swirls on brand new paint job?

2

2000firebird

New member
well i got my front bumper and hood repainted along with the new bumper (crashed). well, Im not sure if the body shop would of done something as stupid as wiping it down with a towel before i got there or what, but i definately see swirls in the paint. I will try to get some pictures tomorrow. Is this something that shouldnt be there? the swirls almost seem comparable to the rest of the swirls on the car, which hasnt been polished in a long time. however, the new paint is alot shiner, but i can still see swirls under the light
 
krsjuan said:
Take it back. A new paint job shouldn't have that.
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TRUE!!!!!



Have the body shop, not you, do a spot swirl removal test on the clearcoat. If the swirls are removed they were created after the painting and this is not acceptable quality work but can be rectified (by the shop).

If the swirls can not be removed at all, the pre-paint prep work was shotty and again not acceptable.



Hope things work out.
 
well, it was sort of a free paint job, it came with my insurance deductable. plus he gave me a discount because it took 3 weeks to get a part in, only payed 350.. i would feel bad if i went back and complained about his work. should i try a small section with something like ssr1 to see if its not the clearcote ? i read somewhere not to polish new paint though
 
Since you are not going back to the paint shop, I would wait a couple of weeks to allow the paint to fully cure (harden) and than test if the clearcoat is the culprit. Hopefully it is and you can de-swirl the newly painted areas along with the rest of the vehicle.

Good luck and hope for the best.
 
I would be tempted to use something like #80 to check if the marks are in the clearcoat. If the marks cannot be removed you really need to take it back.
 
I'd still take it back. They set the price, not you, and it's not like you were expecting that you'd be "paying a lower price for a lower quality job". When they charged you less because of how long it took, that was supposed to be their way of compensating you for some screw-up regarding the parts, not an excuse to do a crappy job.



But FWIW, the shops I've dealt with that did stuff like that were never able to fix things to my satisfaction, I always had to do it myself. And I never went back- I found a shop that does things right ;)



Sometimes it's better to *not* wait until the paint cures all the way, since it's easier to work when it's still sorta-soft. But I've had sorts-fresh (3-4 weeks old) paint that was too soft for #80.



The longer you wait, the less chance you'll get any satsifaction from the shop. If the problem is *under* the clear, it'll have to be reshot and I'd want to get that sorted out ASAP.
 
wow.. i took it out in the sun today.. it looked sooo bad! hologramming, spiderwebbing, swirls, everything. I will post up pictures shortly.



wow garbage.. my camera just broke
 
I had the same problem when my car was repainted last December. The entire car was repainted. I drove it straight home after it was painted and put it in the garage, where it sat all winter. In April I pulled it out and found to my horror that it was covered with spiderwebbing, holograms, swirls, etc. I did take it back and they buffed it out and it was a bit better but not up to my standards.



By then the paint had cured so I washed it with Dawn (you could REALLY see the swirls then! :hairpull ), clayed it and applied Scratch X to the obvious scratches and used 3M Imperial Hand Glaze. This took care of the obvious marring and holograms. I then Dawned again, washed with Z7 then applied 3 coats of Zaino. Two coats of Z5 and then Z2 Pro and a coat of Z8. The difference was amazing. No more holograms and the swirling is gone in most light. You can only see very faint swirls in the brightest sunlight.



Now it has yet another coat of Z5 and Z2 Pro with applications of Z8 and it pretty much looks the way I want it to be. Even in bright sunlight the swirling is minimal. I drive my car on long trips so it's never going to be perfect and but it's pretty close. If I look at it in the garage I don't see any marring where before it was full of scratches and swirls.



I did all the work by hand with very mild products so I'm sure if I'd used a PC with more aggressive polish and wax the results would've been even more satisfying.



With my situation the paint job itself was fine but the final buffing job was pretty bad. Initially they must've applied a polish which covered things up but when the car sat for 4 months the marring became obvious. While my paintshop can paint beautifully their "finish work" is something to be desired.



If I were you I'd try and see what you can do with some glaze. You can apply glaze before the paint is cured and determine if the problem is in the paint or the clearcoat. If the problem is in the paint you need to take it back. But if it can be buffed out chances are you will take a lot more time and effort to fix the problem than they will with far better results so I'd do that myself.



Good luck!
 
i put a coat of nxt on it., it looks better than it did, so some of it is clearcote. what would happen if i polished it with something heavy like ssr2.5? (since it is not cured yet)
 
If the paint's not cured I dunno if puting NXT on it is a good idea. I never use waxes/sealants for at least 6 weeks. Until it's finished "outgassing", I use Meg's #5/#3/#81/#7 (in order of preference) or 3M IHG.



How aggressive a polish you can use will depend on your paint, no way to predict. I've had sorta-fresh paint I could compound and others that even #80 was too aggressive for. Start mild and see what works.
 
