Anselmo Moreno

I'm quite dissapointed. What was supposed to be a "seamless" repair has sub par work all over it.

This happend to me about two weeks ago:

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...to-yvette.html

Shop said they would sand the clear coat down in both the rear quarter panel and rear bumper, then blend the paint where the minor scratches were, and re clear coat both bumper and quarter panel.

I got my car back and I found a bunch of small indentations in the car. They look like dust specs stuck under the clear coat, and they are also indented in, not out. They were all over the quarter panel and bumper. I took it back to the shop and they said they were going to "buff it out" (I'm assuming they sanded the clear coat) - the car had zero swirls in the newly coated quarter panel and bumper, and now after there attempt to fix it it has swirls...Not terribly concerned with the swirls but it tells me they likely wet sanded it right?

They got rid of most of them, but a few remain. I've tried to ****** pictures of them, they are extremely difficult to see and take a picture of and you have to look at the right angle. The shots I did get actually exaggerate them a bit.

I told the shop I still see a few, and they promised to take care of everything. I took the car home and really started to inspect it, and the more I look the more I find issues. I can what looks to be clear coat residue or over spray in the cracks , along with uneven-ness at certains spots.

I've tried to include pictures that can show you the dilemma, but I'm really dissapointed. For you experienced auto body folks, is my attention to detail just that ****, or is the body shop just trying to hurry up and get this done without caring for perfection?

Dt86

It is really hard to find quality repair shops nowadays. Everything is volume work and they cut as many corners as possible. There are shops that do great work but the ones that don't vastly outnumber them. At least now you know where to NOT go for bodywork. And they should have cleared the whole panel not do a blend.
As for the holes they appear to be fisheyes. Caused by several reasons. Spraying on too thick, not enough time to flash between coats or poor atomization(I'm sure many other reasons). I'm no expert but there should be a pro on here today to give you advice.
I bet the shop is going to fill them in with clear and wet sand them down.

DUB

***LENGTHY REPLY*****
This issue is touching on other areas of importance that many readers may not be aware of.

ALL I can write is this...and this is because I DO paint and body work on a high level.

When a car is taken to a shop.... in most cases...the shop has set a standard that 'seems' to work for them. The level of excellence is what they determine...so NOT all shops are the same. REGARDLESS of the shops that are on a list from the insurance companies.

Most people do not complain and take cars back due to problems because every body is always in such a hurry and it is such an inconvenience. SO...this lets the shop know that doing sub-standard work is ACCEPTABLE....because in most cases..there is a possible renal car that is being paid for so the insurance company is on the shops @ss to get the car done in the allotted amount of time that the INSURANCE COMPANY has allotted....NOT the SHOP! TRUST ME...there is a lot of B.S drama in some cases (not always) when doing work for an insurance company and a rental car is involved. I KNOW this from experience.

SO..the 'quality control' department at the shop decided that the imperfections were acceptable and hoped that the repair would satisfy you. Like I wrote...each shop is different...and if the rest of your car is FLAWLESS...then the repair NEEDS to match. That is what the whole point of doing paint and body work is. DO the repair and get it to match.

The swirls is just that someone DOES NOT KNOW how to buff and polish paint and are NOT taking the time needed. ONCE again...seeing what they can get away with. (my opinion)

Take it back as many times as need to get it right. And if you were the victim of the accident...thus it is NOT your insurance company paying for this repair. AS I tell my customers. THEY are in the 'drivers seat' and SHOULD not have to settle for anything less than what is needed to put the car back in the condition it was 5 seconds BEFORE it got hit. And just because they are the VICTIM...does NOT give them the right to try to have me get more work done on the car that was not accident related and have the insurance company pay for it.

I am totally BIAS...I am NOT working to defraud the insurance company in any way...PERIOD! And I do not defraud my customers and allow the insurance company NOT pay for repairs that ARE accident related. Being asked by either party to defraud the other is something I really do not like at all.

Why did I wrote that? Once again...it depends on the shop and how they choose to run their shop. SOME shops are all about the MONEY...while others look at each job individually and deal with it accordingly. And yes is really SUCKS that you have to take the car back when it should have been done correctly the first time.

DO NOT GIVE UP...and if you seem to keep running into problems. Then it might be wise to either contact the insurance company and explain your concerns or contact the insurance commissioner in your state...which I have done. I know the rules in my state. And one of them is it also depends on how the repair was written by the insurance company.....THIS IS IMPORTANT!!!!. It they wrote the repair estimate to blend the color and clear the panel...then the entire panel is being paid to be cleared. SO...knowing HOW the estimate was written...is IMPORTANT. If they paid for the bumper cover to be removed...then it should and so on.

