Stupid dealership monkeys! My new paint is marred

[Jarhead0754]

Well yes a da is kinda dummy proof in a sense but u shouldn't think that way. U still can get into trouble with a da but it takes a lot! If ur buddy has a mobile detailing business how come he doesn't take care of it for u? Also if he has a da then he should b able to give u a pad and so on. If u plan on doing the whole at as wellie I'll need a few pads. And b sure to clean them every few passes. But there's a lot to learn before u just five right in withoutever using the tool so do some research on YouTube.

[Agent 99]

Re: Stupid dealership monkeys! My new paint is marred

Ok so, I went to visit my professional detailer today at his shop. Unfortunately the sun wasn't out so he couldn't totally see it but I showed him the pic. As it turns out, he handles the dealerships "problem cars" and thus advised me to take the car to the dealership and insist they let him fix it. I did just that. Luckily the sun popped out for a minute or two and I showed the sales manager the holograms. He was mystified how they happened claiming his monkeys use microfiber rags. I said just because its microfiber doesn't mean it cant cause harm. He then went inside to call my detailer whom he knew. Dealer man comes back out and says they will be billed for removal of the holograms. I called the detailer to confirm this was true before leaving.

So... obviously I cant just get the holograms removed and drive home to polish and then M21. So now I'll have to pay for my portion of the detailing which will be the polish and M21 but the dealership is picking up the correction. Hopefully this wont cost me too much.

[Top Gear]

Re: Stupid dealership monkeys! My new paint is marred

I agree with all the guys here, but my advice is to take it back to the dealership and make sure they can see the effects. Ask them to have their mobile detailer guys fix it. Even if it was done by their outside detail guys (and not the wash service employees of the dealer), they need to know what happened and feel your dissatisfaction.

As for the effects, they are totally superficial buffer trail holograms, but if your paint is as hard as Toyota paint can be, you might be challenged to remove them effectively. If you're going to get some gear and learn about machine polishing, that's one thing, but in the meantime, these holograms will drive you nuts. They need to fix their monkey work.

[Agent 99]

Re: Stupid dealership monkeys! My new paint is marred

I agree with all the guys here, but my advice is to take it back to the dealership and make sure they can see the effects. Ask them to have their mobile detailer guys fix it. Even if it was done by their outside detail guys (and not the wash service employees of the dealer), they need to know what happened and feel your dissatisfaction.

As for the effects, they are totally superficial buffer trail holograms, but if your paint is as hard as Toyota paint can be, you might be challenged to remove them effectively. If you're going to get some gear and learn about machine polishing, that's one thing, but in the meantime, these holograms will drive you nuts. They need to fix their **** work.

Haha, I think you posted this mere seconds after I posted the above... ^

[The Guz]

Re: Stupid dealership monkeys! My new paint is marred

It's a shame you have to cover some of the cost. They should be covering it. I would suggest you use that money and invest in a DA and tackle this yourself. You can pick up a Harbor Freight DA with pads and a backing plate for about $130-150.

[Top Gear]

Re: Stupid dealership monkeys! My new paint is marred

I see what you mean. They will not be charging you, of course, but you're paying for what you want to do afterward. I would wait and see how well they do before you get too exited, you know, exhaust their process and expertise. Then you can do what you want in your own time.

[davey g-force]

Re: Stupid dealership monkeys! My new paint is marred

You shouldn't be paying for any of it IMO.

You paid good money for a new car, which means it should be defect free and protected. If anything, MAYBE you should pay for the polish, but certainly not the compound or sealant.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Stupid dealership monkeys! My new paint is marred

Don't be overly concerned about removing too much clear coat - even a DA with Ultimate Compound will take off such a small amount that we usually can't even measure it. We took before and after pix on a Prowler we worked on at a recent Thursday Night Open Garage that showed no difference in paint thickness. The images are here. and you can clearly see that the paint on this Prowler was in far, far worse shape than what your new Toyota has been subject to.

It does seem that you've got both rotary buffer trails and other types of damage to the paint, but as bad as it looks it's really not that difficult to correct nor will you need to be very invasive at all to the paint. Provided you do it right. Using your neighbors DA will actually be easier and safer for the paint, truth be told. Working by hand on what may very well be fairly soft paint, it's really easy to create "cheetah spots" in the paint with almost any product. This happens when you apply fingertip pressure through a foam pad and then work with a bit of elbow grease. Regardless which product used in this method you end up creating a mess. A DA simply can't do that.

Cheetah spots created with improper hand application:


If you do borrow your neighbors DA, we would highly recommend picking up one of our yellow foam polishing discs and Ultimate Compound. Run the tool at speed 5, use moderate downward pressure, and move the tool slowly over the paint in back and forth, overlapping strokes. Keep your work area down to no greater than 2' x 2' and cover that area in side to side passes, then go up and down, and then repeat both directions once more. Stop and wipe off the residue with a clean microfiber towel and then move on to an adjoining area. Continue this around the entire car. Depending on how soft or touch sensitive the paint is, you may want to follow up with some Ultimate Polish before waxing the car. That looks like a pretty terrific shade of red on the Corolla, so we'd be inclined to include the polish step as it will really deepen the color and boost the gloss prior to waxing.