I guess I should have said try something like #80 (or similar mild polish) on a small section to clarify if the swirls are on the clearcoat or if they are under the clearcoat.



If the quick test shows an improvement, I would either use a very mild polish until the paint has cured properly or if no improvement is visible, take the car back
 
Accumulator said:
If the paint's not cured I dunno if puting NXT on it is a good idea. I never use waxes/sealants for at least 6 weeks. Until it's finished "outgassing", I use Meg's #5/#3/#81/#7 (in order of preference) or 3M IHG.
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The rear hatch of my Honda was repainted in early April and all I've used on it so far is 3M IMG. The rest of the car has NXT. In another month I'll put NXT on the hatch as well.



I would've applied a glaze or polish to a small section of the repainted area to give me an idea of what I was up against with regards to the scratches/swirls. If it had been a clearcoat problem I would've waited until the paint was cured then fixed it.
 
2000firebird- A wax/sealant does just that: it *seals* the paint. This prevents the solvents from evaporating (the "outgassing") which is what allows the paint to finish curing. Not a huge deal since you did it so recently but I wouldn't leave it on there.



I'd just clean the NXT off with some alcohol/water mix and use one of the fresh-paint-safe glazes I mentioned. Many people use IHG but I like #5 *SO* much better than anything else of this type...



Jinba ittai- Just as there are personal preferences in what glaze to use, there are preferences regarding now/wait when it comes to correcting marred clear. Sometimes I do it right away while the clear is soft just because it's easier and/or I want to know if it's serious enough to consider reshooting. That works fine with Spies-Hecker paint, for example, but on the other hand I had some RM brand paint that was too soft to really mess with until the whole curing period was over.
 
Accumulator said:


Jinba ittai- Just as there are personal preferences in what glaze to use, there are preferences regarding now/wait when it comes to correcting marred clear. Sometimes I do it right away while the clear is soft just because it's easier and/or I want to know if it's serious enough to consider reshooting. That works fine with Spies-Hecker paint, for example, but on the other hand I had some RM brand paint that was too soft to really mess with until the whole curing period was over.
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I don't do my own bodywork but I believe the paint on my car is Sikkens paint. Seems to be fairly soft as it chips pretty easily, as I found out on my last road trip. :( As far as how long to wait my decision was made for me because I let the car sit for 4 months (all winter) before attempting to correct it. If I'd gotten the car back now I'd probably want to fix it ASAP simply because I'm impatient. ;)



I use the IMP hand glaze because it says it's good for new paint and I find it easy to work with. I've never used #5 but have used #7 and don't like it much. I found it hard to work with. I find the 3M glaze much more to my liking.



Like you said, it's all a matter of preference I suppose. :)
 
okay the wax is off.. i think. i went over it twice with a 50/50 mix.

it still beaded off though. il drop some water on it tomorrow.

so you would recommend me to try #5?
 
2000Firebird- Don't let the beading bother you, fresh paint will do that even with nothing on it. Now that it's all wax-free, yeah, get the #5 and use that for the next month or two. NO harm done and now you're on the right track.



Jinba ittai- Hope I didn't give the impression I do my own body/paint work, I'm not even *close* to skilled in that area. I just take a great interest in what the shops use. I know the guys who do the work for me, and they always want to talk about what paint they used, their new equipment, etc. etc.



The IHG is very popular, and it's easier to find than the #5, that's for sure! IHG is probably the #1 product for fresh paint. I've used both it and the #5 and it's not like you'll go wrong with the IHG.



I always preferred the #5, so I recently did a side-by-side comparison. I found I still like the #5 better (looks, ease of use, slickness, you name it), which is why I always recommend it so enthusiastically. I've used #7 since forever (as in back when all cars were single stage) and I agree it's not easy stuff to work with. The #5 is a *LOT* better in that regard, about as easy a product as I've ever used, can't think of anything that's easier.
 
Accumulator,



Turns out I had to mailorder a 32 oz bottle of IHG because it's hard to find a high quality glaze or polish in the stores around here. Even #7 is hard to find. I've never even seen #5 in a store. I guess it would've been just as easy to order #5 as it was to get the IHG. I used the IHG to try and get some holograms and swirls out of my one car that was repainted completely and now I'm using it on the other car's repainted hatch until the paint cures. For scratches/slight marring I'm more inclined to use the Scratch X than a glaze. Seems IHG tends to fill the scratches while Scratch X actually removes them.



I'm assuming #5 is for more than just new paint? If so I'll have to keep it in mind although I think it's going to be awhile before I go through all that IHP. :D



I wasn't sure if you did your own bodywork but you seem to be on top of things when it comes to paint so I took a guess. I'm the same way in that I'm constantly asking the bodyshop questions about what they use and how they use it. I must be a good customer because they've been putting up with me for a long time. :D
 
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