Help comparing a good black detail and one with holograms/trails

M

Matth3w

New member
Here is the deal...



I had SpoiledMan detail my car a while back, and let me just say he does a FANTASTIC job. Unfortunately I was driving the Vette to Tucson when we got hit with an unexpected monsoon that nearly flooded the road. I lost all traction and hydroplaned off the road and into a ditch.



Well, the entire car is being repainted (this happened a couple weeks ago) and I am supposed to get it back early this coming week. The problem I foresee is that I doubt this body shop pulled the car out after each panel and checked it in the sun.



They say they have a lot of experience doing cars but I'm skeptical. Really, I should wait to worry or be upset until after I pick up the car, but that's just my personality (to worry ahead of time).



What I'm hoping to find is a perfect explanation as to what buffer holograms are caused by with pictures before and after on black cars in sunlight to show to them if the car is jacked up immediately when I pick up the car...



In other words, I need a great amount of information and pictures to show them the job they did (if it is indeed bad) warrants a refund so I can take a drive out to Cali to have Spoiled Man work on my car again.



What better place than Autopia for that information?



UPDATE:



I just picked up my car for the second time this morning, get home (73+ mile drive) and look. TERRIBLE. They did a complete repaint of the car when I wrecked it. It took about six weeks to get it back the first time. To no fault of their own it had to be brought back up for more work (someone backed into my front bumper, but the front bumper needed repainting anyhow due to the fact that the insurance company made us use a remanufactured the first time)...however there were some imperfections in the paint that was their fault and had to be fixed, and the rear bumper started cracking about two weeks after I had it. Four weeks later it's "done" (again). I gave it a pretty good look at the shop but still evidently overlooked a lot of points (or light was playing a trick on me at the shop). Get it back home, again, and it looks like ****. Someone scratched the heck out of the driver's mirror with a cable or something (the part that faces the inside of the car). The front bumper they just repainted has several huge scratches not to mention you can see where they buffed up and down and left and right (the actual marks, as if you were vacuuming your house). There is overspray on my windshield (that I saw at the shop but mistook it for just a dirty windshield), overspray on the front of my driver's door, clearcoat (?) drops or something that is rough but won't come off on the driver's door in about 15 places, overspray on the driver's quarter panel, and the rear bumper I can see the scratch marks from the wool pad. It looks like the sides of my rear bumper were buffed with a Brillo pad. I also have a huge buff mark about midway under the driver's door that is about 4 inches long where it looks like a 300lb person leaned into the buffer.



This is all after I paid extra over the top of what the insurance company paid when I wrecked it to have "extra" clear coats and "better" buffing job.



I'm so sick of this BS I seriously don't think I even want the car anymore. It's gotten to the point where there are so few competent people out there without a reasonable distance that can work on my car that if anything happens it's months and thousands of dollars later before I can get it looking the way I want, which is just "normal." I shouldn't see holograms in the paint. I shouldn't see overspray.



I know I'm an adult, and I know it's "no big deal" but I'm seriously borderline tears with this damn car. Why is it so hard to find someone that knows *** they are doing when it comes to paint/body/buffing work?
 
If anyone is wondering why I am so paranoid it's because I had spent over a grand in trying to get a detailer worth a crap before I met SpoiledMan trying to get buffer trails out of the car.



Usually when I tell someone (including body shops) that I'm concerned about those trails/holograms in my paint they think I mean something else and have no idea what I'm talking about.



I try to explain that you never see a black car at a dealership with those marks, but they just don't get it. Plus it's hard to get good pictures of them.
 
Ha! I know what you mean. Here's my black Porsche after a trip to the body shop. I needed to have the lower rear plastic "bumper" wrap around re-painted. That was all, but the body shop thought it would be a good idea to just run the heavy wool pad up a little higher on the car!



Here's how I got it from the body shop



DSC_0175.jpg




And after I corrected it with SIP and 106FA



DSC_0038.jpg




Hope yours needs no corrections!
 
Make sure you explain to the shop you will be checking the entire car in the full sun for rotary holograms and you will not accept the car if they have left any. Make sure your insurance company is aware of that too. That might not ensure perfection but odds are they will put their best guy on it to buff it out. Hopefully.
 
