Car goes into body shop, comes out worse

[lgtspecb]

So a couple months ago some lady hit and run my 08 Impreza. The damage was very minor, just some paint on the rear bumper. I Finally got it into the body shop to have the bumper repainted and picked it up today. Now there is a door ding on the drivers passenger door with paint transfer and the car is swirlled to hell.

It has never been to a car wash, I hand wash it every time and I am very anal as many of you know. Use two bucket method with grit guards, wash top to bottom rinsing after each panel. I wash in forward to back and top to bottom motions. I only blot dry with mf. I never use quick detailer unless it is to clean up bird droppings. I even use the autogeek deluxe water filter. Now I know no matter how careful you are, minor marring is a fact of washing and that is why I have already polished the car twice in the 6 months I have owned it, but my "swirls" are always straight lines, never a circular swirl as caused by bad washing habits.

The car is swirled really bad now, and the question is, do I let them pick it up and detail the car, or eat it and do it myself.

[makdaddy626]

Do it yourself... They'll probably hack it up worse than it is now. You can ask them to reimburse you for a fair amount to cover having the car detailed, but I don't know you'll get it.

[Mike T]

When I got my car back from the body shop it looked horrible. Swirls, scratches, over-spray, etc. I thought about raising hell, but then again I wouldn't want them to touch it. When I sat down in my car to drive away, I found the drying towel they used. OMG it was filthy and was stiff as a board because they forgot about it and left it in the car. I was disgusted they used something like that to dry my car. Most body shops could give two ****'s about how much we take care of our cars.
Some places have no pride in the quality of work they do. It's whatever it takes to get the job done, then its see ya.

[The Skillmaster]

I would just detail it my self. But I would get on their case about the door ding.

[lgtspecb]

I am with all of you, in the fact that I do not want to take it back to them since they have caused enough damage. I also, don't feel like doing it myself as I just did a spring detail on the thing, and at the rate I work and the depth of the scratches it would take me 20+ hours to wash, clay and clean (in case of overspray), polish 2x and seal 2x.

Since it was an insurance job, I paid nothing and cannot get anything in return. I think the only reasonable outcome would be for them to pay for an exterior detail from a professional detailer of my choice.

[lgtspecb]

Well, I am going to work on the car today myself. I was thinking of trying out my new optimum polish and lc pads. Should I use the orange or white pad, and if I do it with orange will I need to re-apply the polish with the white pad?

[matteo86]

Originally Posted by lgtspecb

Well, I am going to work on the car today myself. I was thinking of trying out my new optimum polish and lc pads. Should I use the orange or white pad, and if I do it with orange will I need to re-apply the polish with the white pad?

Always start with the least aggressive combo...in this case the white pad. (thats the best advice i have gotten from AG).

Sometimes you can go from orange to LSP...but it depends on many factors..you will have to look at the paint and decide.

Check out some of the videos offered on this site, they will show you marring and how to tell if the finish is ready for LSP.


Enjoy.

[trhland]

body shops suck !!! after i got my truck back it had a ton!!! of over spray all over it. i had to clay the hell outa it. along with a full polish ..

[lgtspecb]

The AG how-to polish videos show heavy marring with a lc orange pad, but does not show the paints condition prior to applying the finishing polish. My car is not nearly as bad as the videos car, so I thought a white pad would suffice, but I have been reading the details on this forum using op and they all use the orange pad. Are there videos I am missing? All I see is the orbital polisher how-to. I am going to go wash and clay, I will check back in shortly. Thanks.

[matteo86]

Originally Posted by lgtspecb

The AG how-to polish videos show heavy marring with a lc orange pad, but does not show the paints condition prior to applying the finishing polish. My car is not nearly as bad as the videos car, so I thought a white pad would suffice, but I have been reading the details on this forum using op and they all use the orange pad. Are there videos I am missing? All I see is the orbital polisher how-to. I am going to go wash and clay, I will check back in shortly. Thanks.

Try the white pad first I'm not sure how hard the clear coat is ... if you do a pass and the swirls are still there (most of them) probably means your clear is harder. That would require a tougher pad or tougher polish/compound. Remember to work the polish in slowly because you want to do some cutting to remove the swirls and not just jewel the paint.

Good luck.