Car Coming Back From Body Shop, Need Help With Fresh Paint Care

[08Sunburst]

Hey guys! Been a while since ive posted on here, but i return again for advice.



A few weeks ago(beginning of Feb.) We were hammered with a MASSIVE blizzard here in Chicago. It dumped two feet of snow in a matter of hours, and unfortunately, my car was claimed by it. Went into a ditch, hit a mailbox, and upon towing the car out, dragged the(cemented into the ground) mailbox post along the entire drivers side.



The car went into the body shop last week, and ill be getting it back tomorrow.



I have heard that you are not supposed to wax the fresh paint for 90 days or so as it takes a while to fully cure.



The last time i detailed, i used meg's synthetic paint sealant, instead of wax. Would that be safe to apply right away, or should i still wait the 90 days or however long the shop says?



If i have to wait the 90 days, should i claybar first, and then apply? Will the paint be ok to claybar after the 90 days, or should i just put sealer on it and be done?



Also, as its still winter here in the windy city, what are the best options for washing the fresh paint? I know car washes are pretty much terrible, no matter how touchless they claim to be. I have even heard that some of the soaps they use will strip the sealant/wax. So, suggestions on what i should do? I currently dont have anything like onr to use. Ive been taking it to the spray wash, and bringing a bucket and wash mitt of my own to wash it with, and just using the high pressure hose at the wash station to rinse it down.



Until it hits 40 degrees on a consistant basis, im kind of out of luck for hand washing at home, so any suggestions would be much appreciated :thumb:



Oh, and here's pictures of the damage if anyone is interested. Ill be sure to post pictures up of the car once it comes back. Total damage was $3,300

 

[clnfrk]

I would suggest waiting the 90 days before applying any kind of wax or sealant to the repainted areas. You can clay at that time also if you want. As far as washing goes, just keep taking it to the coin-op wash like you've been doing. You should definitely stay away from the automated ones, at least until the paint is fully cured.

 

[08Sunburst]

I would suggest waiting the 90 days before applying any kind of wax or sealant to the repainted areas. You can clay at that time also if you want. As far as washing goes, just keep taking it to the coin-op wash like you've been doing. You should definitely stay away from the automated ones, at least until the paint is fully cured.

Sounds good to me, ill keep using the diy wash and depending on how bad it is after the 90 days, either clay and polish or just seal it.

 

[clnfrk]

How's the quality of the repaint? Did they wetsand those areas? Chances are good that if they did, they certainly instilled some buffer trails or holograms following the wetsanding? Body shops aren't known for getting paint perfect after wetsanding? Was that fender replaced entirely or repaired?

 

[08Sunburst]

How's the quality of the repaint? Did they wetsand those areas? Chances are good that if they did, they certainly instilled some buffer trails or holograms following the wetsanding? Body shops aren't known for getting paint perfect after wetsanding? Was that fender replaced entirely or repaired?

Im not sure how it is, i get the car back tomorrow after work. The fender and the door skin were both replaced, and the rear door and rear 1/4 were repaired. The entire drivers side of the car was repainted, along with blending done on the hood and bumpers.



Its a VERY VERY high end body shop. When i went to get an estimate done, i saw a late 60's ss camaro, a newer Lamborghini, and quite a few mercedes and bmw's.



The estimate said that they were going to be wet-sanding and buffing all painted surfaces, so should be interesting to see what it looks like.



The first thing(after i drive the car, as ive been missing driving it for a week) is to get it into the garage at home, and look at the paint and see how it looks under lighting.

 

[08Sunburst]

Ok, so, i got the car back. The body work is fantastic, but whoever buffed it after was a moron..



There are swirls all over the panels that were painted... So now what should i do??



Ill get some pictures up later tonight, but i know i cant do anything for 90 days they said. Should i take it back and show them, and see if they will re-buff it? Or am i better off just waiting the 90 days or whatever, and polishing it myself?

 

[clnfrk]

I told you so!:smile1:



Well...the important thing is that you are satisfied with the quality of the actual paint and bodywork.You should take this opportunity to educate yourself thoroughly with the process of paint correction and detailing in general. With the wealth of information on this forum, you should have no problem being able to correct their haphazard finishing work. Unless your paying many thousands of dollars for a showcar paint job, body shops just aren't going to go to the extent that most members here go to in order to achieve a perfect marring-free finish. In all probability, most of the body shop guys doing the finishing work couldn't do it if they tried anyway. Most likely they are trained to achieve what the other 99% of the population (non-autopian) deems acceptable.



Of course, if you dont have the inclination to attempt this yourself at this point, perhaps someone here is in your area and they can take care of it for you. I wouldn't even bother taking it back to the body shop other than perhaps to persuade them to pay to have a professional detailer get it perfect, or at least a portion of the cost to have the work done. Most likely they'll be unwilling though.

