Should I Accept Car or Not?

I

Idrops

New member
I bought a new Miata Sunday. After signing the papers the salesman took me to the car to hand me the keys and review the car. I noticed a distortion in the clearcoat where a bird bomb was. It is about two inches in diameter and the clearcoat has a "cracked mud" look. It is smooth to touch. They sent it to their body shop and I did not accept the car.



Dealer calls me today and says it came out easily with a buffer and no repainting was necessary. (I would not accept a repaint anyway.)



I will be going to the dealer tomorrow to inspect and if it looks perfect I want to take the car.



What is the expert opinion of this list as to the repair? Can a bird bomb be buffed out? Can it return? Can the dealer hide it with fillers to affect my inspection? Can I tell if it was just the clearcoat or was the paint affected?



Sorry no pics but this was unexpected. BTW this was a case where I DID want the dealer to wash the car because it was very dirty and I could not inspect it without a wash. I did not take the car off the lot and therefore did not take possession.



Thanks for the advise.
 
Miata paint is thin, but all you can do is look at it under whatever conditions you can arrange and base your decision on that. If it wasn't on there for too long, should be ok. Again, inspection is the only thing to base your decision on.



$0.02,

Robert
 
In most cases I would say yes take the car, but you say the clear actually looked "cracked". That concerns me very much. This could be the actual paint films breaking apart. You can shine it up real nice with a rotary buffer but it will usually return in a short amount of time. When you go to look at the car again take some Denatured or Rubbing alcohol and put it on the area let it sit for 2 minutes then wipe off and re-inspect. This will remove any makeup glaze type products they may have put on the finish and will give you a better look at it.



Another option is inspect the clear with a 30X lighted magnifier, if you see small cracks in the surface.....don't buy it, trust me.
 
The dealer can slop stuff on the paint to temporarily hide/mask the problem and you may see it re-appear within a couple of weeks.



Can they get you another car?
 
ShowroomLincoln said:
In most cases I would say yes take the car, but you say the clear actually looked "cracked". That concerns me very much. This could be the actual paint films breaking apart. You can shine it up real nice with a rotary buffer but it will usually return in a short amount of time. When you go to look at the car again take some Denatured or Rubbing alcohol and put it on the area let it sit for 2 minutes then wipe off and re-inspect. This will remove any makeup glaze type products they may have put on the finish and will give you a better look at it.



Another option is inspect the clear with a 30X lighted magnifier, if you see small cracks in the surface.....don't buy it, trust me.
Click to expand...



I'm with him. Go to radio shack and get a lighted magnifier. Inspect the car in the garage not in the glaring sunlight. Take a halogen light with you - if you don't have one go to the Home Depot or Lowes and pick one up for about $10. Use the alcohol to remove whatever they put on it to see what is really down there.



Also do a search on this board for bird bombs/droppings. They are nasty nasty nasty to paint if left on for a period of time.



Take your time!
 
ShowroomLincoln said:
When you go to look at the car again take some Denatured or Rubbing alcohol and put it on the area let it sit for 2 minutes then wipe off and re-inspect.
Click to expand...



Oh man, that's a _great_ idea. :up :up
 
Bird Bomb etchings seem to dissappear on their own in

a few weeks. Your going to have to deal with them in

the future anyway. If you don't see any inperfection there

I would take the car.



Congratulations on your new car!
 
Ok, here is what I have discovered with bird bombs. Trust me, my truck is under trees 90% of the day so I deal with them a lot!



If a bird bomb is on a car it bakes on then it is hard to get off but it might not have etched the paint. I will sometimes wash the bird bombs off my truck only to have this very thin white stuff left on the paint. It is very hard to describe and my truck doesn't have any on them to show you.



It looks like etching but you can scrape it off with a fingernail. I usually remove it by soaking it in quick detailer for awhile and they wipe off but they cause no damage to the paint.



Now, your car could have had that on it and when they washed it the bird bomb just left the white film on the paint. If so, then your car never had any etching on it and the rotary just took the white film off... along with some paint.
 
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