New painted panels are cloudy, hazy with certain light, help! pics inside

[Big Turkey]

I posted this over at autopia and had some responses but the consensus is 50/50 on whether I should try using a swirl remover and polish to clean it up, or not waste my time and take it back to get repainted. Here's the situation.

I recently got some panels on my car painted black. When I picked the car up, it looked beautiful. After the first wash I noticed that when I pulled it into direct sunlight, and only at an angle where the sun is behind me, I noticed swirls, cloudiness and haziness. It's almost even a different shade of black.

I'd like to know how to fix this. I just purchased a starter kit and wolfgang's complete swirl remover kit with a Porter Cable 7424XP from autogeek.

My question is, is this fixable, or do I have to get this repainted?

Thanks for looking.

Here is a shot of the rear quarter panel. Looks fine except a few swirls, no biggie.



Same panel, up close:



Now from this angle.. you can see the problem.



Front Fender, it looks good at this angle:



Same discoloration:





Any advice would be great, thanks everyone.

[Rsurfer]

Take it back to the body shop and tell them you are not satisfied with the work. Don't touch it or you will be on your own.

[2old2change]

Rsurfer is correct. Once you touch it the body shop is done. If you are not happy then take it back and say so. Getting a second opinion at another shop won't hurt . Good luck.

[Mike Phillips]

Gosh... yet another example of a "Horror Story" from a body shop.

Not only are Ron and Paul right, but from your pictures it looks like it might be possible that the underlying black basecoat isn't as black or dark than the surrounding layers of basecoat.

Normally we could just attribute this to the haziness of the clear coat clouding the the paint giving it a grayish color, and that could be what's taking place, but again, to my eyes from the pictures you posted it looks like it's both a hazy clear from a botched buff-out job and the new basecoat doesn't match the original basecoat.

I know there are thousands of colors or tints of white paint, my guess is there are also different variations of black colors a painter can mix and spray.

Print out this thread and the one you posted to Autopia in color and take the copies with you to show the owner/manager that you've shared their work on very public forums and forum consensus is to bring it back and give them another shot at the job.

Threads usually print out best in Landscape Mode, not Portrait Mode.


Otherwise doing a test spot to just one section of one of the newly painted panels would tell you real fast if you can fix the paint or not. The Wolfgang Total Swirl Remover with a cutting or polishing pad on the 5.0 to 6.0 Speed setting to a section about 16" square for 4-6 Section Passes would tell you real fast if you can fix it.

If the problem is JUST a swirled-out, hazy top coat, (the surface of the clear layer), then you can fix it. IF the basecoat is in fact a different tint of black than you cannot fix that. Again, hard to say from the pictures.



Tips and Techniques for using the PC 7424XP Dual Action Polisher to remove Below Surface Defects


While this is for a Flex 3401 the same principals apply for any machine and even working by hand.


How to do a Test Spot using the Flex 3401

[Big Turkey]

Mike thank you for the response. I have contacted the body shop already, actually, I brought it back to them a few days after I noticed the off color. They went ahead and buffed the passenger side of the car, the pictures taken are from the driver's side. The passenger side still has the haze and off color, but at a much lesser degree. I was there when they did the buff and it was a dark cloudy day so we could not see the mismatch in paint. They did a quick 90min buff to the rear quarter and adjacent panel, so that gives me some hope that it will buff out.

I am not sure of what they used, but hopefully my order will arrive in the next day or so, and I can do a test spot on it. I actually dont' mind doing the work myself because I know I would put much more effort and patience with the car than any body shop would.

What's strange is that if you look at it from any other angle, it looks perfect. No mismatch whatsoever, even during sunlight if you look at the car with the sun in front of you, to the left or right of your angle to the car, nothing looks wrong. the sun has to be directly behind you and shining on top of this car to see the mismatch.

[Mike Phillips]

What's strange is that if you look at it from any other angle, it looks perfect. No mismatch whatsoever, even during sunlight if you look at the car with the sun in front of you, to the left or right of your angle to the car, nothing looks wrong. the sun has to be directly behind you and shining on top of this car to see the mismatch.

Kind of like this?

Mismatched paint


The Wolfgang Total Swirl Remover works very well for creating a very clear surface when used with a DA polisher and either a light cutting pad or a polishing pad and following this with a polishing or finishing pad with the Finishing Glaze will give you an accurate picture as to whether the problem was with their buffing process or mismatched paint.

If the problem is topical you can fix it. If the problem is mismatched basecoat paint, the only way to fix it will be to either re-paint the affected panels or the entire car.