Body Shop Repair

[WIKDCUT]

Ok, I’ll start with the backstory, just to add context here…

Hit a deer with my wife’s vehicle. Decided right away to have one of the best shops around do the repairs and repaint. Total estimate came to $3800 and insurance took care of it. New bumper, headlight, trim pieces, and paint repair where the fender was pushed back into the door and rubbed it off. It was to be a blend repair, blending the color across the door and fender and reclearing both panels. Car was to be in the shop for about a week.

Got a call on that Thursday that after everything had been painted and the car was being put back together, they realized that the fender had some sort of subtle kink in it and would not fit the finder properly. The shop owner knew that I was pretty particular and detail oriented and knew that I wouldn’t like it because he didn’t like it. He said for 95% of clients he would have let it go and they would have accepted it. SO, he said that he has ordered another fender and that he would pay for it himself and the repaint but he’d have to have the far for another week. No problem.

So we picked the car up the following Friday, it was in direct sunlight and it looked pretty good to me. Thanked him and took the car home and didn’t look at it until the following day, this time not in direct sunlight. I noticed right away that there was a color mismatch between the door and the fender and that the metal
flake wasnt oriented the same. The more I looked at it, the more I didn’t like it and I speculated as to what has happened. So I contacted the owner and told him the issue and also told him that I speculated that they had already had the original fender blended with the door but when the new fender came, they simply sent it to the paint booth to avoid having to reblend and that is why the color and flake didn’t match. He confirmed my speculation and then said that bringing the car back to have the panels reblended and refinished was in the best interest of everyone and so we set up another several days for him to have the car and take care of it. Excellent.

When we picked it up this time, color match and blend was spot on however the texture of the clear didn’t match the rest of the car. I don’t know how to explain it but it is almost like the orange peel on the new finish is a longer wavelength than the factory clear and so the entire door looks really wavy compared to the tight, factory peel. It is especially noticeable when standing near the back of the car and and looking down both doors at the reflection. The factory finish has peel but when you watch a reflection move across the panel, it stays static. I guess that’s the best was to describe it. The new finish has much more waviness and is ripply. I’ll try to include some videos of it but I’m not sure how well it will show up.

ANYWAY, I contacted the shop again to inquire about possibly wetsanding the panels to match the factory clear better and even offered to pay for him to do it because I appreciated the honesty and paying for the other fender himself. It was his response that has me wondering if what he is saying is legit or if he is blowing smoke because this car has been somewhat of a nightmare for him and he wants to wash his hands of it. He told me that he feels that he couldn’t improve the finish on the panels to make them better match the factory finish. He said that he could wetsand them flat but that they wouldn’t match the rest of the car. I agree. He then said that in the videos I sent him, that his finish was much more glossy than the factory finish and that the reflectiveness was magnifying the waves in the panel. This is where he kind of lost me because there was no waviness to the door before, none. I know factory peel can hide some panel imperfections but I know for a fact that the door was not wavy or distorted in any way. He then said to keep in mind that the finish isn’t by any means completely cured and that he feels that as it does it will look more and more like the factory finish. So I said, ok, so you’re saying that the new finish will “flatten” and become less wavy and ripply? He responded “As the finish cures it will "tighten" which is a term we use in our industry, thus becoming somewhat less reflective over time like the rest of the panels. The door on your Rav was a blend panel which we prepped with a grey Scotch-Brite pad in order to create a mechanical bond. The glossy fresh clear is magnifying the factory texture / shape of the panel. What I am saying is once the paint cures it will reflect less, flatten and resemble the adjacent panels.”

SO, I guess what I’m wondering is, does what he is saying make sense or is it attempt to get me out of hair because this car has already cost the shop money?

[2black1s]

You are fighting a losing battle.

The texture you described, i.e., "orange peel... is a longer wavelength" and "wavy", is because there is too much paint on the car. The fender and the blended door have both been painted twice within a matter of weeks. Each additional coat of paint applied, beyond what was necessary on the first go-around, contributes to the condition you describe.

I've stated this multiple times on this forum, contrary to the general consensus in the detailing world, more paint is not always better. Your situation here is a perfect example. There are many more reasons thicker paint is not always desirable, but your situation is definitely one of the primary one's.

Wet sanding and polishing is not a real option. The shop is correct in their assessment there. Their second point on the paint "tightening" as it cures is also true... It's also called "shrinkage", "die-back" or "hold-out". But where they go wrong is with the explanation that the new clear is magnifying the orange peel of the original finish. That's total BS. As is that the paint will magically match the original texture as it cures... That ain't happening.

If you were to bring your vehicle to me correct the "wavy" condition of the new paint, I would tell you that those panels need to be stripped to metal as the first step. You can't just keep loading on more paint.