Paint Repair (burn?)

[asap2stacks]

I had a potential customer stop by the shop a few hours ago wanting to have there front panel fixed, they had there vehicle detailed by a local mobile detailing company around here and the next day they noticed this above there front bumper.



I told them I would take some photos and have our painting guy check it our tomorrow and give her a quote on the repair.

Anyway I just felt bad for the lady because she wanted to have her car detailed and ended up with this instead, plus she serviced in the military so I'm basically going to be the nice guy and give her a good deal but I wanted to know how this happened and the only thing I could come up with was after taking my paint thickness gauge and checking it her microns she averaged about 6.0 on the car but that panel where the paint came up is not measuring which means it's single stage so I'm guessing someone used a rotary and not testing panels just burned thro this poor lady's paint.

What does anyone else think??? Am I right or could it be something else??


CCCoating

[EngineerNate]

It probably didn't measure because it's probably plastic underneath there, as evidenced by the black showing through. So it's most likely thinner, has plasticizers in it to keep the paint flexible, and on a surface that doesn't transfer heat away from the buffer. Definitely a bubba move with a rotary. Absolutely unbelievable that they'd try to give this car back to the owner without mentioning this. It's possible it's a poorly adhered respray, but the damage was clearly caused by the detailer, extenuating circumstances or not. I'd be contacting the detailer to get their insurance to pay for it.

[atgonzales]

ASAP

The only that could have been done was to first come to you and 2nd you are giving her a break shows your human side of this sometimes crazy business we are in and lastly the best recommendation you will ever get from a new customer...

[RaskyR1]

Paint wrinkle. I've had this happen several years ago on a Honda but I owned up to it and had it repainted. I can't believe they would give the car back to her like that and not say anything!

[Sean M at ShowShine]

Hello everyone,

This is what I call a paint twist. I learned about this when I was 18 and detailing my mothers BMW 330xi, alpine white. In this case color has nothing to do with what caused the problem.

When I was young my mother taught me how to wash a car "HA! Now I know better". The car was covered in deep swirls and RID's everywhere as a result of improper wash technique. I had this problem happen on the rear bumper, side skirts, and front bumper while using PFW... on a PC orbital... the old style.

The whole point of that back story is to point out the importance of heat dispersion, aka metal vs ABS instead of machine selection. As we know rotary polishers create much more heat than orbitals but we must remember that orbitals still create a noticeable amount of heat on the working panel.

Polishing a plastic painted substrate the detailer should be very careful. Plastic "in this case ABS plastic" can not disperse heat at the same rate metal "aluminum, steel, etc" can. What happens is that while buffing the panel the plastic begins to heat up. When the top surface of the plastic begins to reach its critical point it becomes more malleable. Now that you have soft plastic underneath the painted area its easy for the detailer to apply too much pressure and the pad of the buffer to "twist" the paint due to the soft plastic substrate.

In other words, The previous detailer got the plastic bumper too hot, the paint separated from the bumper and the rotation of the buffer caused the paint to pull off of the panel. The only way to fix the problem is to repaint the area.

Hope this helps,
Sean @ ShowShine

[asap2stacks]

Alright well I got some more information it is a plastic panel beneath the paint an plus I received her vin number to match the paint, I only quoted her $200.00 for the respray of the panel. I'll update the topic once the job is done so everyone can see the finished result.


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[B5visser]

I'd second Sean's observation.

My best guess is the suspect "detailer" was using a Rotary polisher set on too high of speed, equipped with a foam cut pad and not enough product.

I call this "dry buffing." Situations like this only take seconds with a rotary and usually happen where compound has dried up and a dry (non-lubricated) pad spins and grabs the paintwork on plastic substrates. Unfortunately, in many cases, a rotary user with little to no training is not aware of the potential hazard his tool possess. I love my PE-14, but have also used a rotary for the past 12 years! Best wishes to this woman!

[Rsurfer]

Alright well I got some more information it is a plastic panel beneath the paint an plus I received her vin number to match the paint, I only quoted her $200.00 for the respray of the panel. I'll update the topic once the job is done so everyone can see the finished result.


Sent from my iPhone using AGOnline

That seems like a very low price to sand, color coat and cc.

[custmsprty]

Why doesn't she hold the detailer accountable for the damage they did and have them pay to have it fixed?

[Sean M at ShowShine]

If, and when, the body shop resprays the bumper please request an extra layer of clear. You can charge her extra for the wet sanding that WILL be required and you'll know you have some room to work with if you want it to look OEM.

Good luck.