Need help with new car delivery!

M

MSCA

New member
BigAl3 said:
i wouldn't let the hacks touch it, they are going to make it worse. honestly, you should read up and learn how to take care of it yourself (lots of great info on the site as well as some videos) and a step in the right direction would be to purchase a DA...



p.s. :welcome



Car Detailing videos - How to detail, polish and wax your Car



another option is to have a fellow Autopian help you out, where are you located?
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Thanks for the reply.



I didn't purchase the car yet, so I'm thinking about walking away from the deal entirely. I still have that option. Once I purchase it, then this is MY problem.



I actually know a little bit about detailing and removing swirls. I understand the process....the different wool/foam pads and which ones cut...the different glazes/polishes etc... but only in theory. I don't have much experience actually removing swirls. So I'm not a TOTAL newbie, but probably close enough to it.



At the same time, I want my new car to be perfect....not scratched from day one. So at this point I have a choice to make---let them fix it or don't buy the car. Unless there is someone local to me who would be willing to look at it and give me an expert opinion. The car is in Ramsey NJ.
 
yakky said:
Chances are if the dealership installed the swirls, they will only create more problems trying to fix them. Maybe one in 100 dealerships has a detailer that knows what an autopian correction involves. They rest are all smooth talking hacks. Are you feeling lucky?
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I think the dealership detail guys probably did a decent job at cleaning the car for delivery. But then at some point along the line, someone must have wiped down the roof for some reason. The reason I say that it because only the roof has the scratches. I carefully checked the hood, trunk lid, and all sides of the car and found no visible scratches/swirls anywhere else. So the damage looks like it is all limited to the roof only.
 
Hi, first time poster here.



So I'm about to take delivery of my brand new G37 coupe. It's a beautiful car for sure, but I went to look at it last night, under the lights at the dealership. Well, it looks like someone must have wiped down the car with an abrasive cloth because there are microscratches all over the roof. I inspected every inch of the car very carefully and the rest of the car looked 100% perfect.



So my question is this: Do you think I should have the dealership's detail guys try to correct the scratches on the roof? I don't know enough about detailing to attempt this myself, so I'm not sure if I should let them fix it or just not buy the car. I'm a bit worried that they'll remove too much of the clear coat in an attempt to fix the scratches.



What should I do? I'm really annoyed that this happened in the first place, but it is strange that it's only on the roof. I looked at the car two days earlier when it came off the truck and it had protective white plastic over all of the horizontal surfaces. Just two days later and the paint on the roof is scratched all over!
 
i wouldn't let the hacks touch it, they are going to make it worse. honestly, you should read up and learn how to take care of it yourself (lots of great info on the site as well as some videos) and a step in the right direction would be to purchase a DA...



p.s. :welcome



Car Detailing videos - How to detail, polish and wax your Car



another option is to have a fellow Autopian help you out, where are you located?
 
Chances are if the dealership installed the swirls, they will only create more problems trying to fix them. Maybe one in 100 dealerships has a detailer that knows what an autopian correction involves. They rest are all smooth talking hacks. Are you feeling lucky?
 
MSCA said:
Thanks for the reply.



I didn't purchase the car yet, so I'm thinking about walking away from the deal entirely. I still have that option. Once I purchase it, then this is MY problem..
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Welcome to Autopia!



Honestly, I'd walk away. I've passed on brand new cars that I was *really* excited about getting over problems that were probably a lot less significant that what you've described. Yeah, it's not fun...and waiting to find the "right one" can be trying. But I don't like starting off on the wrong foot.



OTOH, when my wife's A8 arrived damaged, she just said "keep it, and get it fixed" and ten years later we still have, and still love, that car.



I'm one more voice saying "DO NOT LET THE DEALER TOUCH IT!" They'll make it worse. Really. You just won't realize it until later, when, as you said, it'll be your problem. If you decide to take it and have a *good*, reputable pro fix it, OK...but then you're starting off with thinner clear on the topmost horizontal surface (max sun exposure).



Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
 
Here's two pics of the damage to the roof. I had to go back at night to take this pics because the scratches are pretty much impossible to see in the daylight. The color of the car is called Shadow Grey (new color for 2010) and it's a relatively dark grey with a brownish hue to it.



Can anyone tell by these pics if this is considered light damage and easy to correct?
 

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MSCA- Always hard to tell from pics, but that looks a lot like the result of poor machine polishing. Probably not all *that* severe or hard to correct, but it does make me wonder what prompted them to do it in the first place and how much clear they removed.



Same answer- I myself would pass on the car. I've passed over much less significant things than that, on cars that I'd waited a looong time for. But hey, that's just me and I'm a bit of a fanatic about such stuff, in part because I sometimes keep my vehicles a long time and want to know that I can polish them as needed without worrying about starting off with thinned clearcoat.
 
