Cloudy/hazy paint; would like some advice/opinions

[kodobuff3]

Hey guys,

I'm still relatively new here so please bear with me (thank you!)

This might turn out to be a longer question so I just want everyone to know that I really appreciate any knowledge you can share. So here goes.

I drive a 2014 Mazda 3 Sport GS (Canadian trim level). Rewind about 6 months... my brand new car goes into the body shop (under full manufacturer warranty) in order to get an entirely new hood shipped from Japan and installed; then painted by the shop. At the time, I had no idea you're not supposed to seal up the paint with wax or synthetic sealant until at least 30 days. Sometimes longer.

So anyway, not knowing this knowledge I did after about 1 week upon retrieving the car from the shop. When I picked it up, it was after hours so no one had the chance to fill me in on this vital info. Fast forward to today...

I got a dent/rock chip on the hood which isn't part of the problem. Upon inspecting the dent, I noticed the paint to be sort of blurry almost, cloudy compared to other areas of the car. I will try to submit some photographs for you to inspect.

Upon viewing this information, would you say that I caused the blurryness in the paint by sealing to soon after the repaint? And my most important question... would you say get it redone or could I buff this hood back up to a show-car shine?

Compared with the roof, for example, as you can ascertain from the pics, the hood is just marry/cloudy/hazy/dull and blurry looking in my opinion.

Thank you all for your comments/recommendations.

[Mike Phillips]

In my entire life in this industry I've NEVER seen a brand new paint job fail (in any way), because someone waxed it too soon and sealed the paint surface.


Waxing or applying a synthetic paint sealant or a paint coating = Sealing the paint.
(whether it's fresh or cured)


I've written half a dozen articles on the topic of NOT doing this because I don't know of a single PAINT MANUFACTURER that officially recommends sealing fresh paint before 30 days. So I'm not going to go against the official recommendation of a company for their paint, especially for the cost of most paint jobs.

Lots of people on detailing discussion forums say it's safe and personally recommend this to other forum members but I don't know any of them that are also Reps or employees or even chemists for the dozen or so paint manufacturers in the world. So that just makes it their opinion and their recommendation for someone else's fresh paint.


Back to the issue...

How many days passed from the time the car came out of the paint booth to the time that you sealed it?

What did you use to seal the paint?

[Setec Astronomy]

It's hard to tell anything from those pictures, but if the (refinished) hood doesn't look as good as the rest of the car, I highly doubt it's from anything you did, but simply the quality of the refinish is not as good as the factory panels.

As Mike likes to say, painters know a lot about painting, but frequently not about detailing (or something like that). I'm sure Mike will be able to walk you through shining that hood up or find you someone who can.

[kodobuff3]

How many days passed from the time the car came out of the paint booth to the time that you sealed it?

I can't remember exactly... however, definitely between 3-7 days.

What did you use to seal the paint?

Mother's FX Synwax.

[kodobuff3]

It's hard to tell anything from those pictures, but if the (refinished) hood doesn't look as good as the rest of the car, I highly doubt it's from anything you did, but simply the quality of the refinish is not as good as the factory panels.

As Mike likes to say, painters know a lot about painting, but frequently not about detailing (or something like that). I'm sure Mike will be able to walk you through shining that hood up or find you someone who can.

Thanks to you and Mike for the prompt replies. Also, since I've now a dent/chip, I'm debating whether to just get paintless dent repair done, and buff out the hood myself, or just go through my insurance to have the hood repainted.

It's a tough choice!

Thanks again.

[kodobuff3]

Would you kind folks, in your expert-opinions, say that this is a problem that buffing could restore?

[2black1s]

Thanks to you and Mike for the prompt replies. Also, since I've now a dent/chip, I'm debating whether to just get paintless dent repair done, and buff out the hood myself, or just go through my insurance to have the hood repainted.

It's a tough choice!

Thanks again.

As for your initial problem - any cloudiness or haziness that won't polish out is in the paint and is not a result of your waxing/sealing to soon.

Now going farther back to the initial problem that required hood replacement... In retrospect here's what you should have done. When they offered to replace the hood under warranty you should have specified that a factory replacement part that gets painted in their shop (or any shop) is not an acceptable remedy. The only acceptable remedy is to replace the hood with another "factory finish" hood off of another vehicle. There are many reasons for this. Matching factory paint in all respects, i.e., color, texture, finish, hardness, chip resistance, durability, etc., is impossible to do. You can match some of these characteristics but not all. Durability is the killer - There is no aftermarket finish that comes close to the factory applied finish.

