What`s going on with this paint?

Here’s one just for fun.


Not my car, just one that rolled through the shop. While I had it on the hoist, it was impossible not to notice this pattern in the paint. First, the pictures:
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...917552af00.jpg


https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...2137d23f0d.jpg


You can see what looks like etching in the paint. Again, not my car, so I didn’t go rubbing on it to see if you could feel it. It almost looked like it was below the surface.


The whole car looked like this. If you shifted lighting, you could also see staining all over the car:


https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...11899b0e44.jpg


My impression is that it looks like the car probably got sprayed down with a caustic chemical? IE: Sprayed down with wheel acid by runners at the dealership before running it through their automatic car wash? (Saw this all too often back when I worked at a dealership).


The staining “makes sense” for something you’d see as a result of chemicals, but the odd etching from the first couple pictures had me scratching my head. I’ve never seen anything like that before.


As far as I could tell, the paint looked largely factory. I don’t have a paint thickness gauge, but I do have a lot of experience looking for signs of bodywork (as a technician, when we do pre/post-purchase inspections we look the car over to help the buyer be aware if it’s had any work done. No paint like factory paint…).


Based on orange peel and imperfections in the paint (“Dits” as I like to call them - looked like a dirt nib), the rear bumper was the only panel that stood out as being repainted. But, to be honest, since the car was red versus the normal black/white/grey/silver, I wasn’t sure if that kind of thing could be more common from the factory based on lower volume of cars that color.


Example:


https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...ba10d5db4c.jpg


I tried to get more/better pictures, but getting my 4 year old phone to focus at point blank range on surface imperfections on a shiny red car was a bit of a challenge! :laughing:




Looking forward to hearing people’s thoughts as to what that could have been!


I know one thing for sure, no way in heck I could have lived with it!!!

First thing that went through my mind was that it`s a respray.

It could have been reclear coated. That last pix is a speck of dirt. I had a customer do that to his BMW. Looked nice but they never took out the bird crap stains and other stuff.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GearHead_1

First thing that went through my mind was that it`s a respray.

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Same here...and not a good respray at that. IMO it`s the kinda thing that can only be fixed with a proper repaint.

That seems to be the only explanation that makes any sense for how it has such a below-surface look (like in the first two photos. The third photo still strikes me as chemical etching from carelessness). The bizzare part is I can`t find any other tells for a respray - no tape lines, paint around seals/jams, orange peel variance (outside of what you see in the rear bumper shot - that orange peel difference was very noticeable), fish eyes, dirt nibs, unusual rock chipping from softer clear, points of obvious excess paint, etc.

Realistically though, that doesn`t mean it`s not repainted - I guess if it was it was they did a very thorough job... with poor preparation. :dunno:

It`s one of those ones where you`d just love to know what the heck happened there!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Oneheadlite

That seems to be the only explanation that makes any sense for how it has such a below-surface look (like in the first two photos. The third photo still strikes me as chemical etching from carelessness). The bizzare part is I can`t find any other tells for a respray - no tape lines, paint around seals/jams, orange peel variance (outside of what you see in the rear bumper shot - that orange peel difference was very noticeable), fish eyes, dirt nibs, unusual rock chipping from softer clear, points of obvious excess paint, etc.

Realistically though, that doesn`t mean it`s not repainted - I guess if it was it was they did a very thorough job... with poor preparation. :dunno:

It`s one of those ones where you`d just love to know what the heck happened there!

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There are cheap paint places in East Sacramento.. One is called Earl Scheib... Been doing it for over 60 years..
They wash the vehicle, dry it, scuff all the paint with steel wool, blow it off, tape it up, might throw on a sealer, prime it, paint it, done... You get what you pay for..

All paint from the factory goes through the same Factory process; all colors come out looking great...
Seen lots of Reds from all the marques (except Mercedes), they are beautifully done by the Factory...
Dan F

Yea respray over clear coat. That stuff is on my painted fence cause I was 2 lazy to sand the chipped paint areas