Yeah, Scott. Hopefully is the operative word. In my case, it was a self inflicted wound, so I didn't have much choice. The "I'll be going over it with a fine tooth comb" seems not to matter to most of today's "top" body shops. Either that or their combs don't have many teeth to begin with =)



It's pathetic the work ethic that seems to be the "norm" these days. Just pathetic
 
I feel your pain. My Civic SI is about to go in thanks to a semi hitting it on a tight turn (my car was parked on the street legally, he swung wide clipped it on the end of the turn). I have swirls in parts that I was planning on removing the next day actually (Autogeek order just came a day prior). So now I have to wait for the shop, and I don't want to them to touch any other part of the car besides what they have to replace, paint, and blend...



Lucky for me Showroom Shine from the Autogeek board is going to help me out with some tips afterwards so I can straighten it out.
 
My problem is, I have no idea how to correct that **** myself. Landcruiser you did an excellent job on your Carrera!
 
Scottwax said:
Make sure you explain to the shop you will be checking the entire car in the full sun for rotary holograms and you will not accept the car if they have left any. Make sure your insurance company is aware of that too. That might not ensure perfection but odds are they will put their best guy on it to buff it out. Hopefully.
Click to expand...



Two things...



1) The insurance company has no say in the matter because a) I paid extra for extra clear coat and extra detail, and more importantly 2) this body shop was MY choice not the insurance company so I have no recourse if it sucks. However, the body shop the insurance company uses SUCKS. I wouldn't take my pedal bike to that place.



2) I already told them I will be checking it in the sun. That being said, the body shop is about 70 miles away and I'm going to have to pick it up most likely at night. So I will have to go back to them if the next day it looks like crap in the sun.
 
Can those holograms be easily removed with a PC and kit from Autogeek? Like a caveman could do it sort of thing?
 
Matth3w said:
Can those holograms be easily removed with a PC and kit from Autogeek? Like a caveman could do it sort of thing?
Click to expand...



Why not have Spoiled Man check it out--assuming it's not up to your specs?



I used a rotary (Metabo) on mine, however, mine could have been worked with a PC,though perhaps the correction would not have been quite what I would like it to be.



And of course it would depend on how hard your clear is etc.



HTH
 
Well I love Spoiled Man's work but he lives in LA and I live in Southern AZ. I might have to take a trip out to see him if need be. Mine doesn't have to be perfect - it's a daily driver so I know it's going to get fine scratches over a period of time because it's simply not a garage queen and I don't always have a full time to do it "perfect" when I wash. But those holograms drive me NUTS.
 
I wouldn't pick the car up without a nice sunny day at your back. Especially if you have to drive that far each way.



Can you try and arrange a Saturday mid-day pickup?
 
Well, you're in a tight spot. You need to find a way to have SOMEONE go there and get the car during the day that can identify holograms.
 
I wonder if you can find someone from the forum that is local to cruise by and take a look (Not pick the car up, but look at it before you drive 70 miles).
 
If someone is willing, that would be great. I tried to find a detailer in the Tucson, AZ area though when I had my problems before, and the closest person I could find was SpoiledMan. TH0001 recommended me to him from the Corvette forums.
 
One of the big problems is that if you complain, they will likely hit it with a heavy duty glaze to cover the poor rotary work. I've seen *one* bodyshop in all of S. Florida that can finish down without hologramming or fillers.



I would recommend bringing IPA and Prepsol to remove any oils that might be on the surface.



On the plus side, a good repaint will probably be *way* easier to work with than newer 'vette clear. I did an 06, and good lord was it hard to get that car hologram-free (I put about 16 hours into it to get it perfect).
 
Yea, SpoiledMan and I only allotted one day the first time - I met him when he was visiting family in Phoenix....he put so much work into it....and we hit it with every light known to man (it was 11pm when I left!) and the next day it still had some marks. He had to fly back out a few weekends later to finish up...and MAN did he do a good job. He is the definition of perfectionist.



So the good side is that I got a whole new paint job and all imperfections gone, but the bad side is all his hard work for naught! Another good side is that I made a friend



I paid extra for this paint job above what my insurance provided to give it more coats of clear and a better cut and buff than the factory so maybe there won't even BE holograms. If so, I have some guys in the area that are pretty darn good with a buffer that I have met AFTER my last fiasco...we can give it a try then, but if not I'll prolly be making a trip out to LA...
 
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