One dealer wash + SOFT GM paint=?

EBPcivicsi

GOT PREP?
This customer initially declined dealer prep at the point of sale and we have been the only shop to wash the car since then�the paint was perfect. Last week his wife took it into the dealership for an oil change and confirmed with the service advisor that she was indeed flagged as a “non-wash customer.� The service advisor told her, “no problem, we will not wash it.� She picked the car up in this condition.





THIS IS AFTER ONE WASH!



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We corrected this paint with SIP via an orange low-profile pad/PC/speed6, followed by PO106FF/PC/white LP pad/speed6, and then sealed with collinite 845-told you guys this paint was soft!

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Holy crap! what the heck did they wash it with??? A brillo pad? That's beyond extreme for only having one wash. Nice turn around. hopefully they can get the dealership to foot the bill for being retarded.
 
Ha ha...Cadillac dealer wash...ha ha. Don't know how many washes this was:

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Nice recovery on that one, I'm not feeling the wheels with that car, tho. So the new GM blacks are soft, what about the rest of the colors?
 
The burgandy paint seemed really soft, but I can't recall working on any other colors. This new black paint is like butter! I wonder if it hardens at all after it fully cures?
 
Shouldn't it be fully cured after the factory bake? I wonder why these blacks (and apparently the Black Cherry) are so soft? It can't be a black paint thing after seeing threads on those black Ceramiclear Benzes...
 
I wonder if the car was already "prepped" and when they washed it later on they just washed the fillers off of it.



Either way nice job on the car!
 
Hm...sorry to drift off topic...I was just nosing around at the CTS website looking at the factory wheels, and it says "There is no jack or spare tire in the CTS. Standard Tire Inflator Kit is included and spare tire is available as an option." And no, they're not run-flats. Not sure if I'd be comfortable with no spare...I've had flats that were not going to be fixed by any inflator kit.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Hm...sorry to drift off topic...I was just nosing around at the CTS website looking at the factory wheels, and it says "There is no jack or spare tire in the CTS. Standard Tire Inflator Kit is included and spare tire is available as an option." And no, they're not run-flats. Not sure if I'd be comfortable with no spare...I've had flats that were not going to be fixed by any inflator kit.

A lot of cars are coming with no spare now. I know the Mazda RX8 is the same way.
 
The car originally came to us brand new--not in the plastic, but filthy. We did a decontamination wash/seal about one month before this, so I am pretty sure that any fillers would be gone. :D



Should also add that we had washed it twice before this episode with the dealer.



Setec, I have heard of some of the newer technology clears remaining soft for up to two years. Not sure if that means that they are fully cured yet remain soft or not????
 
Well you got to think. (especially with the big 3) cost savings is at all all time premimum right now. It wouldn't suprise me one bit to see these guys using sup par products if it meant they could save a ton. The real way to find out I guess would be to see if they changed up their paint warrenty in anyway as to let them off the hook for shotty cleatcoats on the paint. At least then it would be a clear indication that they know they are using sub par products and and just trying to save yet another dollar. And this is something I could very easily see GM doing with no regard to final customer satisfaction.
 
That sucks. I peaked into the washing bay at my old Honda dealer a few years back and the porter was using a bucket of water, that did not appear to have soap in it, it was probably 4 hours old anyway, and a rag that was laid on the shop floor between washes.



I guess I can see how they do that bad. LOL
 
Jakerooni said:
Well you got to think. (especially with the big 3) cost savings is at all all time premimum right now. It wouldn't suprise me one bit to see these guys using sup par products if it meant they could save a ton.



That doesn't make much sense. Honda/Acura paint is supposed to be soft, does that mean they are using sub-par paint? It may be some other desired characteristic of the paint, in processing or appearance, that causes a tradeoff into being softer. Perhaps it's a tacit admission of the maker that black looks bad when it's swirled, so they use a soft clear to make it easier (in some cases, at least) to polish out the marring?
 
Setec there's a HUUUUUUGE difference between "soft" clear and clear that dosen't fully cure or harden for over 2 years... Don't confuse the two. One is a characteristic of good product the other is sub par cheap as you can get it product.
 
I don't think it has to do with quality at all. I think that perhaps they tried to reduce orange peel (they did) and the softness was an unfortunate side effect. Or perhaps the new VOC laws played a role?
 
ebpcivicsi said:
I don't think it has to do with quality at all. I think that perhaps they tried to reduce orange peel (they did) and the softness was an unfortunate side effect.



That sounds like a reasonable conjecture. Although I guess this is going to start the argument again about whether orange peel is intentional.
 
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