Uh oh I think I messed up...

[furnace]

On Dec 7th, I got my car back from the shop.



I was in an accident and the hood and bumper cover were replaced and painted, and the paint was blended in my two front quarter panels.



For the most part, opinion on here was that the paint had to oxidize/cure for at least 30 days before I put any sealant on it.



Unfortunately, I have to drive the car in the intervening time (especially now that the subway workers are striking) here in NYC where the roads are salted.



After getting a good chunk of salt all over the car, I took it to my favorite hand wash place. When I got home, I discovered there are swirls on the newly painted area! I`m guessing that the wash mitts they use are contaminated. Next time I will bring my Costco microfiber towels and have them use those.



1) Does this mean the paint has been scratched?

2) When the car come out of the oven, does the body shope normally put some type of clear coat on it?

3) I was going to take the car to Detailing Dynamics after the 30 day period...WILL they or SHOULD they take the swirls out of the paint?



p.s. I live in a high-rise apt building here in NYC and park my car in a 5 level garage. Needless to say, I have no access to hose, sinks, etc. I just orderd QEW but I`m not even sure how I would get access to buckets of warm water unless I bring them down from my apt...



Thanks!

[Accumulator]

First, let me say that washing without marring the finish is hard to do. But yeah, the guys who washed it scratched the paint in the process. "Marring"/swirls/etc. are scratches. If somebody marred my finish, they wouldn`t be "my favorite hand wash place" for long ;) Get them to do it right or find somebody else. This is a pretty crucial thing as the wash is what happens most often and is where (IMO) most damage occurs.



Just giving the wash guys your MFs won`t guarantee a marring-free wash. It oughta help, but don`t expect miracles. As I said at the beginning, washing without marring is hard to do, especially this time of year.



Assuming your car was repainted as in "normal" these days, it got basecoat *and clearcoat* paint, both before the car was baked. You should have plenty of clear so a little can be polished away to remove the marring. The paint will be soft until it finishes curing so I`d probably wait until then.



So IMO you oughta just live with the marring until the paint has cured and the (presumably competent) detailing shop does the car. They can abrasively polish out the marring and, assuming the paintshop did their job right, it`ll be OK. Maybe you oughta consider having them do your regular washes too. Make them responsible for your car`s appearance and then hold them to a high standard.



Hearing about your living in a NYC high-rise, IMO you oughta find a *GOOD* pro detailer and let them do everything. Using your knowledge from this site you should be able to be informed and involved in how they go about it. Honestly, in your situation I would not be doing my own detailing (but I`d be very, *VERY* particular about who did it for me).

[furnace]

Hey Accumulator,



Thanks for the advice and info. It sounds like my clear is probably scratched but not the paint itself? In any case, www.detailingdynamics.com seems like the most reputable shop around. There is also NY detailer but I`m not sure I can use him since I have no driveway or hose hookup.



In either case, whether it`s detailingdynamics or NYdetailer, that`s really far to go just for a car wash.



I guess there aren`t too many Autopians that are from NYC?

[Accumulator]

The clear is just another layer of paint, a layer without pigment. Heh heh, if you hit the underlying colorcoat, you`re looking at another repaint ;) Think of it as all the same thing- paint. The layers fuse together anyhow, as far as the car`s concerned it *is* the same thing.



I bet there`s some way for you to get it washed properly. NYC is (IMO) *the* city of the western world and there`s just gotta be some way to keep your car nice. Might cost a bit though, but hey, that`s life in the big city right? ;)



Heh heh, I notice that DetailingDynamics shows pics of black cars under fluorescent lights. Black had *better* look good under such forgiving illumination. Not saying they don`t do good work, but I`d check out their work in person and make sure you`ll be satisfied.

[SK2003TypeS]

DD does great work. I was at his clinic a month ago and last year as well. A few of my friends have had them do the clear bra and I was really impressed.

He is on the highend with prices, but it`s because his work is top notch.

[furnace]

Hm, I took a closer look at the Detailing Dynamics site...



Take a look at the following before, during, and after pics.



http://www.detailingdynamics.com/webgallery/exterior/pages/scratch_01.htm

http://www.detailingdynamics.com/webgallery/exterior/pages/scratch_02.htm

http://www.detailingdynamics.com/webgallery/exterior/pages/scratch_03.htm



Now, on the last pic, the after, look at where the flash from the camera is. Pretend that is the center of a clock. Now, look between 1 and 2 o`clock.



Is it me, or are there swirl marks?

[White95Max]

Those sure look like swirls to me. I`m quite surprised that any detailing shop would put a less-than-perfect picture on their website. :confused:

[imported_Bence]

Yes, good point.



These are holograms. Tiniest scratches which break the light only from a certain angle. Direct sunlight will show them even more. Crappy job.

[Accumulator]

After SK2003TypeS`s post I was gonna give DD the benefit of the doubt, but yeah, that last pic of the blue car is really scary. And FWIW I`d question wetsanding scratches like that in the first place. Proceed with caution....you might even ask them about the marring in that pic and see what they have to say. Could be that they followed up with a milder product, removing the light marring, and all was well. But if they say something like "all cars look like that" then go elsewhere. Heh heh, if nothing else, pointing out that you consider that picture to be really alarming will let them know that you`re a particular customer who knows what he wants (and what he doesn`t want too).

[furnace]

Thanx for the opinions guys...



I am slowly running out of options. I need to find a place that can fix my paint and put on the paint protection film.



My body shop (who have can put on the paint protection film but I can tell they are not comfortable doing it. I also don`t think my body shop will do more than a cursory job washing it before putting on the film. I don`t see them spending the time to get out the swirl marks.



If I go to GTRStilez to fix and polish the paint, I have a long highway drive with salt to the body shop to install the paint protection film.



GTRStilez mentioned maybe using saran wrap to keep the salt off?

[D Tailor]

Jeeeeeez DD sho duz have some nice clients. :2thumbs:

[SK2003TypeS]

Hmmm...Odd. I`m surprised as well that a pic like that would be on the site.



There are levels of things they will not do. Sometimes due to customer request.

Maybe that was "good enough for the customer" ? Possibly selling the car ? No idea. :nixweiss

Every time I`ve been there, the cars that I`ve seen are pristine.



From what I`ve seen of Sean`s pics and posts, he`s underpriced IMO. Only one on LI, I`d trust with my car.



MachB5, it`s kinda disgusting, but high end cars are pretty normal there. There are some pics in my gallery from last year`s clinic. Ferrari and NSX club were there and I was floored. :faint:

[Accumulator]

I am slowly running out of options. I need to find a place that can fix my paint and put on the paint protection film...If I go to GTRStilez to fix and polish the paint, I have a long highway drive with salt to the body shop to install the paint protection film...GTRStilez mentioned maybe using saran wrap to keep the salt off?



If it were mine I`d just skip the film and accept that "real cars have stonechips", but anyhow...I bet you and GTRStilez could install the paint protection film at his shop and have it turn out better overall than any of your other options. IMO the big thing is to install it over undamaged paint and it sounds like getting/keeping the paint undamaged is gonna be the hardest part of this job.



Consider that the people you`re planning to use for the protection film seem pretty, uhm, questionable with regard to their expertise...this stuff isn`t rocket science and if they can`t wash paint without marring it or do good polishing jobs then they`re no geniuses. You guys would be *so* much more careful that even your first attempt at this job would probably turn out much better than most "pros" would do.



Get enough film that you can try it a few times and you should be fine. Now figure out how to talk STRStilez into this idea :D