So I started the week off with a Maxima that had dissappearing paint--paint that washed off, obviously recent, uncured touch ups.
Then I had the guy with "no clearcoat".

On Friday morning, a man came in looking quite sheepish in little, aqua-green domestic sedan. The hood looks awful. He comes into the shop, cigarette in hand (while I set down my bottle of solvent), and says, "can you do anything about this?"
I go out to look. I rub my hand over the roughest, most uneven texture I`ve seen since the guy came in with the car he painted with a brush. The man described the story:
"The hood was faded more than the rest of the paint so I wanted to fix it. I used to do body shop, so I figured I knew what I was doing. I taped off the fenders and ordered a factory coloured paint bomb from an auto body place. Unfortunately, as I got ready to spray the hood down, the wind picked up (yeah, that`s right, outside) and blew the newspaper up. I figured I could aim well and just tore off the paper.
"As I began to spray according to the instructions, the paint went into the air and on all the neighbour`s cars. I decided I couldn`t let that happen, so I moved closer, moving faster.
"But now, the car isn`t shiny at all! It is all uneven, and the fenders are coated. The colour is awful. They want $1000 at the body shop and I can`t pay that. Can you fix it?"

:gun_banda

Yeah.

I grabbed a clay bar, which turned green with 3-4 rubs in a small area. I then grabbed some compound and a cloth, which was coated in WET green paint in 5 seconds. That was three inches on a hood. Add the fenders and you have a day methinks.

So what would you do?

I told him that he could spray a $10 can of clear coat over it to keep it the way it was, but it would still look awful, but with an etchy shine to bring out the putrid, uneven colour. He said "no, that`s okay."

I then said, "or, you can refinish the three panels, and I can renew the paint on the rest of the car, making it look new like the newly finished panels." He thought that was okay, but really doesn`t want to spend the money ($1000 + $200 for me).

So, then I said, "ok, let me have it for a couple of hours. I will try some things. That will be enough time to let you know whether we can get this half decent." I said I`d charge an hourly rate, and let him know how long we were looking at after that.

What could I do. He looked so sad, and talked about his wife dying. I gave him a cut rate of $25/hour. It`ll cost me a few dollars in thinners/reducers, solvents, and compound. But half of it was I wanted to know what I can get away with. This is like get a free hood from the junker to mess around with.

Finally, I said, "I wish you came to me first. For a coupla hundred bucks I could have made your paint like new again." He nodded, and said, "yeah, that`s the last time I pretend to be a refinisher."

What would you have done? And any tips for me?
b