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oneheadlite
06-25-2021, 12:41 PM
Here’s one just for fun.

Not my car, just one that rolled through the shop. While I had it on the hoist, it was impossible not to notice this pattern in the paint.

First, the pictures:

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210625/ebc0d174c83764c130a567917552af00.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210625/d5bf90f8126b8b155205f12137d23f0d.jpg




You can see what looks like etching in the paint. Again, not my car, so I didn’t go rubbing on it to see if you could feel it. It almost looked like it was below the surface.

The whole car looked like this. If you shifted lighting, you could also see staining all over the car:

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210625/57245ba1eb0f255135c48511899b0e44.jpg




My impression is that it looks like the car probably got sprayed down with a caustic chemical? IE: Sprayed down with wheel acid by runners at the dealership before running it through their automatic car wash? (Saw this all too often back when I worked at a dealership).

The staining “makes sense” for something you’d see as a result of chemicals, but the odd etching from the first couple pictures had me scratching my head. I’ve never seen anything like that before.

As far as I could tell, the paint looked largely factory. I don’t have a paint thickness gauge, but I do have a lot of experience looking for signs of bodywork (as a technician, when we do pre/post-purchase inspections we look the car over to help the buyer be aware if it’s had any work done. No paint like factory paint…).

Based on orange peel and imperfections in the paint (“Dits” as I like to call them - looked like a dirt nib), the rear bumper was the only panel that stood out as being repainted. But, to be honest, since the car was red versus the normal black/white/grey/silver, I wasn’t sure if that kind of thing could be more common from the factory based on lower volume of cars that color.


Example:

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210625/3dd00ab22e94b87d90b440ba10d5db4c.jpg



I tried to get more/better pictures, but getting my 4 year old phone to focus at point blank range on surface imperfections on a shiny red car was a bit of a challenge! :laughing:


Looking forward to hearing people’s thoughts as to what that could have been!

I know one thing for sure, no way in heck I could have lived with it!!!

Mike Phillips
06-25-2021, 02:30 PM
Good photography.... :Picture:



I'm with, the staining looks like some kind of chemical staining.

The irregular surface texture could be under in in the clearcoat. Tread carefully.


:)

2black1s
06-25-2021, 03:01 PM
Not seeing it in-person, I'd have to guess it's been repainted with poor preparation.

oneheadlite
06-25-2021, 03:54 PM
Good photography.... :Picture:



I'm with, the staining looks like some kind of chemical staining.

The irregular surface texture could be under in in the clearcoat. Tread carefully.


:)

Thankfully "in the shop" is an auto repair facility (I fix cars for a living, I only shine them as a hobby :) ), so my involvement with the paint ends at going "Oooh, That's unfortunate. :eek: "


Not seeing it in-person, I'd have to guess it's been repainted with poor preparation.

I thought that at first too, but I can't find any other tells for a respray - no tape lines, paint around seals/jams, orange peel variance (outside of what you see in the rear bumper shot), fish eyes, unusual rock chipping from softer clear, etc. It's bizarre. Realistically though, that doesn't mean it's not repainted - just means if it was it was they did a very thorough paint job... with poor preparation. :laughing:

BudgetPlan1
06-25-2021, 04:29 PM
...so my involvement with the paint ends at going "Oooh, That's unfortunate. :eek: "

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