SO many people are totally ignorant to the rules and rights that a consumer has when dealing with the insurance companies....and the rules that the insurance companies MUST follow. AND how the insurance companies HOPE that the IGNORANCE of people will allow them to get away with 'stuff'. SO...for all of those who are 'not knowing' of their rights and the rules. Look into it. It is much like the LAW. if you break a law that you do not know is out there and tell the Judge that you didn't know. The Judge will tell you "Ignorance of the LAW is NO excuse."

DUB

randy ransome

Trust me DUB has just written the best article on this subject.

Everything in his article is Spot On. A shop is only as good as the owner wants it to be.

My brother owns a paint and body shop and he's a perfectionist. He inspects every job. Nothing leaves until He's satisfied that the job is the best it can be.

Good Luck

Anselmo Moreno

Thanks for the write up DUB. I appreciate it.

So here is where I believe I am out of luck. I am not at fault, so I got a check from the insurance company for the damages based on the estimate their own appraiser wrote up. It ended up being about $200 higher than the shop's estimate, which was because the appraiser added in the corvette bumper badge and the GM badge that goes at the bottom of the quarter panel. Those did not need to be replaced so we left them out.

In essence, the insurance company wrote me the check and I paid the shop out of my own pocket. (Initial estimate $920, Insurance estimate 1180$)

If you would be so kind and give your opinion on whether or not the issues I spotted can be remedied by being "buffed/polished" out or does the panels need to be completely sanded and re-clear coated again.

I took it back to the shop today and I went over it with the owner and the polisher and showed them all the problem areas I found. They claimed some light specs can be normal, but they would take the time to polish it all out by going square by square. I pointed out all the flaws while being as nice about it as possible.

I expressed that my main concern is that someone can look at it and be able to immediately tell that the car has been in a wreck, which there rebuttal was that any trained or experienced person will be able regardless of how good the repair is. I guess. Thoughts on that?

Let's see how this goes and hope the third time is a charm.

DUB

It is hard to say for certain. A lot has to do with how much clear they applied and how bad the spots are.

LIGHT SPECS can occur but taking care of them is ...once again...depending on what the shop considers GOOD ENOUGH.

B.S. to that..and here is why. I did a spot/blend repair on a C5. Graphite gray. Blended the color...blah, blah, blah and buffed it. When the owner some time later took it to the Chevy dealer in town to trade it in on a C6....who also gave him an estimate on the SAME repair that this owner paid me MORE to do. When the used car inspector walked around the car and came back into the office...as stated by this customer of mine....told the salesman that the car has NOT been painted on...BUT while he was out looking at it...my customer (the owner) TOLD the salesman that it HAD been painted on. The guy went back out TRYING to find the area painted....and kept coming back in and saying another panel...and was wrong each time....UNTIL the owner (my customer ) told him which panels were painted. SO...B.S. to them thinking that if a job is done correctly...it could fool my eye. The problem is.....THEY may not know or care to bring it to that LEVEL.

DUB

13611

If he's going to try and get it right again, give him a chance. But if it's still not right, I'd burn off a copy of this and let the shop foreman read it and then see if he sticks to his story. Business is business and you've been polite to this point, but ultimately, it's the shops job to do it properly. If you're not neighbors or drinking biddies with this guy... it's time to tell him to get it right. It's amazing what a "normal" person can do these days to throw a screaming fit on the internet... start with a YELP review... that should get his attention.

Anselmo Moreno

We're not drinking buddies, but good business friends. After polishing out a lot of the defects, I still found some and found more things I hadn't noticed. A little reluctantly but they agreed to give it another try at "polishing them out."

I heard back today and they are polishing the bumper and re-doing the quarter panel. Hopefully this time it's done right. He said the panel was in the paint booth , which sounds like they actually removed it this time. Fingers crossed.

13611

Awesome, glad to hear that! It's always a little touchy if there's a personal relationship involved. I'm sure it will get the proper attention to detail this time.

DUB

BUT the sad thing is that it comes to that. Personal/business relationships should not even be a variable. Not like I am going to do a better job for someone I know versus someone I do not know. They ll get the same...unless someone wants to pay more for a type of job that would show that it is far better than a factory paint job

I honestly hope it comes out CORRECT this time.

DUB

Anselmo Moreno

Update: Got the car back today. Looks much, much better. I really couldn't find any fish eyes at all. I understand now that it will never be how it was exactly 5 seconds before the accident, but at least the fish eyes and specs are gone.

Plot Twist: The wife drove me to go get my car. After we picked it up we drove to a nearby Cafe for breakfast....and when we got out....wait for it.......................

Someone backed into the wife's brand new Sonata... driver's side quarter panel and rear bumper.....

Good News: They left a note with a real name and real phone number....

You know what they say, when it rains, it pours. And it's not water because we are in a drought over here.

I definitely want to thank you folks for chiming in with your insight. It was very helpful!

Dt86

Glad to see that you are happy with the repair now. That is too bad about the Sonata but you were lucky that they left you their info. Nice to see that there are still honest folks out there.