Wills.WindowsAndWhee

I posted some photos above using the same light after our polishing I agree though, some things will happen, but the coating we applied to the car actually prevents bird drop etching and since it is a super thick silica coating, not a typical wax or sealant (actually close to 100x's thicker than a coat of wax), the COATING will take the brunt of the abuse nature offers it, not his factory paint.

It's not bullet proof, but it is a BIG leap from just letting your factory paint get beat on day in and day out

Are you speaking about the detailer at the dealership? If you watched the video and read the description, all that was taken by me BEFORE we did anything to it...what it looked like afterward you can see a couple of posts above in some after photos we took.

And yes, those buffer trails (holograms) were absolutely left by a high speed buffer...but in fact ANY form of buffing, be it with a rotary, or dual action polisher, will remove a light layer of clear coat...but as im sure you know a rotary can do that much faster. Thats why i was worried those edges had been burned, but they were just left over sanding marks that were able to be corrected...thankfully.

Thats whats up!

In a perfect world that would work...unfortunately a detail like this took us approximately 30 hours of labor to do the RIGHT way. I'm sure you know there's no way in hell a dealership would allocate that amount of time for their guys to fix this....and even if they did...correcting damage like this is a lot more difficult than slapping on a wool pad onto a rotary buffer and going at it (and thats what they'd do) with another glaze to fill it.

The last one we had like this was a brand new ZL1 Camaro. It was repainted under warranty at the dealership..and it was returned looking like crap. He told them to fix it...and this is what he got back:













Unfortunately, this is uncommon. I see cars everyday like this...and either they were hacked up by a bodyshop..or by a real crappy "detailer". I guess you could call it job security for us but..its still very disappointing to see such poor work.

That COULD be to a degree...they could have hammered it with the rotary and that would explain the holograms (buffer trails) on EVERY inch of the car...but it wouldn't explain the sanding marks.

If you watch this video of the assembly line, around 2:08 you can see a quick look at what they do there...and towards 6:40 you can see the wipe down process...and i kinda loved the guy with the wedges to check the gaps...how he slaps em all over the paint

Again in case you didnt see above, i dont work for the dealer, i only took the video to show how the car looked AFTER the owner received it from the dealer but BEFORE we worked on it...everything has been corrected, just hoping the dealer will compensate the owner for the money he had to put out to have it done.

Pruettfan

I have been detailing as a hobby and follow the industry very closely for the past several years. You are fortunate to have found an excellent detailer who did an amazing job on a paint finish that was in terrible shape. I have seen posts on detailer sites of very high end cars that have butchered finishes, cars like Ferraris, Bentleys and Porsche. All cars that I am sure left the factory in very good condition. I suspect that dealers do a lot of damage the way the wash, dry and "buff" cars while they are waiting for their next owner. I am not sure if that is the case in this car or not but I tend to suspect the dealer more than the factory because of the amount of damage and the fact that the car was clearly abused from end to end and top to bottom. Now that the damage is fixed make sure you wash it using the two bucket method, buy a blower to dry it (great investment) and keep your relationship with the detailer. Best of luck.

Wills.WindowsAndWhee

Hey you're my neighbor, I'm in Gilbert

This is extremely true...though a lot of exotics are also hand painted and thus sanded and buffed prior to ever being delivered to the dealer...I too have seen several trashed Lambos, Mclarens, Ferrari's etc.

The most COMMON damage from dealers, is their washes...they get off the transport truck and they send em straight into the "Tunnel of Death"...which is what we call tunnel washes...with the brushes whipping at 100 mph...or even a "hand wash' ...which consists of the nasties towels and mitts you've ever seen. Pick a mitt off the ground and wash the car with it...SURE! We currently have the owner of a new 370Z contacting the dealer because his car is swirled to hell due to their washes.

Thankfully the owner has picked our brain about caring for it and is going to have us do bi-weekly washes on it as well. Honestly washing cars that have been coated with CQuartz Finest is well...kinda fun lol. The way the water beads and runs off is quite amazing...and how easily it releases dirt also makes our job much easier:


Thank you for your kind words by the way, much appreciated

jr3

There is wax on the market that will cover scratches and swirl marks until the car is washed a couple times... It also comes in colored wax form.. Some people use it on black and dark color cars because dark colors show scratches easy.

SRQStingray

I don't, for a second, believe that damage was from the factory. No way in hell.

VNAMVET

Kinda' like makeup.........

Seriously though, I had debris (dirt particles) in the clear coat on my TR 2014 Z-51. I used 2000 grit sandpaper and finished with 3M by hand.
Its a GD shame we, as the end user, have to perform their quality assurance for them.

Some areas of my vehicle actually show the black primer through the Torch Red. Mechanics of the car are awesome,
too bad I can't give accolades to their paint process.

If I could go to Bowling Green, I'd take a hammer to their paint robots............

Fretka

3M makes a glazing liquid and has been around for quite awhile. It smells like bananas and looks ,smells and acts very much like the old Meguiars plastic polish.
When used it looks like you are "oiling" the clear-coat, made to fill in hyper-fine scratches. Lasts a washing or two depending on what soap you use.

Really looks good but unfortunately can be used to "hide a multitude of sins". Those of you who want the ultimate paint for a show day should look into this.
Seems like it might be a good idea to use this before applying a clear bra as it contains no silicone but check with the bra people first.

