Quarter Panel Repair: Saab 97x

A

AppliedColors

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This customer is returning his SUV to Saab after a 36 month lease. It has bumper and quarter panel damage that has been estimated @ $1200 for repair. Saab may penalize him even more than $1200.



The bumper damage is simple. He asks if the quarter panel damage will buff out. There's simply too much paint damage for a buff repair in this case.



Pictures:



saab_01.JPG




saab_02.JPG




saab_03.JPG




saab_04.JPG




saab_05.JPG




saab_06.JPG




saab09.JPG




Process:

1. Clean repair area.

2. Remove wax/grease from repair area.

3. Mask repair area.

4. Scuff repair area with liquid abrasive.

5. Repeat cleaning process.

6. Sand out damage with DA sander.

7. Epoxy prime over exposed metal.

8. Paint sealer.

9. Basecoat.

10. Clearcoat.

11. Wetsand taillight with 600 wet, 1000 wet, 2000 wet, then polish out.



Notes:

The customer refused to pay for a full repaint of the quarter panel (additional $125), so we blended to the body line above the damage. The green tape you see in the picture is a "soft" tape line. The tape is doubled over so there is no hard edge to our repair. The edge of the repair was so subtle that most detailers and body men could not spot it. It helped that the car was a light silver...black and red are more difficult to spot repair.



Charge:

Usually we would charge $425 for this repair, but we did this for $350 because the customer paid $145 for an interior detail. $495 total bill.



Time:

Took 2 techs 3.5 hours to finish the interior detail and paint repair.



It's nice to have to the tools fix the scratches that don't buff out.
 
David Fermani said:
I feel sorry for the next person to own that car.
Click to expand...



Why?



We did not blend this repair. We painted to a soft edge on a body line. That line will not delaminate...the paint was cleaned and prepped correctly.



The owner would never pay $1200 to paint the entire quarter panel and bumper. Even the dealer who receives it won't....they'll pay for a repair like this one here.



So either the damage goes unrepaired, or we repair it like this. Which looks better?
 
Looks great to me. I'm not sure why anyone would feel sorry for the next person owning the car. Either way, this repair was going to be done, whether it was $1200 or $400. I've seen body shop upon body shop do horrible jobs that don't even come close to this one. Very nice.
 
AppliedColors said:
Why?



We did not blend this repair. We painted to a soft edge on a body line. That line will not delaminate...the paint was cleaned and prepped correctly.



The owner would never pay $1200 to paint the entire quarter panel and bumper. Even the dealer who receives it won't....they'll pay for a repair like this one here.



So either the damage goes unrepaired, or we repair it like this. Which looks better?
Click to expand...



I just replied back to your PM.
 
beautiful work! i would rather have this kind of repair. my theory has ALWAYS been not to disturb any more of the factory finish than is necessary, period. end of story. why would anyone repaint a complete quarter for minor/isolated paint only damage:think:????? that would be the easy way out. this is not big deal, poop happens:bigups
 
jimmie jam - do you have any experience with body repair? Would you accept your insurance company paying to repair your Vette or Caddy this way?
 
i'm 55 years old and have been painting since 16. that's a couple years of experience. not only would i let my insurance company pay for a repair like this, "I" would personally pay for a repair completed like this. the point that you are missing is that if this type of "spot" repair is not successful you always have the option to do the complete panel. "more is not always better". i stand by my statement and practice what i "preach". :argue :2thumbs:
 
jimmie jam said:
i'm 55 years old and have been painting since 16. that's a couple years of experience. not only would i let my insurance company pay for a repair like this, "I" would personally pay for a repair completed like this. the point that you are missing is that if this type of "spot" repair is not successful you always have the option to do the complete panel. "more is not always better". i stand by my statement and practice what i "preach". :argue :2thumbs:
Click to expand...



i agree i just had a body shop repaint my fender, door, rear door and quater panel because of dent in the lower drivers door. now i have bad orange peel because of the crappy work they did, yes my insurnace paid, i paid and the only one that won was the body shop. now i have to color sand 4 panels, on an suv. my deductable is $500. i would rather pay $400, with interior detail. it is my daily driver, not a show car. i would have felt better if they paint to a body line and left the rest alone.



it wont always work, but if it saves me money, looks better and my interior is done, i'm all for it.
 
I can’t believe I’m actually having this discussion and trying to convince “experienced� painters that partially clearing a panel is the wrong thing to do. :wow: There’s not a single paint manufacturer, body shop or Insurance company that will allow (or warranty) this type of repair. It’s wrong! Are we confusing single stage with bc/cc? If I tried telling a shop to do this, they’d throw me out and I’d probably get fired (rightfully so)! You can’t stop, melt or burn clear within a panel (unless it’s an approved HARD break line) and say it’s the right repair. It’s not.





I'm not just basing this on opinion or interpretation. Every major paint manufacture expressly states this in their warranties for a reason. There's no gray area to it.







jimmie jam said:
i'm 55 years old and have been painting since 16. that's a couple years of experience. not only would i let my insurance company pay for a repair like this, "I" would personally pay for a repair completed like this. the point that you are missing is that if this type of "spot" repair is not successful you always have the option to do the complete panel. "more is not always better". i stand by my statement and practice what i "preach". :argue :2thumbs:
Click to expand...



If it fails, you’ll have to strip the entire panel. Paint manufacturers won’t warranty a 3rd refinish layer either without striping it 1st. The key to proper repair is doing it correct the 1st time. Any experienced painter would know that. :think2
 
David, could you point out what is wrong in these pictures to those of us that aren't paint experts? It looks fantastic to me, but I am not a pro. I understand the theory behind not doing spot corrections b/c of it being hard to blend the paint/clear, but it looks like AppliedColors did an excellent job of quelling that problem.
 
ANYTHING can look good in pictures, pictures dont prove anything.



I dont have any painting experience, but Im certainly glad David is expressing concerns. More people need to step up and do that IMO. Everyone can only learn more from it.
 
BuffMe said:
David, could you point out what is wrong in these pictures to those of us that aren't paint experts? It looks fantastic to me, but I am not a pro. I understand the theory behind not doing spot corrections b/c of it being hard to blend the paint/clear, but it looks like AppliedColors did an excellent job of quelling that problem.
Click to expand...



You’re right, the pictures look nice. There’s lots of pictures on internet sites that look nice. The metallic looks even and the color appears to be blended right *from the pictures*.



Here’s some things I don’t like:

Didn’t remove tail light

Didn’t remove bumper to refinish ¼ and bumper

Didn’t paint the entire ¼ panel

Created a cut off point in the middle of both panels with tape

Tape around the stationary flare on bumper looks poorly fine line taped



Other concerns:

Front quarter jamb doesn’t look properly back taped

On picture #5 I see something in the bumper to ¼ body line

On picture 5, 6 and 7 I notice something weird going on around the bumper flare edge?

Was it painted in a booth or contained area?

Was the entire vehicle covered to eliminate overspray?



Will this repair pass for a lease turn-in or a car on the used car lot to eliminate doing the right repair? Yes. Will it pass in mainstream retail body applications? No.
 
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