Upset about the condition my brand new car was in when I bought it.

[FGFennec]

I looked around and couldn't find a more appropriate section for this to fall under, but I just wanted to vent a bit, and maybe see if anyone else had the same experience that I did. I am a detailer so maybe my eye for this thing is a bit more specific.

I was absolutely upset about the treatment of my car when it was prepped for delivery. When you buy a brand new car off the lot, you expect it to be in the best condition that it will ever be in. I expect the condition of the paint to be included in that. I know from working at a dealership that so many cars come in and out of the service bays and its a pretty busy environment. I also know the dealerships little tricks to make a car look really nice so you are happy when you take it off the lot, but that is short lived as then the issues appear after you wash it a couple times, or it rains.

Usually the dealerships will put a very light coat of a cheap wax on the vehicles to cover the scratches that they caused while unwrapping the car or from transit. This fills the scratches and hides them until that wax goes away. In my situation, it took about 1500 miles for that wax to go away and I was absolutely blown away at how bad the paint was. I know that no one had physically touched the car in a way to cause that kind of damage in my ownership so it had to have happened at the dealer. Here are some pics of what I consider damage to my cars paint.

Sorry for cell phone quality pics but they do speak for themselves.

1500 miles and under the pad already.


Drivers Fender


Drivers Rear Door


There was also a gross brown grease on all of the windows that took multiple washes to remove. You could still see the suction cup marks from when the machine put the windshield in as well. They did not clean this car very well.



Heres the result after the slightest polish. Literally 30 seconds per panel.

Drivers Door


Drivers Rear Door


THIS is how I expect a car to come to me direct from the lot. It was close, but just maybe 10 more minutes on the car and it would have been perfect.




Sorry if it got long winded or I am asking too much of the dealership, but I really needed to vent I guess.

Let me know if any of you have had these kinds of issues! I am curious to know what peoples opinions on this are!

[Firehouse Mike]

Looks very typical of a dealer prepped car. Buddy of mine very specifically requested that the transit wrap NOT be removed on his new truck when he took delivery. He had me come and remove it and and do the paint prep right then. There was a good bit of orange-peel (that he was Ok with) but very little else. A few buffer marks here and there from the factory paint crew removing imperfections, but nothing objectionable. Could be that your car had an iffy paint job and took a good bit of buffing at the factory to get through their QA process. Look like it cleaned up nicely though

Mike

[FGFennec]

Look like it cleaned up nicely though

Mike

Yeah I just felt really bad just breaking out the buffer on a car that hadn't even come close to its first oil change or tire rotation.

[Mantilgh]

Yes many have seen that problem here. Glad to here it cleaned up nice.

Search for DISO.

DISO = The Dealership Installed Swirl Option

Looks like they thought they polish it up some for you.

[FGFennec]

Yes many have seen that problem here. Glad to here it cleaned up nice.

Search for DISO.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/...rl-option.html

Looks like they thought they polish it up some for you.

This! Exactly this! Now I have a name for it haha. Thanks so much.

[Mike Phillips]

The other word for it besides the acronym DISO is...


Horror Story

IF you searched this forum for horror story you'd find a lot of people have had the same experience.

Dealerships only care about getting you into the little cubical where you sign your name on the dotted line.


It's really sad especially when you consider the factory clearcoat is thinner than a 3M post-it note.



Clearcoats are thin by Mike Phillips


The majority of cars being manufactured today and starting since the 1980's use what's called a basecoat/clearcoat paint system. With this system, a clear layer of paint is sprayed over the top of the basecoat which is also the color coat or the layer of paint that has pigment in it. If the car has a metallic finish then the metallic flakes are also in the basecoat.

The basecoat doesn't offer any gloss or shine and in fact it's dull or matte looking after it's sprayed. The basecoat gets it's gloss, shine, depth and reflectivity by the spraying of the clearcoat layer of paint over the top of it. This is why if a person removes too much clearcoat when buffing and they expose the basecoat it will appear to be a dull round or oval spot on a body panel. The part of the paint system that adds beauty has been removed revealing the dull or matte basecoat layer of paint.



Just how thin is the clear layer of paint on a factory paint job?

The factory clearcoat on a new or modern car measures approximately 2 mils thin.

The average post-it not is around 3 mils thin.




What does this mean?

This means the factory clearcoat on a new or modern car is thinner than a post-it note.

The next time you have a post-it note in front of you, feel a single post-it note between your fingers. Like this...





This experience will drive home the point as to just how thin the clear layer of paint is on modern car with a factory paint job.

It should also drive home the importance of using the least aggressive pad, product and even tools to get the job done.

When I say, get the job done, the context of this usually means someone is buffing out a car to remove paint defects like swirls, scratches, water spots and oxidation to make the paint and thus the car look better.

By using the least aggressive products you "get the job done" while leaving the most paint on the car to it will last over the mechanical service life of the car.

If you're working on your own cars and you're reading this you're already ahead of the game by reading the AGO forum and probably being a member so you can ask questions and get help.

If you're working on customer's cars take a professional approach as a service to your customers.


If you're reading this and you're going to do the work yourself or hire a detailer then do some research and make sure you hire a detailer that knows this type of stuff because the factory clearcoat on your car is thin.

[Mike Phillips]

When the clear layer gets to thin and it's not regularly maintained, you get

Clearcoat Failure


The Clearcoat Failure Photo Gallery Archive






So take care of it...

[mrbtd]

I recently purchased a new truck and simply asked them to not touch it at all. All of the vinyl wrap and plastic I removed myself. Truck was filthy when I picked it up and dealer had just received it the day prior...

Paint still was not near perfect. I am certain the swirls and minor scratches came from the handling at the factory. After a little polish all of my issues were solved.

I think most people don't see what we see.

[FGFennec]

I think most people don't see what we see.

100% agree with you on that one. I love/hate being able to walk through a parking lot and know I could fix nearly all of the problems you see on so many cars. It does lead to some major cringe moments sometimes...but mostly its a good thing!

[RedXray]

Dealerships only care about getting you into the little cubical where you sign your name on the dotted line.

Then they charge you up to a $500 "dock fee" for cleaning & prepping the vehicle and state inspection (where applicable). That's the part that kills ya after you fix their detail messes