Does anyone think I can correct the paint myself using Meg's Ultimate Compound or their less aggressive Swirl-X applied by hand? Remember that the damage is limited to the roof of the car only and it has a sunroof, so the overall area is not large. I would try the Swirl-X first to see if it gets rid of the swirls, and then move on to the UC if the Swirl-X doesn't work well enough.



Also, if I attempt to do this by hand, should I use a yellow foam pad?
 
JohnKleven's suggestion is the best advice you can get. It's the dealer's fault and they are responsible. I doubt they want you to walk away from the deal and they should be able to cover this business expense out of their pocket, not yours. This is especially true on a higher-end car such as yours. Unless you have the know-how, chemicals, and equipment to correct it yourself, let someone (like Phil @ Detailer's Domain) who does have the fore-mentioned items to fix your problem.
 
Lonnie said:
JohnKleven's suggestion is the best advice you can get. It's the dealer's fault and they are responsible. I doubt they want you to walk away from the deal and they should be able to cover this business expense out of their pocket, not yours. This is especially true on a higher-end car such as yours. Unless you have the know-how, chemicals, and equipment to correct it yourself, let someone (like Phil @ Detailer's Domain) who does have the fore-mentioned items to fix your problem.
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Thanks for the advice, but the dealership insists that their own guys can fix it and they refuse to pick up the tab for someone of my choice to fix it. I don't trust their guys to do the job correctly. For all I know, they'll use a really aggressive polish or compound and go deep into the clear coat. So I'm left with two choices: attempt to fix it myself (by hand--I have no machines) or walk away. I'm seriously considering walking away at this point, but if I can fix it myself using Meg's consumer products like ScratchX or UC, then I might just give it a shot.
 
MSCA- Eh, I'm probably sounding like a broken record here; you already know what I'd do...but anyhow...



If their guys could fix it, it woulda already *been* fixed. Sounds like you already know that :xyxthumbs And that just doesn't sound like the sort of place I'd want to do business with; you planning on letting them service it?



And IMO, whenever you're "seriously considering walking away", you probably oughta do that. For a boatload of reasons. Don't discount "intuition". I think that at some level you already know that this isn't right for you and that you shouldn't second-guess that. Hey, it's not like this is a unique opportunity to get a one-of-a-kind car, right?
 
MSCA- If, OTOH, you do decide to take it, I think you oughta take it to Phil, even if it's on your own dollar. It might be a very easy fix, something you can do by hand. But I don't think you oughta experiment with your new car. Let him do it (right) and you'll have a nice, full detail that oughta take the sting out of all this BS with the dealer and get your new car experience back on track.
 
Accumulator said:
MSCA- Eh, I'm probably sounding like a broken record here; you already know what I'd do...but anyhow...



If their guys could fix it, it woulda already *been* fixed. Sounds like you already know that :xyxthumbs And that just doesn't sound like the sort of place I'd want to do business with; you planning on letting them service it?



And IMO, whenever you're "seriously considering walking away", you probably oughta do that. For a boatload of reasons. Don't discount "intuition". I think that at some level you already know that this isn't right for you and that you shouldn't second-guess that. Hey, it's not like this is a unique opportunity to get a one-of-a-kind car, right?
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Yeah, you're probably right. It's just that I special ordered this car (it's a rare combination of 6-speed manual trans and factory navigation) and waited months for it. Hard for me to walk away from it, especially considering the good deal that I got on it.



As for the dealership....well, I'm a little disappointed in them. The damage should have never happened in the first place. I service my own vehicles (I'm a Master Tech) and they NEVER go back to the dealer, even for warranty work. So once it leaves the dealer's lot, chances are it will never return. LOL. But thanks again for the advice. I'll probably just walk away... but I won't be happy about it!
 
Okay, so I spoke with Phil. Unfortunately, he's booked up until mid-August. Plus, he seemed somewhat unwilling to work on the roof only without doing a full new car prep/detail.



Can anyone recommend someone else who is good in my area? Perhaps someone willing to just fix the swirls on the roof? I can't wait too long because my whole sale is on hold. I'm real close to walking away from the deal entirely, but since Phil thinks the damage can be easily fixed, I figured I'd give it one more shot before giving up on the deal.



So who else in norther NY/NJ area is a good detail guy?
 
I recently walked away from a deal on a 2-year old used car. Dealerships of high-end cars can't believe they can do anything wrong.
 
Bill57- Ain't that the truth! Sometimes the stuff the salesmen say can be amusing to me, but I bet it works on people who don't know where they really stand in such matters.



MSCA- Wish I knew somebody I could recommend :nixweiss



It's not weird for Phil to want to do the whole car. Most anybody will approach it that way, just doing a light "uniformity-related" job on the undamaged areas.



If you get a chance, let us know what you do and how things go. I sympathize with the way this must be weighing on your mind.
 
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