JUST got back from the bodyshop!! Need advice...

[Dynamic Detailing]

After a week of being without my car (for a repair that was quoted to take 1-2 days) I am finally reunited with my car... in a very anticlimatic way unfortunately...

Week long story short: The workmanship on my car wasn't finalized (I have to take pictures to submit here for the forum, and also worse case scenario to the dealership owner or small claims court)

- Upon pickup, the rear quarter which was re-painted and repaired to take out rust and damage sustained on an Arizona highway at 70mph a few months ago; the entire panel was hazed, which I know is normal after paint work, but the owner expected me to 'wax and revive it after letting it cure for 24 hours.'

* How/What can I do/product(s) can I use to set this brand new paint and bring the gloss back out and cure the haze from the wet-sanding!?

* How long should I wait before doing the above process, and is there a certain order or time I should follow to let each step set? (Are all sealants supposed to sit on the car for 24 hours to activate?)



THANKS SO MUCH GUYS, this one is a personal thing and since my car is one of very few things I own I'm proud of; I would really love some of the pro help you have to offer

Big time thanks Meg's!

[TXShine]

Re: JUST got back from the bodyshop!! Need advice...

First off.... Welcome to MOL.

The hazing your seeing is probably from their final buff with a rotary, this is pretty common results from most body shops. If it's from wet sanding and they didn't finish the job then that is a problem. Do you have some pictures you can post?

You don’t want to use a wax/sealant on the fresh paint until it has had time to cure/out gas (this is usually around 60 to 90 days). You may want to go ahead and remove the hazing yourself instead of fighting with the body that could just make it worse, of course I'm just talking about the buffer trails, not if it was left at the wet sanded point.

Here is a good read: Paint Needs to Breathe

[Mike Phillips]

Re: JUST got back from the bodyshop!! Need advice...

- Upon pickup, the rear quarter

the entire panel was hazed, which I know is normal after paint work, but the owner expected me to 'wax and revive it after letting it cure for 24 hours.

Actually, if they're using quality products and know the proper techniques for sanding and buffing the paint should have a high gloss finish.

Here's a 1949 Woodie Wagon we sanded and then cut with our new M105 Ultra Cut Compound, this has no polishing or waxing steps done to it, this is only the compounding step after sanding the entire car.







This was machine sanded using the Mirka Abralon system and then compounded with M105 and a wool pad, the after picture is the results of compounding only, not polishing or waxing.

Before - Machine sanded with the Mirka Abralon System, first with #1000, then #2000, and finishing with #4000


After - This is just the M105 Compound using a wool cutting pad, not other polishing done to the paint at the time this photo was taken.




So hazy looking paint may be the norm for some shops but it doesn't have to be. Usually if the paint is hazy after a body shop buffs the paint it's more than haze it's rotary buffer swirls and the haze is scouring from the compounding step.

Sad to say, most body shops don't invest a lot of time into the polishing steps let along education for their employees to teach them how to properly wet-sand, cut and polish paint. Your story is just another body shop horror story, it's actually hard to find a post where someone tells about how great the paint looked after a body shop buffs the paint.

* How/What can I do/product(s) can I use to set this brand new paint and bring the gloss back out and cure the haze from the wet-sanding!?

The best way to correct the botched sanding and buffing work is to redo the job only this time find someone that knows what they're doing to do the work.

Chances are very good that if the body shop couldn't do it right the first time they won't be able to do it right the second time. You need someone that knows how to use a rotary buffer and a dual action polisher and is experienced with removing swirls and haze.

Do you own a rotary buffer and do you know how to use it?

It's possible it can be fixed by using a less aggressive tool like a DA Polisher and even by hand by a someone with excellent skills in rubbing paint out by hand but the most effective way to undo the damage is by re-doing it the right way starting with a rotary buffer. Possibly re-sanding if they left off using a course paper versus ending with a higher or finer grit paper.

* How long should I wait before doing the above process, and is there a certain order or time I should follow to let each step set? (Are all sealants supposed to sit on the car for 24 hours to activate?)

The repair buffing needs to be done as soon as possible. The more time that goes by the harder the paint will become, so while it's always going to be easy to sand paint, (that's putting scratches into the paint), it's the buffing step where you try to remove the sanding marks that's going to get more difficult.

As for applying a wax or a paint sealant, (any product intended to seal the paint with a layer of protection, here on this forum we always recommend you follow the painter's recommendation and if in doubt of their trustworthiness then follow the manufactures recommendations.

No matter what you may read on another forum, there is currently NO paint manufacture that recommends sealing their paint system before 30 days has passes and some paint manufactures recommend 60 days and even 90 days. So in the face of what you can read by others on other forums about applying a paint sealant or a wax within days of being sprayed, we recommend following what the manufacture of the paint recommends since they make the paint, not some person posting under a nickname on a forum.

Hope this helps clear up any questions you might have about how to properly take on this project.

[Don]

Re: JUST got back from the bodyshop!! Need advice...

Week long story short: The workmanship on my car wasn't finalized (I have to take pictures to submit here for the forum, and also worse case scenario to the dealership owner or small claims court)

- Upon pickup, the rear quarter which was re-painted and repaired to take out rust and damage sustained on an Arizona highway at 70mph a few months ago; the entire panel was hazed, which I know is normal after paint work, but the owner expected me to 'wax and revive it after letting it cure for 24 hours.'

After being refinished by a shop, a fender, quarter panel or whatever should look pretty darn good. It is not "normal" for a repainted body panel to be 'hazed' (the reflection from the body panel appears like you're looking through a fog) once the bodyshop has completed working on it. Holograms (3-dimensional looking swirls) maybe.