 

[08Sunburst]

I told you so!:smile1:



Well...the important thing is that you are satisfied with the quality of the actual paint and bodywork.You should take this opportunity to educate yourself thoroughly with the process of paint correction and detailing in general. With the wealth of information on this forum, you should have no problem being able to correct their haphazard finishing work. Unless your paying many thousands of dollars for a showcar paint job, body shops just aren't going to go to the extent that most members here go to in order to achieve a perfect marring-free finish. In all probability, most of the body shop guys doing the finishing work couldn't do it if they tried anyway. Most likely they are trained to achieve what the other 99% of the population (non-autopian) deems acceptable.



Of course, if you dont have the inclination to attempt this yourself at this point, perhaps someone here is in your area and they can take care of it for you. I wouldn't even bother taking it back to the body shop other than perhaps to persuade them to pay to have a professional detailer get it perfect, or at least a portion of the cost to have the work done. Most likely they'll be unwilling though.

Yea, i was under the impression that they were going to be a bit better in the buffing and detailing aspect..



The sad thing is, i did a paint correction in the fall, before winter. I did it by hand though, as i didnt have a DA, and it was getting to the point where it was getting too cold to be able to work with product and have it be easy.



I did a wash, clay, wash, tape, meg's ultimate compound, and finished up with meg's synthetic sealant.



I guess ill have to re-correct again



Ill probably save up and get a DA and some lakewood pads this time, to make the job a bit easier.



I should still wait the 90 day cure time to polish though?



Also, is the meg's compound going to do the trick, or should i invest in some m105/205?



I honestly dont know how soft the clear is yet, and im not going to try to find out at this point in time lol.



Ill try to get the pics of the swirls up in a bit..

 

[08Sunburst]

ok, here are two of the shots i took that show the swirling at its worst:

if you look at the picture of the fender, thats how the whole drivers side of the car is. BAD swirls..

 

[Accumulator]

I guess ill have to re-correct again ..I should still wait the 90 day cure time to polish though?



Also, is the meg's compound going to do the trick, or should i invest in some m105/205?



I honestly dont know how soft the clear is yet, and im not going to try to find out at this point in time lol...

While the paint is curing it'll often be a little softer than it'll be once the curing is complete. Once it *is* cured, it might be harder/softer/identical to your original paint, no real way to predict it (with luck, it'll be the same).



I'd *guess* that the UC you used before will work OK and that you won't need the M105/M205.

 

[08Sunburst]

While the paint is curing it'll often be a little softer than it'll be once the curing is complete. Once it *is* cured, it might be harder/softer/identical to your original paint, no real way to predict it (with luck, it'll be the same).



I'd *guess* that the UC you used before will work OK and that you won't need the M105/M205.

Ok cool, sounds good to me!



I went back to the shop today to talk with them about it. They said that they would re-polish the car for me after the 30 days. I guess their cure time is 30 days, and not 90.



That being said, ill wait the 30 days, take it back, and see how they do. If its still not perfect, ill take care of it myself. I figure its their mess up, they need to at least try to fix it first.





They are also

 

[Accumulator]

08Sunburst- Let me offer some food for thought....



For the time being, maybe you'd like going over it by hand with Meguiar's M09 and/or one of their Pure Polishes (M03/M05/M07/M81/Deep Crystal Step #2 Polish). Those are nonabrasive and pretty user-friendly. They're basically "makeup for cars" that will temporarily make things look better (and thus easier to live with...seeing that every day would bum me out).



I myself would think twice about letting them repolish the car. I'd expect them to do another sub-par job, taking off more of your clear in the process. Good people do it right the first time and the kind of people who do unacceptable work don't decide to "do this one right this time around" and deliver nice surprises; it just doesn't happen. Cynical? Pessimistic? :nixweiss But in cases like this I end up thinking "I told ya so..." a lot more often than I say "gee, glad that worked out so well after all"

 

[08Sunburst]

08Sunburst- Let me offer some food for thought....



For the time being, maybe you'd like going over it by hand with Meguiar's M09 and/or one of their Pure Polishes (M03/M05/M07/M81/Deep Crystal Step #2 Polish). Those are nonabrasive and pretty user-friendly. They're basically "makeup for cars" that will temporarily make things look better (and thus easier to live with...seeing that every day would bum me out).



I myself would think twice about letting them repolish the car. I'd expect them to do another sub-par job, taking off more of your clear in the process. Good people do it right the first time and the kind of people who do unacceptable work don't decide to "do this one right this time around" and deliver nice surprises; it just doesn't happen. Cynical? Pessimistic? :nixweiss But in cases like this I end up thinking "I told ya so..." a lot more often than I say "gee, glad that worked out so well after all"

Well, they said to not apply anything to the paint whatsoever, something to do with the way the paint cures that chemicals are released and applying anything will screw with the cure process.





