white spots

I

imported_tuffluck

New member
i got my car repainted about 5 weeks ago. i think the shop buffed it and then put polish on it (i would assume body safe polish?). i think it was a tropicare product. anyway, last week while under the car cover, the newly paint got severely scratched. we buffed the scratches out, put NO polish on the paint, and now it's spotting white. can't feel the spots, just see them pretty badly, and they are getting worse. any clues? i hate getting stuff repainted.
 
tuffluck said:
we buffed the scratches out, put NO polish on the paint...
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Wait...that's sort of an oxymoron. You can't buff scratches out without polishing.



What did you use to polish/buff the paint?
 
White95Max said:
Wait...that's sort of an oxymoron. You can't buff scratches out without polishing.



What did you use to polish/buff the paint?
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sorry, i meant there was no wax or sealant put down on the paint. hell i dunno what i was saying. the shop used a tropicare swirl cutter and a tropicare polish to get the swirls out. that's the extent of what i know. when it accumulated swirls underneath the car cover, we just used a swirl cutter to take out the swirls. the part under the door trim didn't get buffed too well, swirls are still there, and the white spots are developing and progressively getting worse ONLY in that area on the paint.
 
Sounds like somehow there were bubbles in the paintjob (the spray pistol was defective, the paint' s mixture ratio with thinner was wrong i.e. too thick or too thin could cause it) and you removed (actually chipped off) those bubbles inadvertently by using a cover on a painted panel which had not cured enough...

Well I would decide it is a messed up paint job and go back to the bodyshop to tell him to correct what he messed up...

However still yet; do you have any clos up pics to let us see what it is ?
 
it's definitely overspray of some sort. i just buffed out a good majority of it, but just underneath the window trim it is most concentrated. i could not get my PC to focus on that area because of the curves of my car, so you can still see some spots. most of them are gone though, thanks to my buffing. what do you guys think...sound logical?
 
here are some pictures prior to buffing just tonight (some are blurred)...



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but wait, the bubble theory sounds good other than the fact that i should be able to feel them if they had chipped off, right? i can't feel them at all...TOTALLY smooth.
 
anyone know how to fix the spots? i can't feel it, can it be overspray? regardless, if polishing is getting it out (and a LOT of polishing) or should i stop and take it back to the shop? either way, their solution will likely be to just take a rotary on it or some other extensive polishing, which probaby wont be good for the paint...



no matter, it's too close to the window trim (right underneath it...the spots in the pictures are gone after i buffed it) for the cover to have caused the bubbles.
 
Those pictures could be better. It's really hard to tell what that could be from those pics. Your description is just as good as those pics. All we can see is some white spots, like you describe.



If it IS overspray, a little polishing will get rid of it. You don't need a rotary to remove overspray. You could even try clay. If you do polish right under the window trim, make sure you tape off the trim first.



Did you ask the painter/bodyshop what the problem is?
 
White95Max said:
Those pictures could be better. It's really hard to tell what that could be from those pics. Your description is just as good as those pics. All we can see is some white spots, like you describe.



If it IS overspray, a little polishing will get rid of it. You don't need a rotary to remove overspray. You could even try clay. If you do polish right under the window trim, make sure you tape off the trim first.



Did you ask the painter/bodyshop what the problem is?
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i work all day, don't have time to go to the bodyshop place until the weekend. they claim that it can't be overspray cause they color-sanded everything they painted. the thing is, i cannot feel it with my fingers, but overspray would have a feel to it. it's almost like it's in the clear coat, but when i polish it, it starts to go away. the pictures aren't going to show up any better unless i take the pic during the day. once again, i work all day and don't have that time until the weekend.
 
tuffluck said:
so how do i get it off in the concentrated areas that are on bad curves? rotary?
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If you are experienced and comfortable with a rotary why not. But rotary polishers come in most dangerous in curved areas since you do not have all the control you wish in the curved areas...
 
i'm not any good at a rotary, i was asking if it could be done with a rotary, and then i'd make the shop do it. i don't want to get the damn car repainted again, but it looks as if that is probably the only solution. i don't actually know what's going on since the PC cannot take out the spots that are closest to the window trim. no one even knows what it is, including the painter. this is absurd...
 
i took it to the body shop today. they were very cool about it. since i dealt only with my friend who worked there, i didn't know some stuff they told me today. they said it has a lifetime guarantee, and that no matter what (unless self-inflicted), they will fix the problem.



they also told my friend to tell me to not cover the car for 30 days after the painting...the friend forgot to tell me this, so clearly my car cover was what caused all the swirling. although a bad experience, at least those swirls came out.



as far as the spots are concerned, he said that it is orange peel that was not color sanded out completely, and that they didn't color sand with the window trim off of the car (their mistake he said), so he told me to bring it in next week and he would buff it out. he said the reason the spots are white is because when i polished over them, the polish collected in the holes and dried up.



well that's a reassuring and hopeful resolution. i probably should have spoke with them before i even picked the car up, just so i could have avoided a lot of what has happened thus far.
 
tuffluck said:
they also told my friend to tell me to not cover the car for 30 days after the painting...the friend forgot to tell me this, so clearly my car cover was what caused all the swirling. although a bad experience, at least those swirls came out.
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I'm still not convinced that it was the car cover. A lot of body shop technicians don't know how to properly use a rotary, and will release the car with a lot of swirls/holograms. I think they want you to avoid car covers for 30 days so that the paint can properly outgas without restriction.







tuffluck said:
as far as the spots are concerned, he said that it is orange peel that was not color sanded out completely, and that they didn't color sand with the window trim off of the car (their mistake he said), so he told me to bring it in next week and he would buff it out. he said the reason the spots are white is because when i polished over them, the polish collected in the holes and dried up.
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Why are there holes in the paint? Orange peel is something entirely different from holes.
 
White95Max said:
I'm still not convinced that it was the car cover. A lot of body shop technicians don't know how to properly use a rotary, and will release the car with a lot of swirls/holograms. I think they want you to avoid car covers for 30 days so that the paint can properly outgas without restriction.











Why are there holes in the paint? Orange peel is something entirely different from holes.
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well, i guess "holes" was the wrong word. i think he meant that they tapered off their color sanding as they approached the window trim (i.e. they got damn lazy) and he didn't seem to be too pleased that his body shop technicians did this half-assed. but still, you saw the pictures, you can tell there are little white spots, which would imply holes. so i just don't know.



and yes, you can actually feel them with your finger, it's just very slight. if he said he'd fix it and he said it was a lifetime guarantee, then so be it...they'll fix it, no matter what error has occured, whether it be purposeful, accidental, or just lackadaisical.
 
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