I don't know your skill or experience level, but if you are already thinking something isn't right immediately after picking the car up...it probably isn't. A quick and easy way to tell if what you're seeing are merely surface imperfections (final buffing only done so-so) or something deeper and more serious is to use some DC-1 (Deep Crystal Step-1) Paint Cleaner by hand and see if that corrects the problem. If you're thinking of requesting the repairs be corrected due to a shop error, I wouldn't go any farther than that if the DC-1 doesn't fix the problem. On the other hand, if it does correct the problems, I have an issue with putting any kind of sealer or wax on paint that new. The paint still has to "out gas," meaning that there are still solvents in the paint that need to evaporate out before that paint can be considered 'cured.' A wax or sealant will prevent the solvents from out gassing or evaporating, which could be harmful to the paint in the long run since it's not being allowed to properly cure.

The safest course of action would be to use something like DC-2 (Deep Crystal System Step 2 Polish) on a regular basis for the first month. While it doens't offer much in the way of protection, it will help remove contaminates and keep the paint clean until it is ready to be waxed.

Edited to add: Mike's pics are a perfect example of what I'm referring to. Your body panel should look like the Woodie or the "after" pics of the truck. If it looks like the "before" pics...well, this is a family forum, and I can't really say

[Mike Phillips]

Re: JUST got back from the bodyshop!! Need advice...

Out of all these posts, you should get a collective good answer...

http://www.detailcity.org/forums/exterior-car-care/24161-just-got-back-bodyshop-need-advice.html

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/auto-detailing-forum/13753-just-got-back-bodyshop-need-advice.html

http://www.showcardetailing.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1317

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/auto-detailing-forum/13753-just-got-back-bodyshop-need-advice.html

[kellyinkc]

Re: JUST got back from the bodyshop!! Need advice...

Out of all these posts, you should get a collective good answer...

http://www.detailcity.org/forums/exterior-car-care/24161-just-got-back-bodyshop-need-advice.html

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/auto-detailing-forum/13753-just-got-back-bodyshop-need-advice.html

http://www.showcardetailing.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1317

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/auto-detailing-forum/13753-just-got-back-bodyshop-need-advice.html

Mike you beat me to it!


Kelly

[Dynamic Detailing]

Re: JUST got back from the bodyshop!! Need advice...

**YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING!!! I'll share my own Meg's story and intro soon...

I have pictures... you guys won't believe this. Upon pickup, BUBBLING ALREADY is occuring where the rust was 'fixed'!

I am refusing to pay for service, and the pictures to follow will explain - some areas do have clearcoat - but they are orange peeled (I never knew what this term meant until today)

Usually, I am cool about everything - that's how people know me, but this entire ordeal has got me beaten down and angry. As you'll see in the pictures, my car isn't a Ferarri, but it's gorgeous and USED to have a flawless deep red depth...

[Dynamic Detailing]

Re: JUST got back from the bodyshop!! Need advice...

How do I post my ?

I don't see an option?

[Dynamic Detailing]

Re: JUST got back from the bodyshop!! Need advice...

Mike you beat me to it!


Kelly

hahaha!!!!

WELL YEAH BRO I'm not hiding multiple posts bro, those 4 forums are the best, and I swear by them!

I just am SICK over this loss of money, time, and frustration!

AND ON TOP OF IT ALL, I just got married a few months back and I came close to not being able to pay on the rings for THIS!?!?!?

Wow..... thanks for the responses though guys!

[kellyinkc]

Re: JUST got back from the bodyshop!! Need advice...

Be sure to use # 80 Speed Glaze but no sealant or wax. Meguiars uses the terms interchangeably. This includes not using Klasse All in One. It has some protection.

Oh and,

This is a thread on how to insert pix:

http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3188&highlight=inserting+pictures

Kelly

[Mike Phillips]

Re: JUST got back from the bodyshop!! Need advice...

How do I post my ?

I don't see an option?

Hi Aaron,

I always feel bad posting this but here goes...

We don't allow people to "Attach File", that means attach a photo. Overtime it corrupts the vBulletin database and pictures show up in posts but the wrong pictures. Maybe vBulletin has fixed this problem but the best way to allow photos on a forum is to host a gallery which we do and then have our members upload their pictures to the gallery and "Insert" them from the gallery into their message.

If you've never done this before I can walk you through it over the phone.

949-533-0225

It's not that hard though, the most important thing is to resize your photos so they're only a maximum of about 700 pixels wide, that way people don't have to horizontal scroll to see the entire photo.

This is 700 pixels wide






I use a free program called EZ Thumbnails to resizes all my photos because it's free and it's easy to use and it doesn't distort them.

Going offline for a while because it's kind of been a long day of typing so far and it's time for a break. Going to actually work on a car instead of type.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: JUST got back from the bodyshop!! Need advice...

hahaha!!!!

WELL YEAH BRO I'm not hiding multiple posts bro, those 4 forums are the best, and I swear by them!

They are all great forums with a lot of talented people answering questions, I just posted the links because I thought it was funny, no harm intended and in your shoes I would have done the same thing, that is ask on multiple forums to get as much information as possible to fix the problem.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: JUST got back from the bodyshop!! Need advice...

How do I post my ?

I don't see an option?

Here's a fast solution...

E-mail me your photos and I'll upload them into your gallery. IF they need to be resized I'll do it for you.

mphillips@meguiars.com

[Don]

Re: JUST got back from the bodyshop!! Need advice...

Dude...I've seen better paint jobs from a spray can...seriously.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: JUST got back from the bodyshop!! Need advice...

Hey Aarron....

Any updates?

We would like to see how this gets resolved...

Thanks...