2003 BMW M3 hood was repainted, has hazy/dull reflection

[John1988]

Hello everyone, I'm selling my friends 2003 BMW M3 for him. I quickly noticed the hood was repainted, as the reflection did not match up to the rest of the car. I would not be comfortable selling it in this condition. I tried using Meguiars Ultimate Compound with a orange pad, but the reflection is still dull/hazy. The paint feels silky smooth after claying and UC, it's just the reflection is very poor.

What do you guys think happened when repainting to cause this? Simply a bad paint job, bad buffing, or what? I looked at the work order and it was repainted on 3/19/2011.

Should I go at it again with the PC + UC + UP + Wax? (So far I only washed, clayed, and used UC)
I only spent like 10-15 minutes on the hood, to see if it would get any better.

Here are some pictures, will try to get better ones in the sun later.

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p110/JohnLee1988/P1000419.jpg
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p110/JohnLee1988/P1000410.jpg
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p110/JohnLee1988/P1000406.jpg
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p110/JohnLee1988/P1000411.jpg
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p110/JohnLee1988/P1000404-1.jpg

[rider9195]

I remember seeing another thread about how a member was having trouble removing swirls out of an M3. The paint just seems to be rock hard. An orange pad won't cut it. Look into some microfiber pads such as Meg's, OPT, or Surbuff pads.

[AudiTTman]

Well hopefully this haze is on the clear coat and not under it (I know this sounds weird) but I've read articles about the clear coat not binding to the base coats like it should during re-paints. Just for extra info, do you know who repainted the hood and is there any peeling of the clear on hood?

Depending on how comfortable you are with it, you could try wet sanding a small area and see if that gives you the results you're looking for. Afterwards, just run through your polishing process like you explained. Look forward to looking at the new pics in the sun

[AudiTTman]

After reading your first post, I'm wondering if maybe you just haven't polished out the micro marring/haze that the UC put into the paint. Do you have any other polishes that arent as aggressive as the UC?

[swanicyouth]

Can you get closer up pictures that focus on the hood? That's one of
my favorite cars E46 M3.

[John1988]

Why do the pictures come out so small on here? Does this website auto resize em for you?

Anyways here are some new pictures of the hood:

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p110/JohnLee1988/P1000436.jpg

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p110/JohnLee1988/P1000434.jpg

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p110/JohnLee1988/P1000433.jpg

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p110/JohnLee1988/P1000431.jpg

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p110/JohnLee1988/P1000429.jpg

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p110/JohnLee1988/P1000428.jpg

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p110/JohnLee1988/P1000427.jpg

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p110/JohnLee1988/P1000426.jpg

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p110/JohnLee1988/P1000424.jpg

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p110/JohnLee1988/P1000437.jpg

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Boy that is a shoddy paint job. That looks to be in the clear. Are you familiar with wetsanding?

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

If you are try a small section and go from there.

[John1988]

Boy that is a shoddy paint job. That looks to be in the clear. Are you familiar with wetsanding?

My friend doesn't notice it all, even when I point it out to him. He says something is wrong with me, and it looks completely fine. Seriously lol? It's the first thing I noticed when I looked at the car... Looks worse in person.

I've never tried wetsanding before, is it fairly easy?

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

You should point out that something is wrong with your friend. I know exactly what you are looking at. We had a vehicle that came back from a body shop (to save time and money) and the whole car looked like that. So our body shop was behind another car because we ended up redoing the car. Only our guys sanded it out and reshot some fresh clear.

Since it was done at a body shop the clear should be thicker than normal so you could try out a small section on the hood. This would be a good starting point to get yourself familiar with spot dampsanding. 3M Scratch Removal System, 3M Scratch Remover Kit, scratch repair, remove scratches (http://www.autogeek.net/3m-scratch-removal-kit.html) This can be found at your local auto parts store if you need it in a pinch.

Please be carefull, read through the instructions carefully, and see what you can achieve.

[wukin]

It looks like orange peel to me. <--insert wetsanding
You should bring it back to the bodyshop and tell them to fix for you.

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

You should point out that something is wrong with your friend. I know exactly what you are looking at. We had a vehicle that came back from a body shop (to save time and money) and the whole car looked like that. So our body shop was behind another car because we ended up redoing the car. Only our guys sanded it out and reshot some fresh clear.

Since it was done at a body shop the clear should be thicker than normal so you could try out a small section on the hood. This would be a good starting point to get yourself familiar with spot dampsanding. 3M Scratch Removal System, 3M Scratch Remover Kit, scratch repair, remove scratches (http://www.autogeek.net/3m-scratch-removal-kit.html) This can be found at your local auto parts store if you need it in a pinch.

Please be carefull, read through the instructions carefully, and see what you can achieve.

One more thing, you wont be able to do the entire hood with the above system but the kit will give you a peek at machine dampsanding.

[truckbutt]

My friend doesn't notice it all, even when I point it out to him. He says something is wrong with me, and it looks completely fine. Seriously lol? It's the first thing I noticed when I looked at the car... Looks worse in person.

I've never tried wetsanding before, is it fairly easy?
I am learning alot from the discusion how to fix the problem. I appreciate that. But why are you knocking yourself out for a problem that your friend doesn't see? My experience in fixing things for people who don't think that their broken is no good deed goes unpunished. If you mess up and he sees that, you could have a problem with your friend. Just my 2c.

[John1988]

I am learning alot from the discusion how to fix the problem. I appreciate that. But why are you knocking yourself out for a problem that your friend doesn't see? My experience in fixing things for people who don't think that their broken is no good deed goes unpunished. If you mess up and he sees that, you could have a problem with your friend. Just my 2c.

I decided against wetsanding, you're right I could easily make a mistake, and make it worse. I gave it another shot with orange pad (don't have anything stronger atm, because I thought I'd only be using it on my truck) + UC + UP + Meg's Yellow Wax. It did shine up a bit more, but still has blurry reflections and missing that glossy shine.

Overall it looks like a poor dirty paint job + too much fine orange peel. I'll let him deal with it, if the car doesn't sell. Hopefully I can persuade him to take it back to the shop that did the repairs.