builthatch

from monday two weeks ago to thursday last week, i got some custom fender work done on my mazdaspeed3 at a local place that is 'known' for custom paint. i've been in the area forever and have never quite been happy with the body shops in the area, so i figured on a few recommendations i'd try this place.

i got the car back (mazda silver sunlight metallic) and in the sun it looked awesome. got i back in the garage and it looks terrible. the color is awesome; perfect match...really- the metallics, the tint...everything. the problem is there is trash in the paint left and right...little nibs and small fish eyes. they put a ton of clear on it and down near the flat flares on the rear 1/4's the clear has actually bunched up above the flare and caused a dark line in the light, and in the garage it shows as almost a second flare line

so, my question is, i paid to have this thing done as perfectly as possible. the guy knows i'm picky as i've detailed my exploits in the area, my car is pristine, and he knows i do high end detailing on the side.

is it normal for a shop to not 'color sand' and buff, especially on 'custom painting' vs. production work? it looks like they did on the hood, which they refinished for me at the same time, but man...even that has junk in it and they didn't refine **** when they buffed...talk about buff marks/swirls in the clear!

i took the thing back immediately and told the shop manager i was realllllly disappointed. he said he understood and asked i bring the car back on tuesday when the owner is back in town. my friend is a PPG paint rep, but formerly worked for BASF/Glasurit and when i described the issues he said that is sound like they just didn't paint the thing with much care, and didn't take the time to try to correct the paint issues.

delsolproblems

Most shops only sand&buff the most obvious areas like the hood, tops of door panels and fenders unless you specificly pay them for more buffing. A good body shop uses swirl mark remover and denibs their outer body painting. Some areas can't be buffed easily or at all in certain cases. Fisheyes are from oily contaminants and mean poor work and/or a bad painting area.

shocker911

honestly they should have done that....if i was doing that i woulda either buffed it off the car or had you put them on and then buff the car. If there is alot of crap in the clear that is never good they didnt clean it off enough or have a dirty booth or didnt do it in a booth.


srry to hear it man

IMPATIENT

iTrader: (1)

that sucks man, sounds like they had a ton of trash in the paint and tried to load up the clear and bury the dirt, but it just made it worse. The fact that they had a bunch of crap in the finish and didnt even try to remove it shows they arent up to par with people who know what a finish should look like. clear build up on the edges can happen, but if its that obvious to you and looks like a second body line, there gonna have to redo that ****, even if you sand the hell out of it the image of that clear will never go away unless its completely gone.

builthatch

thanks for the info guys.

i took the thing back finally so the owner could see it and as i expected he was acting as if he was aggravated. of course i know he shouldn't be like that, but i think that he is pissed at himself for underestimating the hours needed to handle this job appropriately, cut some corners, and now is backed into a corner by me because i'm no slouch.

i told the dude that i know money talks and if he honestly underestimated things, to tell me what it'll cost to make it right. i was estimated about 600 dollars more by a competing shop so i know the job is not cheap. this guy charged me 1250+tax :shrugs:

i took the car to a trusted shop manager local to me and he said that the guy simply did not take the time to complete the job and agreed that typically people don't want to pay the money required to have it perfect.

the main problem now isn't the finish, because he said he'll take care of it (rolls eyes), but it's the ridge above the fender flare where he worked and the corner he cut short while making the flare flat part follow the line into the bumper cover. anyway, the ridge is actually in the panel somehow. whether it was there before (it wasn't) or not is a moot point because i wanted the 1/4's returned to factory condition, so...it's his fault for missing it OR creating it (trust me it was NOT there before)

he said he is going to think about how to handle this properly and told me to bring the car back next monday. this whole episode is just incredible...i can't win down here.

btw, if you are wondering why i didn't take it to the shop where i have the friend as a manager, it's because there they really do production work and he didn't think that i'd want to pay the 1500-1800 it would have cost for it to be done right. little does he know i would have paid that IF it meant the damn thing would be close to factory.

i'm really pissed now. this whole thing is going to take over a month and who knows if it'll be right. i just don't trust this guy's ability now, and i'm stuck because he's so deep into the job. it's not like i can dispute the charge on my card for this.....

precisionsc54

good luck. I hear these stories all the time

steveo135

fvck man that sucks... this is the kind of **** I'm worried about in bringing my car to a shop for paint and body work... you can go to a shop, know what your talking about, express to the manager exactly what you want, and they still turn over shabby work. Let alone in my area I don't know of any reputable shops, or people that have had work done that can recommend me a shop...

