HELP! Clearcoat Flaked Off During a Detail On My Friend`s Car!

[Nopstnz8]

Hey guys... So over the last few days I`ve been doing paint correction on my friend`s 2008 BMW Z4 M Coupe and he`s been there watching the process and really been impressed with the work I`ve done and how the condition of his car has transformed. Anyways, I was almost entirely done with the detail until something bad happened... I was polishing the bumper on speed 6 on my Griots DA with 4" pads, and the bumper came out great after removing all the swirls, but after I had done the tail lights later that night, I noticed something odd. I thought it was residue, but it seems now the clear coat is peeling! It`s in two spots, and very minimal, but I feel terrible, and haven`t told my friend yet. When I go back later today to finish the car, I`m going to tell him, but now that I look at the pics again, I`m not fully sure it was my fault or not? Maybe BMW will cover this as a workmanship error since the car is still under factory warranty? Wouldn`t the DA have caused the damage if a burn mark was to result instead of clear coat just flaking? It`s weird because I used the same process on both sides of the bumper, and the other side is fine.



My friend bought this car used, but in VERY good condition, so it wasn`t like this car was abused. I`m trying to determine if the flaking was in fact my fault or not before I go an admit to my friend I did it, if in fact I didn`t?



Anyways, I`m trying to gauge how this will be repaired because I`ve never experienced clear coat flake off like this on a newer car, and I`ve been using a DA for about 2 years now and have gotten really good at paint correction, with this being the first flaw I`ve experienced.



Can a body shop do a spot repair on the sections where the clear coat is flaking? It`s literally two very minimal spots, and the flaking is like dime sized in the corners near the tail lights. Would the body shop just have to stript the clear in those sections, then reapply a new layer? Or do they have to repaint that entire section? I`m just hoping to know what to expect before I tell him because I really can`t afford to pay hundreds of dollars to fix this in order to get it back the original condition.



Here are some pics:



If you notice the first pic (left and right corners of the tail light), the damage DID NOT occur from me polishing the tail light since the clear coat marks were already present.



http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/6883/img5924q.jpg



http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/7553/img5929t.jpg



IMG]http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/7057/img5930w.jpg[/IMG]



http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/9155/img5931hp.jpg







Also this thread seems related if anyone could chime in on that too?

[Jngrbrdman]

I seriously doubt you had anything to do with that. It is more than likely the result of body work your friend didn`t tell you about. Either he didn`t know the bumper had been repainted, or he just didn`t tell you. Or even worse, that is just the kind of crap paint they put on the car. Clearcoat is just clear paint and not much different than the color coat other than the lack of pigment. So it`s not like you can just start scratching and peel off big chunks of it. Issues like that indicate really poor work in the paint booth and typically represents shoddy body shop painting. Considering it is only on the bumper, it just looks like body shop screw up to me.



A body shop could sand it back and reclear it. I would have him check his warranty though. I`m not sure if there would be anything left on a 2008 warranty for this kind of thing, but if that is factory paint then BMW should have to explain why it is peeling after only 3 years. He is looking at two or three hundred bucks to get it fixed would be my guess. They`ll have to remove the bumper and spend a couple hours on it at least. It`s hard to get out of anything which involves painting for less than a couple hundred.



But definitely rest assured that you in no way caused this damage.

[Ron Ketcham]

Looked closely at the photos.

It has been recleared. Don`t know the history on the vehicle, like is it a lease return, came out of a rental fleet, etc?

Nothing else to do but take it to the body shop.

The entire panel must be recleared, after proper paint prep.

Actually rather common issue of vehicles which are traded in or come off lease, dealer goes for cheapest fixes, betting that 90% of customer will never come back with a complaint.

Grumpy

[justin30513]

That is NOT something you started. The problem was already there.

[imported_Erik Mejia]

It is possible you could have caused this. Painted plastic bumpers can be tricky. Polishing with the GGP on speed six and a 4-inch foam pad can generate enough force and heat to cause the paint layer to separate from the plastic bumper.



There is no way of knowing with certainty if this, along with paint issues contributed to this result. The area almost looks like it had a respray. If this is true the polishing with the more aggresive method you used could have caused that respray clear layer to lift away.



Did you take notice of what these areas looked like prior to polishing?



As others have stated, find out what the history of the vehicle is? Unfortunately, it looks like you`ll likely be paying for a bumper repaint.



Sent from my VM670 using Tapatalk

[imported_DetailDan]

Clearcoat is just clear paint and not much different than the color coat other than the lack of pigment.



Do you have anymore details about the specific differences (or lack there of) between clear coat and base coat?

[Jngrbrdman]

The only difference is that the clearcoat will usually have some kind of UV inhibitor agent added. Sort of like the flex agent added to the paint used on bumpers. Anyway, other than that it is chemically the same as the color coat minus the pigment. I`m sure Ketch can correct me if I`m wrong on that, but from what I know about paint, that is fairly accurate.

[Ron Ketcham]

The only difference is that the clearcoat will usually have some kind of UV inhibitor agent added. Sort of like the flex agent added to the paint used on bumpers. Anyway, other than that it is chemically the same as the color coat minus the pigment. I`m sure Ketch can correct me if I`m wrong on that, but from what I know about paint, that is fairly accurate.

In the word of Dave Hester, "YUUPP!"

You got it right, just the elastimeric additive to the base and clear, other than that, same.

Grumpy

[imported_DetailDan]

From what I understand, some (or all?) base coat is water based now and clear is still sovent based.

[C. Charles Hahn]

From what I understand, some (or all?) base coat is water based now and clear is still sovent based.



Depends on the paint system, there is still a lot of solvent base in use, though more and more shops are moving to waterborne paint.