As for the dealership using a rotary on a new car, it's actually far more common than you'd think. And that goes for anything from small imports like your new Corolla, to European exotics and German luxury sedans - and pretty much everything in between. Any car can get some mistreatment during shipment, and the further that car has to be shipped the greater the risk of damage. A Chrysler 200 built in Sterling Heights, Michigan may only be on a truck for a few miles to reach a Chrysler dealer in Troy, Michigan but a Lexus LS built in Japan has to be put on a boat, shipped across the Pacific Ocean, and then sent by rail to a Lexus dealer in Troy, Michigan. What each dealership does to those cars when they arrive is where the fun begins! Some dealers will take a lightly marred car and make it absolutely gorgeous prior to delivery. Others will take a moderately messed up car and make it far, far worse in their "prep" process. And then, to make matters worse, there are those cars that leave the factory with sanding marks, pigtails, and other signs of correction in the paint shop at the factory that were done in a hurry. We expect our brand new, expensive cars to be perfect when they leave the factory, but they rarely are. We can't even count the number of times we've seen all sorts of makes/models right off the showroom floor that were made to look considerably better - richer, deeper, glossier - with a proper machine polishing process as soon as the car is brought home.

[Agent 99]

Re: Stupid dealership monkeys! My new paint is marred

Thanks for chiming in, Michael.

I agree that the color is great and may well benefit from a polish in between the correction and the M21. I'm going to see if I can get the detailer to do that. But when all this is done, when I wash my car, what steps do I take since it will already have M21 on it? Should I wax it or maybe reapply more M21? I'm talking 3+ weeks out whenever I get a chance to wash it.

thanks for the info.

edit: Also, for those wondering, I will have the pro work on the car now and I'll buy a DA of my own after this and learn how to use it. Unfortunatly I dont have a garage of my own living in an apt but I have friends that dont mind letting me use theirs to work on my paint. Usually this comes with the cost of washing their car but thats ok.

[The Guz]

Re: Stupid dealership monkeys! My new paint is marred

Follow proper washing techniques and you will be good. See this thread.

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?41790-Meguiar-s-Quik-Tips-Video-Series-Washing

Also invest in some ultimate quik wax. Use it every other wash or as a drying aid and you will boost the M21, extending it's life until your next polishing session.

[Agent 99]

Re: Stupid dealership monkeys! My new paint is marred

Alrighty.. here's what transpired.

Dropped car off to pro detailer and got a call several hours later saying it was ready. To my surprise, he did not charge me at all. He billed the dealership $205. We wouldn't take any money from me, not even for removal of the dealership decal. My detailer is the best in town. The damage appears to be gone!

[davey g-force]

Re: Stupid dealership monkeys! My new paint is marred

Good result!

I'm glad it worked out well for you.

[Agent 99]

Re: Stupid dealership monkeys! My new paint is marred

Good result!

I'm glad it worked out well for you.

Thanks me too. From here on out, any swirls/faults fall squarely on me. I'm really hoping that M21 gives me some protection against bird doo. I have no choice but to park under a tree (or risk door dings). I'm going to tie a rubber snake up in the branches tonight to hopefully thwart bird doo.

Also, as you can see the insides of my wheels come painted black from the factory and that paint is VERY susceptible to scratches. My detailer recommended some #9 to help hide the scratches. Any thoughts?

[davey g-force]

Re: Stupid dealership monkeys! My new paint is marred

Yes, that's probably a good start.

Your best bet is to use it (or another polish / compound) with a Meguiars Dynacone whel polisher. It's an awesome tool for getting into those tight spots.

[The Guz]

Re: Stupid dealership monkeys! My new paint is marred

Thanks me too. From here on out, any swirls/faults fall squarely on me. I'm really hoping that M21 gives me some protection against bird doo. I have no choice but to park under a tree (or risk door dings). I'm going to tie a rubber snake up in the branches tonight to hopefully thwart bird doo.

Also, as you can see the insides of my wheels come painted black from the factory and that paint is VERY susceptible to scratches. My detailer recommended some #9 to help hide the scratches. Any thoughts?

Car looks good.

M21 can only do so much. Bird poop is pretty harsh. It also depends on certain things such as species of bird, type of food involved at its last feeding period, ambient and vehicle temperatures, etc.... It's best to remove it right away. I have seen some bird droppings etch right away and others that have sat on paint for longer periods that did nothing.

In regards to your wheels. This is coming from me previously owning black wheels. I would clay, polish and seal every few months. I would only compound if I needed to. I would do a test spot. I would use my porter cable and small pads on the face and on the barrel of the wheels. Any sealant would work. Ultimate Quik Wax after every wash worked very well after the initial sealant. That would buy me time until I did it again. I would only use soap and water in between. I only used a wheel cleaner the times I took the wheels off and reapplied the sealant I was using.

I did use brake dust barrier a couple times on the black wheels. The only thing I didn't like with brake dust barrier is that it would give the wheels an orange peel effect which really showed up black. But it is durable.

With the face of your wheels you would more than likely need to do it by hand. I also bought a bore heads brush. It was much softer than a brush with the plastic type bristles. Those would swirl and scratch the wheel quicker.


On my new set of wheels I have gone to a wheel coating as I wanted something more durable.