Swirl Marks After Body Shop

[bryanviper]

Hello all,

Just a random question I was thinking about. So my friend bought a used 2009 BMW M3, had the hood painted & fenders blended due to paint chips and scratches. We picked up the car today and the paint work was very good however I noticed something that I have noticed on Most cars that comes out of the body shop, lots of buffer marks and swirl marks on the paint.

I'm just curious why do most body shops suck at polishing paint after they are done? If a new guy like me can get the paint swirl/mark free why cant a good body shop do the same?
yes I will be polishing his car and will also apply cquartz UK on it

Thanks

[polishdoc]

Because they do and that's why I'm in business fixing there stuff ups!

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[polishdoc]

With the technology that's available today there's no excuse for a poor polishing job that's come from a body shop! Unfortunately, a lot of Body Shops even the most prestigious one's are stuck in the stone age , they don't want to try new technologies to deliver results and that is what happens unfortunately!

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[TTQ B4U]

Hello all,

Just a random question I was thinking about. So my friend bought a used 2009 BMW M3, had the hood painted & fenders blended due to paint chips and scratches. We picked up the car today and the paint work was very good however I noticed something that I have noticed on Most cars that comes out of the body shop, lots of buffer marks and swirl marks on the paint.

I'm just curious why do most body shops suck at polishing paint after they are done? If a new guy like me can get the paint swirl/mark free why cant a good body shop do the same?
yes I will be polishing his car and will also apply cquartz UK on it

Thanks

insurance work is likely the majority of what they do and insurance won't pay for a detailer's time. just be sure to wait 30 days before you coat it. until then you can compound and polish it with silicon free products. AAT505 is a good silicon free version of HDSpeed.

[polishdoc]

Yes, I agree with that !
I would wait 90 days to coat otherwise the solvents in the paint won't escape and dry causing issues with the coating!

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[bryanviper]

I talked to the owner of the shop (I know him) and he said because they Baked the paint we dont have to wait to long. He said ideally 72hours However I wont touch the car for at least 1 week. I plan on polishing the car & then putting on cquartz uk. Once that's completed the owner will get PPF on the full front of the car to protect against rock chips.

insurance work is likely the majority of what they do and insurance won't pay for a detailer's time. just be sure to wait 30 days before you coat it. until then you can compound and polish it with silicon free products. AAT505 is a good silicon free version of HDSpeed.

[TTQ B4U]

I talked to the owner of the shop (I know him) and he said because they Baked the paint we dont have to wait to long. He said ideally 72hours However I wont touch the car for at least 1 week. I plan on polishing the car & then putting on cquartz uk. Once that's completed the owner will get PPF on the full front of the car to protect against rock chips.

I am not a paint expert but baking the paint doesn't cause it to gas-off and fully cure. I would contact the maker of the paint. Mine was done with BASF and they stated 30 days typically is what it takes for it to fully gas-off. Likely sooner given it is summer but that's their statement.

[Audios S6]

I'm just curious why do most body shops suck at polishing paint after they are done? If a new guy like me can get the paint swirl/mark free why cant a good body shop do the same?

Thanks

The reasons are numerous.

Can the average painter's helper do multiple wetsanding steps, compound and polish a bumper before their morning coffee break and expect a show car finish?

A body shop is a production environment. I would consider it on par with low level production detailing. Most don't have the knowledge, time or resources to produce show car work, nor are they getting paid to produce show car results.

They have also been conditioned to provide lesser results, insurance adjusters aren't going to complain about buffer trails and most owners only see a shiny new panel, not the buffer trails or compound wedged in every crevice.

[02special]

The reasons are numerous.

Can the average painter's helper do multiple wetsanding steps, compound and polish a bumper before their morning coffee break and expect a show car finish?

A body shop is a production environment. I would consider it on par with low level production detailing. Most don't have the knowledge, time or resources to produce show car work, nor are they getting paid to produce show car results.

They have also been conditioned to provide lesser results, insurance adjusters aren't going to complain about buffer trails and most owners only see a shiny new panel, not the buffer trails or compound wedged in every crevice.

this is how I see it. great post.

[Mike Phillips]

I'm just curious why do most body shops suck at polishing paint after they are done?

If a new guy like me can get the paint swirl/mark free why cant a good body shop do the same?


Thanks

There's a couple of reasons,

1: That's the way it's always been done. (hard to train an old dog a new trick)

2: They know how to do better work, all they know is rotary buffers.

3: They don't charge or factor in the time to charge to do better work so after it's cut and buffed they stop.

4: In some cases, they consider rough work good enough.

5: Because most people, (customers), don't know the difference between a squirrel or a swirl, they can get away with it.


Sad to say, crap work from body shops is the norm but the good news is there are exceptions and the trend is always for improvement as more and more information gets out to the public.


I've worked with a lot of custom shops, big names, unknown names, and truth be told, most of them don't know even the simple things everyone that hangs out on this forum knows.