DISO - Dealer Installed Swirl Option - Brand New VW GLI

[TommyC]

I recently bought my first car(YAY!) but dealing with the paint has so far not been a pleasant experience. Thanks to this forum though, I feel I have gained significant knowledge about car paint, and I feel like I recently have gained some understanding of what has gone wrong to my car.

But now... How do I go about fixing it?
(At least I know who I can ask.)



Backstory (really long, sorry):

My car is a VW GLI '06 and as I said above this is a new car (bought in Sep). The local dealer traded with another dealer to get it. The day before it was delivered I got a call from the salesman I was working with explaining that there was a problem with the paint.

Unfortunately the other dealership had done some brilliant "advertising" by placing stickers all over the car and leaving it out in the sunlight for who knows how long. After taking off the stickers, there was a visible "outline" where you could see where the glue came in contact with the paint, leaving rectangles of where the stickers where (and in some cases, evidence of air bubbles in the sticker). The salesman said that he could deliver the car and schedule a time later to do the paint fix. In retrospect, I wish I had asked for another car at this point, as my paint issues only got worse.

So the car is taken in to get "fixed" but they somehow determine that it can not be (I am still unsure on why). The salesman gave me the option of having the entire car repainted (did I mention there were like 15 stickers? again, "brilliant" advertising). When I received the car back after not having been fixed, it was now covered in buffer swirls... really... bad... swirls.

Take a look:

Click here. There should be 15 large(1200x900) pictures.

I found KevinB's post very helpful because he is in a similar situation, except his car has already been repainted.
What should I do?
I honestly feel like it is a bad idea to get the entire car repainted, due to the fact that I would be losing all the factory paint and I would be opening a can of worms when they completely disassemble my car to repaint it (who knows how many other things could go wrong).

Can anyone walk me through this one? I'm really stressed out at this point.

Thanks in advance.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Major rotary buffer problem

We surfed through the pictures you linked to and we picked out a couple of the worst looking examples of swirls in your brand new car to share below,






Take the car back. Contact the highest person you can at VW corporate and show them the car, your pictures and even this thread, (of course finish resizing and adding all of the photos of the car).

A brand new car should have a nice finish on it, not a swirled out mess. The swirls can be removed, but why should you have to pay for an inferior product. Would the owner of the VW corporation accept this car? If your answer is "no", then why should you.

Squeaky wheel gets the grease, refuse the car, go over the heads of the dealership first thing.

[Superior Shine]

Re: DISO - Dealer Installed Swirl Option - Brand New VW GLI

Calm down and don't stress over it. If possible switch the car for a nicer one. If all fails the paint can be fixed.

See here -> http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2441

Expect to dish out $400-$600 to get it polished out correctly.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: DISO - Dealer Installed Swirl Option - Brand New VW GLI

Calm down and don't stress over it. If possible switch the car for a nicer one. If all fails the paint can be fixed.

See here -> http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2441

Expect to dish out $400-$600 to get it polished out correctly.

Yeah these are all good options, any true professional can easily undo the damage, the bigger point however is why should a customer have to exchange their hard work, (their money), for someone's inferior work which will have obviously result in a thinner clear coat to hopefully last over the service life of the car?

You spoke last night about how most people don't care about swirls and most of us agreed you were correct, however here's a forum member that cares, it's their first car and they shouldn't have to accept this quality, or lack of quality, in the workmanship for their money. No one should have to even deal with this type of problem when buying a new car. We're thankful he's sought out Meguiar's for advice and information, and it's simple enough to teach this forum member which products to use to do the repair themselves, or seek out the help of a seasoned professional such as yourself and they can certainly do this, it's up to them.

[pohljm]

Re: DISO - Dealer Installed Swirl Option - Brand New VW GLI

Personally I would go up the chain at VW and make sure that they know that you are not going to accept this kind of treatment. You paid for a new vehicle and expect a certain level of quality. This is not what you received. make a commotion and let them know you will not be quieted. A repaint is not acceptable that would diminish the value of the car greatly, You should demand a new vehicle since they could not provide what they promised you when you purchased the car. Believe me corporate VW does not want this kind of attention on enthusiast forums, go over the head of the dealer if you want satisfaction.

[TommyC]

Re: DISO - Dealer Installed Swirl Option - Brand New VW GLI

Wow, just got done with classes today and decided to check my email.

You guys pretty much rock.

I'm going to read all of the comments now but I just wanted to say that you're awesome.

