For the last 10 years I've described the holograms and scratches inflicted into a person's car by someone that works at a body shop, detail shop or dealership as a Horror Story but actually it's a crime because it's destruction of personal property.
Scratches are missing paint. Period.
Paint is missing because the person doing the work used too aggressive of products, pads and tools to either buff or wash a car and a lot of time also used bad technique.
Putting scratches into a person's car is really a bad thing to do because in order to remove the scratches you have to remove MORE paint.
Now follow me on this...
Factory clearcoat paints are thin. Typically thinner than a 3M Post-it Note.
So when a Dealership, a Bodyshop or a Detailer puts swirls into your car's paint either by how they wash it, wipe it or buff-it out they are NEEDLESSLY removing perfectly good paint because scratches are areas of paint that has been removed.
Now follow me even closer...
In order to remove the scratches you must level the paint until the top surface of the paint is level with the lowest depths of the deepest scratches.
Now you're removing MORE paint to fix a problem someone else caused to your car's already thin paint.
Paint is thin. All the factory UV protection is in the clear layer of paint. The more clear that is removed the less factory UV protection that is left to stabilize and protect the entire matrix of paint, (clear/base/primer).
How much does a quality paint job cost?
Go around to several high-end and custom body shops and get an estimate for a "good" paint job. I'll guess $3000.00 will be on the LOW end.
Go to a few local car shows, find some nice street rods, inspect the paint, when you find a few with really nice paint ask the owners for the name of the shop or person that did the body and paint work. Go to this person and ask them what a "good" paint job would be for your car and you're going to find out that to repaint your brand new car, no matter what it is, Ford Focus or Honda Accord, you're going to be looking at some serious money.
The point?
You and I can't change the industry, that means we can't do anything to make or force all detail shops, body shops and dealerships do good work and by do good work I mean work on car paint in a way that's non-destructive.
The next best thing we can do is to be pro-active with our own cars and to help our family, friends, neighbors and co-workers by educating them when the opportunity presents itself.
For example your neighbor buys a new car. Print-out or send them the link to the article below or even this article you're reading right now.
The first chapters bring a complete newbie to car detailing up to speed with enough information about their car's clear coat finish to help them understand the importance of properly taking care of it. Whether they work on it or they pay someone to work on it.
Re: Holograms & scratches put into your car by someone else should be a crime
I wrote most of the above last week trying to help a new forum member try to undo the damage caused to his Ram Truck's finish when it was washed at a dealership in this thread,
Hows it goin? Im a new forum member and looking for some pointers.
Recently my 09 ram was serviced at a local dealership and when i got it back it seriously looked like it was washed with steel wool.
I went round and round with them and the only way to get them to fix it was to sue them...
Last Friday, I had a guy in Houston, Texas call me to ask how to remove holograms out of his 2010 Mustang GT. He purchased the car and then took it to a detailer that supposedly knows what they are doing and now the entire car is filled with holograms from the misuse of a rotary buffer.
Behind the scenes I'm working with him to get the paint fixed by doing it right the second time.
Re: Holograms & scratches put into your car by someone else should be a crime
Car washes that have those dumb brushes should be a crime. I feel like warning people about it but I feel like it makes me come across as a know it all. Been called that before, so it's hard to say anything.
So far the dealership I take my car to has been awesome with not doing anything they shouldn't. I've been very clear about staying away from the paint. At least they listen.
Re: Holograms & scratches put into your car by someone else should be a crime
I probably get on average two people a week contacting me because they're going through the ordeal of getting holograms from the misuse of a rotary buffer removed or scratches from a car was removed.
I love helping these guys because I feel their pain.
I also send them links to articles like this one so they can get more info about the problem and the solution.
Re: Holograms & scratches put into your car by someone else should be a crime
I was just about to make a thread, "I got hologrammed". I had some PDR work done on my MINI and 1 of the 3 panels that had dents, got the hologram treatment.
When I dropped it off, I asked the guy about buffing after removing the dents and he told me he uses a wool pad and then finishes with foam. I told him the reason I ask, was because I'm a little OCD and his response was, "so am I".
I didn't notice till a week after the work was done. I'm thinking (hoping) that one of his helpers did the work and didn't use a foam pad to finish that one panel. The other panels look good. I figure, since I have the gear (and AGO), I'll correct it myself.
I have WG Finishing Glaze, TSR and Menz FG400. LC 5.5", black, white and orange pads. I figure I'll start with WGFG on a white pad, but I'm wondering if there are any predictions of what product combo will end up fixing it. 2006 MINI R53, astro black.
Re: Holograms & scratches put into your car by someone else should be a crime
Funny that this thread popped up. I just went through this exact same experience with my own car last week. Took it to a guy to remove some door dings and he put scratches back into the finish attempting to rotary polish over the fixed dings
Thanks Justin, for pointing out your thread. Looks like WG finishing Glaze with a white pad should take care of it for me. Great job. Your car looks great.
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