Monaco335

I've been detailing for 15 years now and meguires m105 on an orange pad then white pad then m205 on a white pad with a dual action buffer could have easily removed the holograms, swirls, and rotary buffer burns. I'd take a paint depth tool to see how much clear your detailer took off tho. I would admit it would take a lot to get it back to perfect like your detailer did. He did a good job.

Now that your car is fully detailed get some 22ple to lock in the finish!

AZstingray

He locked it in with Cquartz finest.

Monaco335

Didn't see that. Well done. Although next time Id recommend 22ple over cquartz. It doesn't last as long but the gloss is deeper.

SledUtah

Is this the same dealer?

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c7-g...t-pick-up.html

camncars

My guess is that this all happened at the dealer, and much of what was said above is true.. Factories do a paint inspection and de-nib the paint if there is any dust or flaws found, usually just a few spots on each car at the most. The dealer gets the car off the truck, the 'porters' or so-called 'detailers' remove the protective covers, run them through the wash (most dealers have automatic car washes which scratch the crap out of paint due to the high speed cloths slapping the paint and have dirt and crud from prior vehicle washes) then after the wipe down, they usually notice glue from the protective film from shipping. I've seen it hundreds of times where instead of using adhesive remover then a light hand polish, they run a high speed buffer on the entire car. Most "not all" of the so-called detailers at dealerships are just unexperienced kids that do this work. I know this as a fact, as I am in the auto refinishing buisness for the past 16 years and have serviced hundreds of dealerships... You'd be surprized, even high-line car dealers have these kind of 'detailers' working for them... The use of incorrect types of buffing compounds or polishes and tecnique will make the paint look very bad, and the fact that most glazes/waxes have fillers in them that will cover up scratches, but wears off with a car wash. The only thing I am not certain on is the fact that there is 'pigtailes' or machine sanding marks on this vehicle, and I highly doubut the 'detailer' at the dealer did this. There is a slight chance that the car may have been damaged while being shipped and a body shop, weather it be a dealer or outside shop, may have repainted it, and sanded and buffed the clear, but didn't do the important final steps while buffing.
Either way, glad to hear it looks good now. I'm not trying to insult anyone by saying that dealers use unexperienced 'kids' to be their detailers, I just want to post what I've seen, and like I said, i've been in this buisness for 18 years and seen this at over 100 dealerships. (btw I do paintwork and scratch removal for dealerships, and have had to correct TONS of these types of jobs...)
Well, either way, enjoy your new Vette!!! Hope this info helps.

AZstingray

No not the same dealership. Got mine from Thorobred Chevy in Chandler.

00hotvette

Don't knock the car wash biz. We use Neoglide foam not cloth. We also wash cars that cost three times the cost of the Vette. Cars are going to get scratched by snow, ice, rocks, and damaged by trees, birds, love bugs, enjoy you car. Or put it into a bubble in your living room.

camncars

I'm not knocking the car wash biz at all. I am just informing people about my experience and opinions pertaning to the majority of car dealers that I have worked for. Yes, there are some nicer automatic car washes that have better cloths, or as you said, Neoglide foam, which are very gental on the paint.. Whatever the material, there is always some kind of chance that dirt/debree/or anything can get stuck in the cloths or foam and put scratches on a vehicle. Yes, there are many other ways that cars can get scratched, I am not going to argue that at all and yes, enjoy your car and forget the bubble! Things happen and it's not the end of the world if your car gets scratched...

03 SILVER

Just look at the video. For the benefit of all of us you may want to investigate how the white covers are installed, under what conditions and by whom. It appears that all the "experts" on the forum do not want to have a serious discussion about this problem. As I stated earlier I believe most of the damage is caused by the white covers on dirty cars and the lack of care in the assembly line process.

BlackStingray

First post for me. I have VIN 4643, a Black/Black 3LT non Z51. As AZstingray noted, when I picked mine up from the dealer, the vehicle looked very clean - this was in bright sunlight, and the paint actually looked in good shape.

I also decided on the CQuartz Finest coating, and my detailer (Mike) also found a number of horrible paint issues, which really looked to be from the factory. This included things like huge circular buff marks below the drivers side mirror, and along the rear quarter by the fuel filler door. These defects really *had* been masked by the quick-fix wax/glaze the factory uses, but once stripped, were quite visible. Mike spent an unbelievable amount of time correcting these, and in the end the paint looks amazing!

This is my second black vette (C5 coupe), and I love the look - but you sure have to be dedicated to keep them looking good!

I did consider going back to the dealer on the paint issues, but in the end pretty much everything was correctable (no major paint runs or drips), and since I would have done the CQuartz Finest either way, I simply decided to move on.

03 SILVER

If you would like to share what the cost for the corrections and CQuartz was, it would be appreciated. Thanks

bbrown450

I cannot look at that clip any longer. Your car is beat to crap and I find it very hard to believe that got by the QC at BG my man. They have banks of lights "spectrum optimized" to show defects and while I know they had issues in QC early on with "orange peel" and objects in the paint...what you have there is flat out abuse that should have been caught even by the blind guy on the corner!! Take a Glad lunch bag or plastic grocery bag stick your hand in it and rub it along the car that paint has been destroyed in some cases the damage looks liike concentric circles only a buffer would cause...head to the dealer the sooner the better it will not help your case that you had it detailed but the burdon of proof should be in them..please keep us in the loop!

uwec86

What did it cost to fix it?