[noswirler]

Re: DISO - Dealer Installed Swirl Option - Brand New VW GLI

Calm down and don't stress over it. If possible switch the car for a nicer one. If all fails the paint can be fixed.

See here -> http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2441

Expect to dish out $400-$600 to get it polished out correctly.

how bout $100-$150 guarenteed satisfaction or $ back these are the kinda cars i deal with on a daily basis, like the name says "NO-SWIRLS" GAURENTEED

[TommyC]

Re: DISO - Dealer Installed Swirl Option - Brand New VW GLI

Ok, I just called VW of American Customer Care to get some documentation on my situation with them. I also called the dealership to say that I want to bring the car in the Service Director there to look at the paint and explain the situation.

[The Shine Shop]

Re: DISO - Dealer Installed Swirl Option - Brand New VW GLI

go to the dealer and insist that they bring in a factory rep to look at your car
the problem comes ,at least around here , is that the car ,i am assuming has already been titled? this is a major headache for the dealer! just stick to your guns and unfortunately in this day and age you will need to threaten with legal action! by the way , i charge 400$ to fix someone elses work. also ,they will not dismantle your car to make it loo like factory! they will do a cheap respray and send you on your way! i know because i have been involved in one of these with a 2 mile old lexus!!
good luck and don't take any ****!!

[TommyC]

Re: DISO - Dealer Installed Swirl Option - Brand New VW GLI

Also additional information that was not in my original post:

It has been two months since I received the car back with the DISO. The day I picked it up was cloudy and raining, and I did not see the swirls, when I was washing the car, the swirls became evident, and it continued to bother me more and more as I looked at. Which puts me at now, two months later, and just realizing how extensive the damage is (especially after researching these forums in the last two days). Am I dense? What about the dealership saying that I could have done this myself in the last two months?

The car is new as I said, got it at the very beginning of September, but that does make it over 3 months old, and it now has about 850 miles on it. Something tells me VW is not taking this thing back.

What do you think?

[eric96ser]

Re: DISO - Dealer Installed Swirl Option - Brand New VW GLI

If the dealer won't swap the cars, why not see if they will pay for a professional of your choice, to fix the car? This way you can find someone good, and not worry about their body shop guys making it worse.

[BlueZero]

Re: DISO - Dealer Installed Swirl Option - Brand New VW GLI

I'm not a pro by any means. But to me, swirls look different when they come from a buffer as opposed to washing or other means. I'm sure some of the pro's on here can comment, but too me those look like buffer swirls.

[Graeme]

Re: DISO - Dealer Installed Swirl Option - Brand New VW GLI

As you have been advised, STICK TO YOUR GUNS, Don't accept anything but a replacement car.

You are worried they will say is too late? Point to the sticker marks, you also have them KNOWING that there was a problem in the beginning.
They might try every trick in the book, but stand your ground and don't give in. You bought a new car, you are entitled to a new car.

I wish you all the very best and I truly hope you get it sorted to your satisfaction.

Graeme

[benhui86]

Re: DISO - Dealer Installed Swirl Option - Brand New VW GLI

they'd probably do something for you if you complain enough..... if they give you a hard time then persist even more..... do all you can think of to get what you deserve..... and if they offer to detail ur car.... i think you should not accept it because.... well the pictures can explain that....it looks like someone washed it over and over again with a old grit covered shop towel or something similar.... maybe have a detailer of your choice detail the car and then have the bill sent to the dealer....

[TommyC]

Re: DISO - Dealer Installed Swirl Option - Brand New VW GLI

Well, today I took the car into the dealer and spoke with the Service Director, and they saw the problems but didn't know much about paint. I said that I would like to trade the car in for a new one, sans buffer swirls, at which point they immediately told me to call VW of America. The dealership didn't even consider doing something like a trade in themselves.

I called VW of America, and put down all my complaints, and while they are trained to be very nice, ultimately, they just referred me back to the dealer... Apparently they had spoken to the service director and determined that the issue was that I was not satisfied with the quality of the work: it was not a manufacturer issue, but a dealer issue for the problem to be resolved.

It seems that I have to somehow convince the dealership that there is damage to the paint, and not just something that a little wax will fix. I was told buffer swirls were very normal on cars. No one takes the argument that I deserve a new car seriously. "Its just paint, send it back to the body shop and it will come back all new and perfect," seems to be what they are thinking.

I would like to go over the heads of the dealership, but calling VWoA was an exercise in futility. Is there any other ways I can contact someone who has more power over the situation?

How do I convince people that know very little about paint that the car has serious damage? They tend to be suspicious that I am just making this all up.