Even to someone like you who knows their **** goes in there and is disappointed with the work. good luck to you man, I hope everything works out and the final product exceeds your expectations.

builthatch

thanks. i actually am going to circle the flaws and trash with a china pencil before i bring it in next week. it's going to be hilarious driving there as i swear there will be 100 circles on the rear 1/4's over to the sails, and on the hood ; )

i think that when he sees it he will be upset but he's got noone to be upset at other than himself, honestly.

builthatch

man, i started to circle the issues and honestly.....i'm sick to my stomach. i can't possibly describe how much **** there is wrong with this. little nibs and raised spots, small fish eyes, dark dirt, bubbles (lots of them)......everywhere! they painted over tiny chips that were in the hood! not to mention it looks like there is slight road rash alll over the place and there are tons upon tons of fine scratches everywhere. it's an absolute disaster and i really do not think this guy will be able to remedy this with his shop's collective skills, equipment, etc.

i'm considering if i should even bother taking it back and just dispute the charges?

eg_wookie

i would be trying to get my money back, honestly I dont trust shops anymore, way back in the day i had some issues with a shop that i was 'friends' with owners and it really got ugly, im border line poor nowadays so when i get the money for stuff like a paint job i have a hard time trusting people to do a good job anymore, so i would try to get my money back and take somewhere else and just let them know up front what you expect

precisionsc54

Your def not going to get your $$$ back without going to court even then you wont get a full refund. For $1500 this is prolly the best your going to get. Most shops that do a good job will charge you at least $3000 and up for bodywork and paint. I wouldnt do bodywork and paint a car for $1500 unless it was just a quick job like it seems u got. The rash you see all over it from using improper grit sandpaper before shooting the color.

builthatch

the major problem i have is honestly....the car is worse now than it was when i brought it in. really, it is. that metal crease in the one fender that showed up from them now looks 10X worse than the slight bow i brought it in for...and the missed edge of the flare they tried to shape into the bumper cover,....and the spatter and nonsense in the paint...it really looks WORSE.

that is just not right. he should have quoted me more or turned down the job, not told me that it would look factory and spit it out looking worse.

also, keep in mind we are talking about 3 parts of a car i requested to get work done- the hood, and both rear 1/4's. that's all i needed...it's practically a new car (08 with little miles). there was minimal body work, i mean minimal. the fender flares were a bit bowed out toward the bumper cover on both sides and needed to be corrected, that's it as far as work that required anything special other than some chips on the hood.

for instance, my wife crashed up her old 04 si multiple times. those instances required major MAJOR body work, alot more glasurit paint and replacement parts, etc. many of the times, those instances were quoted in the 3k range for insurance to pay and it came out, for the most part, perfect. the guy who i mentioned i'm friendly with is the one who handled that...but he's more of a production shop so that is why i went to this other guy. so, subtract the parts, infinitely less body work, and way less paint.....

eg_wookie

i guess you should wait and see what the guy proposes to do to remedy the problem, normally they will want to save face since its their name on the line...in my case i got my lawyer involved which all I had to do was pay for more paint which i was fine with and all the labor and etc was free, this was for a teg with jdm front end swap and full color change inside and out, my lawyer only charged me $50 to file some paper work basically and since i didnt want a full refund the shop got off their *** and fixed my car the right way

builthatch

the guy did the right thing, i can't believe it.

he called me this morning and offered to either redo it completely, or give my money back.

i told him i really appreciate the offer and i think i'll go the way of the refund.

he said no problem, he said to give him a call toward the end of the week after he makes some deposits and he'll refund me.

thanks everyone for your input and support.

i talked to the owner of this place www.concoursautobody.com and i believe i'm going to give them a shot. they are not remotely close to me but i think it's worth it.

shocker911

thats great the guy gave you your money back...i hope the other shop does better work...from the sounds of it a monkey with a spray gun could do better

Eyger

Damn, it's times like this that I just want to get my own damn paint booth. It sux and no one around here will let me use theirs.

kp

You know when people say 1 in a million...

You had a 1 in a million chance of choosing a shop with shady employees and an honest boss. You had a 1 in a billion chance that the honest boss would be honest enough to admit he has shady employees. You had a 1 in a trillion chance that the honest boss would refund your money.

Congratulations. You are an inspiration to all of us.

eg_wookie

^^^^^ my thoughts exactly lol

builthatch

haha....thanks guys.

the way it worked out i just feel that i finally didn't get the raw part of the deal, FOR ONCE.

builthatch

update:

so after calling this guy and having him tell me to keep calling back, and each time being a mirror of the last, i finally gave up and disputed it with my credit card. i originally called my CC after the 3rd time of him telling me to "call at the end of the week" or next week. they said because he said he would refund me, he had 30 days. well, as of today, it was 30 days so i moved forward with it. it got bad as eventually he hung up on me...twice.

luckily, on the day i was promised the intial refund, i went and got an estimate of what it would take to get this corrected, and I have a super detailed timeline as well final detail of the work the next shop did. I was able to drop my car off to the new shop, my friend's shop, on 6/15 and got it back two days ago. needless to say, they did a PHENOMENAL job, but it's incredible how much work they had to do to reverse/correct what this other numbskull did to my car. for what it's worth, the only stuff they didn't have to take down and respray was the bumper covers, the front fenders, the hatch, the roof and one front door. the resulting work was pristine. they corrected the body work errors perfectly. there was some very fine overspray on the upper surfaces of the car from i guess being in close proximity to some sort of painting process, but it easily was removed with some work with some pinnacle clay bar. looks fantastic under my detail lights.

NACvicSi

Good stuff man, now where are the pics?

builthatch

they are comin, hehe

i want to give it the once over with my buffer just because i can't help myself now that it's clayed. i want to refine it just a hair more than they did...

a little optimum polish and white pad foam, then optimum polish and blue or red foam.

i'm out of my mind; perfection is always around the corner!