I understand that the general populace is not aware of these "repaint" concerns. Most folks just simply believe that a new replacement hood with new paint from the shop is as good as new. That's just not the case. Repainted parts can look as good as new, even better (smoother, shinier, etc.), but there is more to the story. The durability will never equal the factory finish.

Have you ever seen a car with some panels that appear faded more than other panels. Or clear-coat failure on only selected panels. That is typically a dead give away that those panels were repaired and repainted at some point in time.


I'm going through this same process with a door on my new truck. I ordered a truck, waited 10 weeks for it to come in, and found some defects (dents and general waviness) in one of the doors before I took delivery. I was frustrated to the max. On one hand I could have simply said I'm not taking the truck and you'll need to order me another one, but I had waited 10 weeks already and didn't want to wait 10 more. I worked out a deal with them to replace my defective door with a factory finished door off of another brand new vehicle. I was explicit in stating that a new factory replacement door that gets painted in the shop was unacceptable and only a factory finished door off of another brand new vehicle would meet my expectations. With that agreement in writing I took delivery. The new donor truck is on order and is about 3-4 weeks away.

And for your final question, paintless dent repair or conventional repair/repaint. I'd probably go with the conventional repair/repaint since the hood has already been repainted. You won't be sacrificing the factory finish as that has already been done.

I know this post is a little too late to really help you now, but hopefully it can be useful for others down the road.

[kodobuff3]

As for your initial problem - any cloudiness or haziness that won't polish out is in the paint and is not a result of your waxing/sealing to soon.

Now going farther back to the initial problem that required hood replacement... In retrospect here's what you should have done. When they offered to replace the hood under warranty you should have specified that a factory replacement part that gets painted in their shop (or any shop) is not an acceptable remedy. The only acceptable remedy is to replace the hood with another "factory finish" hood off of another vehicle. There are many reasons for this. Matching factory paint in all respects, i.e., color, texture, finish, hardness, chip resistance, durability, etc., is impossible to do. You can match some of these characteristics but not all. Durability is the killer - There is no aftermarket finish that comes close to the factory applied finish.

I understand that the general populace is not aware of these "repaint" concerns. Most folks just simply believe that a new replacement hood with new paint from the shop is as good as new. That's just not the case. Repainted parts can look as good as new, even better (smoother, shinier, etc.), but there is more to the story. The durability will never equal the factory finish.

Have you ever seen a car with some panels that appear faded more than other panels. Or clear-coat failure on only selected panels. That is typically a dead give away that those panels were repaired and repainted at some point in time.


I'm going through this same process with a door on my new truck. I ordered a truck, waited 10 weeks for it to come in, and found some defects (dents and general waviness) in one of the doors before I took delivery. I was frustrated to the max. On one hand I could have simply said I'm not taking the truck and you'll need to order me another one, but I had waited 10 weeks already and didn't want to wait 10 more. I worked out a deal with them to replace my defective door with a factory finished door off of another brand new vehicle. I was explicit in stating that a new factory replacement door that gets painted in the shop was unacceptable and only a factory finished door off of another brand new vehicle would meet my expectations. With that agreement in writing I took delivery. The new donor truck is on order and is about 3-4 weeks away.

And for your final question, paintless dent repair or conventional repair/repaint. I'd probably go with the conventional repair/repaint since the hood has already been repainted. You won't be sacrificing the factory finish as that has already been done.

I know this post is a little too late to really help you now, but hopefully it can be useful for others down the road.

This makes me very sad. It's a helpful post, but I'm most certainly pretty pissed off at this point. I suppose there is nothing I can do now.

Thank you for the information. I hope other people that read this catch it in time.

[kodobuff3]

Well, I've contacted Guelph City Mazda (the dealership I purchase the car from in Guelph, Ontario) and I've contacted Mazda head office to bi*** about this experience and how I got taken advantage of because of my ignorance surrounding the issue.

Basically, I'm hoping they will rectify this issue by replacing my hood again, this time with factory OEM paint... *Hopefully* is the key word...

Probably not 'gonna happen though.

I'll update again later. For now, if there are any more thoughts to share, please don't hesitate to continue adding your opinions! Thanks a bunch everyone

[Setec Astronomy]

If the body shop just did a crummy buffing job, it shouldn't be a problem to polish it to the same clarity as the rest of the car.