into the beautiful, perfectly clear, black metallic paint, and I told him This is how its supposed to look after it is really Detailed..
After he got his jaw back up from hitting the ground, he took my business card and said thanks for enlightening him..

The body shop guys and I was one of them, (but we NEVER swirled anything up), are just using dirty, nasty, 6" or 7" wool blend pads on a Rotary, on the EDGE with too much speed, and not perfectly flat, to achieve this most annoying thing a Detailer worth his salt ever has to see..

If you learned from someone who thinks swirls are good, then you may perpetuate the practice.. Choose not to, just say NO !

If I can help it, I would always tell the Shop that is bringing me a vehicle to Detail to just knock down what they need to and dont worry about giving me the Swirl-O-Matic part of the job..

Dan F

**Old Pirate** · 03-30-2015, 06:11 PM

I just fell off my chair when I saw this!

**Bill D** · 03-30-2015, 06:24 PM

I saw a car in a parking lot today with a hood like that. I almost lost my lunch !

**LeadingEdgeDetail** · 03-31-2015, 10:49 PM

I just got a call today from a competing glass shop asking if I still do polishing.. He was a customer many many years ago, and still thinks of me,
lol.

He tried to polish it himself, and I remember seeing an old dirty wool pad under his table, I can only assume he tried to polish his truck with that.

He called saying he might need a repainted, and basically begged me to fix it. As soon as I said the word `holograms` he said that`s it!!

I`ll post photos tomorrow when I pick it up, perhaps it will be comparable hehehe

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

**Don** · 04-01-2015, 05:24 AM

I love getting customers in with cars like that. It makes them think I`m a miracle worker when they return and see their car looking as it should.

**trashmanssd** · 04-01-2015, 05:39 AM

It knows no economic boundaries, We have a family friend who bought a brand new Bentley Mulsanne last year (trade in his Bentley Continental GT that I loved). I saw him one night out a nice local restaurant and he knows I am a car guy said what do you think of the new Bentley I said it looks great such a beautiful car. I bit my tongue on the rest the thing looked like it was detailed by a blind man. Swirls , rids, marring, just about every possible problem you could wish for to do a seminar class on detail repair.