New car paint defects? Could use some opinions

S

stook2001

New member
I bought a 2016 Camaro last weekend. The car has about 200 miles on it and I bought it without dealer prep with the plan to clean it up and apply a coating on my own (thinking the dealer was likely to just add swirl marks during prep). For clarity, I bought the car with 100 miles on it. I suspect it was on their lot for a bit but I am not exactly sure how long.

In any event, I have been gradually working on the car in my garage since I got it. Washed it and clayed it with the fine grade nanoskin. Tonight, I went to start polishing out the car and noticed some problems almost immediately. Not quite sure what to make of it. I have not had a chance to carefully assess the rest of the car but the hood appears to have a LOT of paint defects. Almost like there was dust while it was being painted. The dust seems to be in the clear, or maybe even in the base coat, it`s hard to tell.

I`ll try to get some better photos but the two in the below link show the section that I had just started working on. This is taken after wash then clay then 3D HD Cut w/ Light Cut Pad then 3D HD Cut w/ Medium Cut pad. Any thoughts on this? I`m inclined to think that the dealership did some paint work on the car and I`m not happy about it.

paint - Album on Imgur
 
Looks like particles/dirt during the finishing process. Check for signs of overspray, tape lines along side panel gap sides / along door/hood jambs . I know cars come with plenty of swirls and damage from post factory paint, not sure when it comes to having that much dirt on it.
 
I am sorry about the condition of your paint. I have some of those on my paint maybe 4 or 5 dirt or dust specks under the clear and they are very annoying. I watched a youtube video of Mercedes Sprinters being painted which is what I drive. They were using a mini rotary that I think is called a de-nibber that had a small 1" disc on it and you can see some of those type of repairs on my paint. My paint also has factory installed orange peel and that is why I can see these de-nibbing spots if the light hits just the right spot and angle. I could not live with that many defects in my paint and would go back to the dealer and try to get it fixed or exchanged. This is easier said than done and must be well documented each visit to the dealer in case that you need to hire a lawyer to fix this defect.If it is only on the hood in just a small area a professional detailer may be able to advise a better solution if the dealer does not satisfy you. I wish you the best results under these unfortunate circumstances.
 
I need to look over the rest of the car more carefully. It is the entire hood for sure. There are a few defects that are worse than what I`ve photographed that I`ve already found (also on the hood).

Anybody know where I can find someone that would have a paint thickness gauge? What kind of places typically either sell them or have them on hand (sorry for the probably dumb question)?
 
I carefully looked over the car today with a lot of overhead and natural light. I can`t find any sign of tape marks or over spray. It looks like legit paint defects from the factory. The worst of it covers the bulk of the hood. I`d guess there are several hundred small specks of dirt in the clear. There are also a few larger pieces of dirt that are much more obvious defects vs. the ones that I linked to in the original post. There are also smaller defects over most of the car but less extensive (although I think not the bumpers and perhaps not the doors either).

I`ve reached out to the GM of the dealership to hopefully come to some resolution.
 
stook2001 said:
I carefully looked over the car today with a lot of overhead and natural light. I can`t find any sign of tape marks or over spray. It looks like legit paint defects from the factory. The worst of it covers the bulk of the hood. I`d guess there are several hundred small specks of dirt in the clear. There are also a few larger pieces of dirt that are much more obvious defects vs. the ones that I linked to in the original post. There are also smaller defects over most of the car but less extensive (although I think not the bumpers and perhaps not the doors either).

I`ve reached out to the GM of the dealership to hopefully come to some resolution.
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Where in ct are you?
 
Seems like if you used light grit sand paper, polish and clay bar it would take it out and even remove some of that aweful orange peel. not sure id want to do that on a new car.

Nice color and good choice with a Camaro! how do you like driving it so far?
 
Mr. Slick said:
Seems like if you used light grit sand paper, polish and clay bar it would take it out and even remove some of that aweful orange peel. not sure id want to do that on a new car.

Nice color and good choice with a Camaro! how do you like driving it so far?
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The smaller defects that I initially photographed *might* be improved with wet sanding but I`m not prepared to make that assumption. The clear is flat, ie. I can`t feel the dust specks. While sanding might improve the situation that isn`t without significant long term risk to the viability of the clear coat. Then there is the matter of some of the other issues that I found today, which in my view would likely be impossible to fix with wet sanding. It`s just a bad situation. We`ll see what happens.

The car is a lot of fun. The new model Camaro is built on the Cadillac ATS platform and my version of the car has the Corvette`s LT1 drivetrain, along with the mag ride suspension and other fun bits. I`ve barely driven the car other than driving it home from the dealership since I was trying to get it prepped for a coating application. Unfortunately, the whole effort has come to a complete halt since I don`t want to touch the car until the dealership sees it next Saturday.
 
Ronkh said:
Maybe post a ? around to see if anyone close by has a ptg.
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Ah, I was wondering if that was why you were asking. On second thought, I`m not going to bother with the PTG because ultimately it doesn`t matter at this point. The car is brand new and covered under warranty. I have very carefully looked over the paint work and I can see no signs of any type of body shop work. I am not an expert but given the nature of these defects, I`d expect to find other signs of sloppiness as well. I`m going to wait to see what the dealer suggests.
 
stook2001 said:
Ah, I was wondering if that was why you were asking. On second thought, I`m not going to bother with the PTG because ultimately it doesn`t matter at this point. The car is brand new and covered under warranty. I have very carefully looked over the paint work and I can see no signs of any type of body shop work. I am not an expert but given the nature of these defects, I`d expect to find other signs of sloppiness as well. I`m going to wait to see what the dealer suggests.
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Understood, but I was thinking it might be an undisclosed repaint
 
It almost looks like solvent bubbles under the paint, like the top layer of paint cured too fast so they couldn`t escape during the paint drying process. This would explain why you can`t feel them on the surface
 
I`ll keep everyone posted. I won`t have more information until a week from today. I`m not in favor of a repaint, I`m also not in favor of wet sanding, and I am also not in favor of leaving it as-is. Not sure where that leaves me, unfortunately, but hopefully we can find a resolution.
 
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