Questions before respray

[Casebrius]

I`m about to have a good portion of my single stage paint resprayed. I do have some slight swirl marks remaining. Should I polish them out before the respray or am I wasting my time? What is a polite way to tell the body shop "I`m an Autopian, so you better save yourself some time and have it right the first time"?

[splattj]

They should be sanding well past your swirl marks so don`t worry about that. Now, to answer your second question. I would bring the car in looking show ready and explain to them that the newly painted section needs to look as good as the rest of the car or you won`t accept it. It`s hard to ask them to "do it right." Just ask them to make it look perfect, since the rest of the car does.

[Accumulator]

Yeah, I`d be more concerned with the shop leaving sanding scratches that`ll show up as the paint cures. The swirls will get sanded away as part of the painting prep.



I`m very explicit about what I expect. I`ll point out the texture/orangepeel on adjacent panels and explain how the new paint has to match perfectly. I`ll ask how they plan to mask/disassemble. I`ll talk with the painter about which brand of paint he`s gonna use and why. Explain that you want to inspect the work with no glaze on it, spotlessly clean.



Do the inspection under good conditions so you can really see what they`ve done. If anything is amiss, from the inspection conditions to the job, don`t pay and don`t take the car. Explain in advance how you`re gonna be and that if they make you happy they`ll have a customer for life.

[Lowejackson]

If possible, remove as much of the trim or loosen any bolts etc, this is a very time consuming and therefore expensive part of the process.



If you remove the trim you can spends hours in the comfort of your own home getting it all to a perfect condition.

[Casebrius]

I`m nervous to say the least about this paint job. This car will never leave my stable as long as I have a drivers license. It`s a BMW E36 M3. The paint is single stage and is in very good condition with exception to the hood. There is virtually no orange peel and I hope to have it back the same way. They will be spraying the entire roof, driver door and hood. I`d imagine they will have to blend the front driver quarter and possibly rear quarter. I have probably 20-25 chips on the front of the hood that I`m going to have to prep myself. The hood is not part of the insurance claim, so to minimize cost out of pocket, I`m going to sand-prep the hood myself. I have a good friend who has done a bunch of body work in a shop in the past that is going to help me prep it. On a single stage paint, how much sanding will need to be done by them before spraying? I realize that chips are a whole differant deal, but the paint on the roof and door is pretty clean. Does anyone have a good painting 101 site I can get aquanted with the process of prep/painting before I take it there? Thanks for replies.