Dealership disaster!

[FarSide792]

OK so.....I need a bit of advice here.



My `07 TL had a slight um, mishap, a while back and I had to have all 4 doors, the trunk, and the rear quarter panels/pillars repainted with the lovely and cheap (HA) midnight black pearl paint. The dealership body shop out here in El Paso (HoyFox Acura) did a HORRIBLE job repainting the car or rather a horrible job with the clear coat and polishing when they were done. I took it back the first time b/c someone had put their palm print in the clear coat and also because it had a huge drip of clear coat under the driver side mirror.....not to mention the copious amount of swirl marks covering everything.



So...their solution was to "re-glaze" the panels that were repainted and so I left it with them for a few more days. It looked about 45% better when I got it back, but it was still horrible....they took out the hand print and clear coat drip by buffing the absolute **** out of the area and now it looks like they used an steel wool pad to buff it out. I refuse to take it back there for fixing and I`m in a slight pickle. After trying to search the forum for a good detailer in the El Paso/Las Cruces area, I`m back at square one.



I`ll be glad to post some pictures later if anyone cares to see the fix....er....damage.....



Ideas of what to do now??? :wall

[imported_weekendwarrior]

Yes, please post pics.

[sofresh]

yeah i want some pictures

[SuperBee364]

Did your insurance company cover this repair? If so, I`d have your insurance adjuster come look at it. If they agree that the work is substandard, they will go after the repair shop. They will either have to redo the work (or sublet it out to another shop on their dime) until it meets your (and the adjusters) quality standard, or they`ll have to refund the insurance company what they were paid. Then you can go to another shop to have the work re-done. Don`t settle for second rate work; they were paid to fix the car "to like new condition" (according to *my* insurance company), and if they don`t produce that work, they don`t get paid.



I`ve had this exact thing happen to me in the passed. My insurance company, USAA, took the repair shop to task. After trying to fix it a second time (unsuccessfully), USAA sent me to another repair shop that did it right the first time. My total cost for all of this was my deductible.

[FarSide792]

Pix are coming in just a few....



As far as the details of the repair.....my car was vandalized and the party that caused the problem paid cash in full for the repair....so no insurance company was involved. I already took the car back once (and these repairs were `completed` during the 2nd week of May....It`s just now starting to piss me off the more I look at it :(

[FarSide792]

Well actually...I just went out to take some pictures, but the sun is in the absolute worst spot for trying to see the swirl marks everywhere....so I`ll try it again this afternoon/evening

[salty]

You could try taking the pic with the flash, it usually shows swirls well.

[ZeroDfx]

The party who caused the problem and is paying for it is likely dictating the level of work based upon what they prefer to pay: next to nothing. Sounds like you may not have the leverage to get them to do it right, or to get the vandal to pay a second time elsewhere unless you introduce the notion of getting the police or your lawyer involved. And if the body shop was already paid, you will have even less leverage I`m sorry to say.

Good luck.

[FarSide792]

yea....i figured as much and therefore I wasn`t really anticipating that the bodyshop would cover their asses for the 3rd time and fix it....again....lol....so my question kinda comes back to, what is the best way to try and remedy the swirl marks....and therefore leads me to wanna know if anyone has suggestions of a good detailer somewhere out here near El Paso/Las Cruces, NM area..... I`m kinda drawing blanks aside from the crappy car wash detailing services

[motobuild]

yea....i figured as much and therefore I wasn`t really anticipating that the bodyshop would cover their asses for the 3rd time and fix it....again....lol....so my question kinda comes back to, what is the best way to try and remedy the swirl marks....and therefore leads me to wanna know if anyone has suggestions of a good detailer somewhere out here near El Paso/Las Cruces, NM area..... I`m kinda drawing blanks aside from the crappy car wash detailing services



It`s hard for us to give advice w/o pictures of how extensive the damage is.

[ABQDetailer]

Fixing clear coat that ran is indeed possible. You just need to wet sand it down with 1000-1500 and then move up with 2000. A good rubbing compound and polish should fix it up from there.



How do I know this? I just repainted my Honda Accord Nighthawk Black Pearl (Paint Code B92P) and the clear ran for me in a number of places. The best thing you can do when wet sanding is to get a paint thinkness guage so you don`t sand it down too far. If you sand it down past the clear then you will need to paint/clear that whole panel. If you get past the clear and sand on the paint you will sand through the paint almost instantly. Paint is a very thin layer compared to the clear to say the least.



The swirls can`t be that bad and should be easily fixed with either wet sanding or a good compound/polish. I can`t imagine it`s any worse than some of the before/after pictures that are posted here in the forums...



This is what most people don`t understand about painting a car. There`s so much more than the actual paint job. When I painted my car I spent 20+ hours just prepping the surface. I shot the car in ~ 2 hours. Now afterwards I`ve spent another 8+ hours color sanding and polishing the car. Oh yeah I`m still not done but that`s mainly due to having a normal job and a family. I try to do one panel at a time as time permits...A pro painter/detailer would have easily done the car in 1/2 the time that I`ve taken so far, but hey I`m learning. :up



I`ve learned the hard way by trial and error: A good color sand and polish can turn an average paint job into something special.

[Isuvette]

Go get an estimate for fixing the bad paintwork from the person of your choice, then give the original shop the option of paying for the work. If they decline, then file a small claims action against the shop for the amount it will take to make you car right plus your small claims filing fee. You will want to go to the small claims hearing with all of your photos and documentation of the work that has been done and the work that needs to be done. If the work that has been done is substandard, then you should have a pretty good case.