As far as them polishing it, i think the polishing was done correctly, BUT i think whoever washed it afterwards didnt know what they were doing. They missed quite a few spots on the car when washing. I can pretty much guarantee that the swirl marks came from the washing or drying process(or both)



Im just going to tell them to not wash the car after they polish.



The way i figure it, i'll give them a second chance. After that, ill do it myself. I just didnt expect to have to buy a DA polisher so soon

 

[Accumulator]

08Sunburst- OK...but FWIW I think they're being a little, uhm...disingenuous about the curing. It's perfectly OK to use a lot of different things, you just have to avoid anything that could interfere with the outgassing. Shops often tell people not to use anything so the customers don't clean away glazes/etc. and expose [crappy] work.



Actually, you need to wash it to keep contamination from damaging the still-fresh/uncured paint. And fresh-paint-safe glazes can offer protection during this vulnerable period (products like Meguiar's M05 New Car Glaze and 3M Imperial Hand Glaze are made specifically for this purpose).



Anyhow, I hope things go OK if you do take it back to them. I myself would expect them to glaze it up to merely conceal the issues in question, and I'm sorry to say I'd pretty much bet the farm on that.

 

[08Sunburst]

08Sunburst- OK...but FWIW I think they're being a little, uhm...disingenuous about the curing. It's perfectly OK to use a lot of different things, you just have to avoid anything that could interfere with the outgassing. Shops often tell people not to use anything so the customers don't clean away glazes/etc. and expose [crappy] work.



Actually, you need to wash it to keep contamination from damaging the still-fresh/uncured paint. And fresh-paint-safe glazes can offer protection during this vulnerable period (products like Meguiar's M05 New Car Glaze and 3M Imperial Hand Glaze are made specifically for this purpose).



Anyhow, I hope things go OK if you do take it back to them. I myself would expect them to glaze it up to merely conceal the issues in question, and I'm sorry to say I'd pretty much bet the farm on that.

Oh, ive been washing it every day at the end of the day, just to make sure that its clean lol



As for a glaze, i have a pretty much brand new bottle of megs show car glaze, i think its #7. I should be ok to put that on there then?



Maybe ill just have them fix the chip in the bumper and call it a day then... I just would rather spend the money on tires, which i desperately need, before i have to buy a DA..

 

[clnfrk]

[quote name='08Sunburst']As far as them polishing it, i think the polishing was done correctly, BUT i think whoever washed it afterwards didnt know what they were doing. They missed quite a few spots on the car when washing. I can pretty much guarantee that the swirl marks came from the washing or drying process(or both)

I highly doubt that many swirl marks can be induced with one wash and dry. I would say it is simply the result of poor or incomplete polishing/compounding. Although marring could have been introduced during the wash/dry stage, it would not be to that extent. Let's say for argument's sake that they got the paint perfectly mar-free prior to the vehicle being washed. If marring was in fact introduced during the wash/dry stage, the scratch pattern when viewed under the lights would be much more random in pattern versus the perfectly circular marks that it has now and there would be much less visible lines. It would practically be impossible for it to look like that after one bad wash. Many or several bad washes perhaps, but not one.

 

[clnfrk]

As far as them polishing it, i think the polishing was done correctly, BUT i think whoever washed it afterwards didnt know what they were doing. They missed quite a few spots on the car when washing. I can pretty much guarantee that the swirl marks came from the washing or drying process(or both)

I highly doubt that many swirl marks can be induced with one wash and dry. I would say it is simply the result of poor or incomplete polishing/compounding. Although marring could have been introduced during the wash/dry stage, it would not be to that extent. Let's say for argument's sake that they got the paint perfectly mar-free prior to the vehicle being washed. If marring was in fact introduced during the wash/dry stage, the scratch pattern when viewed under the lights would be much more random in pattern versus the perfectly circular marks that it has now and there would be much less visible lines. It would practically be impossible for it to look like that after one bad wash. Many or several bad washes perhaps, but not one.

 

[08Sunburst]

I highly doubt that many swirl marks can be induced with one wash and dry. I would say it is simply the result of poor or incomplete polishing/compounding. Although marring could have been introduced during the wash/dry stage, it would not be to that extent. Let's say for argument's sake that they got the paint perfectly mar-free prior to the vehicle being washed. If marring was in fact introduced during the wash/dry stage, the scratch pattern when viewed under the lights would be much more random in pattern versus the perfectly circular marks that it has now and there would be much less visible lines. It would practically be impossible for it to look like that after one bad wash. Many or several bad washes perhaps, but not one.

Interesting, i will have to keep that in mind then. They wet sanded the entire side of the car, so i can see how an incomplete buffing could cause that.



So, as for a DA polisher, whats a good inexpensive route to go then? I cant see spending 2-300 on something im going to use maybe twice a year.