Nth Degree
New member
This customer contacted me after having his 2007 Jaguar XK-R in to the dealership for service. The dealership performed a complimentary wash. I don’t know what the paint looked like before the wash but this is what I saw.
The long, straight scratches that flank the camera in the reflection are evidence of washing with a brush. The entire car had similar marring. The dealership accepted responsibility for the damage. The customer told me the service manager said “To be honest, all our black cars look like that.” I can confirm this fact since I took a good look at the vehicles in the dealership showroom and found similar marring. The sad thing is this is a dealer that deals in $100k+ vehicles. Their detailer took a stab at fixing it. I later learned his “fixing it” consisted of claying and waxing it. I was rather surprised to learn that, out of nearly 20 dealerships in the area under the same ownership that their detailer didn’t have any clue how to deal with this issue. This is an important point to keep in mind when purchasing a new vehicle. DON’T LET THEM TOUCH IT!
Here is another indicator of the poor quality of the dealership detailing:
Greasy tire dressings may look good when first applied but they attract and hold dirt… until it slings up onto the side of your car.
In this case the dealership paid for the work to correct the paint. When I went to the dealership to pick up the check I met with the service manager. He was very appreciative that I was able to make the customer happy and was open-minded to making some adjustments to their wash methods. After observing their process (my suspicion was confirmed that they are using a brush on a broom handle, one bucket method, starting at the bottom and working up then using a 12”x12” chamois to dry the entire vehicle.) I made some suggestions and offered further training to their staff should they be interested.
This car is 7+ years old and the current owner has had it for about a year. Once it was washed and inside I was able to get a good look at it.
Once again the pattern of the scratches are long straight lines and turned out to be quite deep. For comparison here is a picture of another black car that has wash induced marring in the typical circular pattern.
A test 50/50.
Ultimately M101 on a 5.5” orange LC pad got the job done but was a little slower than I wanted. To speed things along I used a 5.5” yellow LC pad on a Makita 9227c on the flat, open spaces, then did the final couple passes with the orange pad on a GG6. This helped to see better to make sure I got the desired correction and not camouflaged them.
For the tighter areas and concave curves I used a 4” orange LC pad on a PC7424.
The car was not without its issues. Front bumper and rocker panels had heavy road rash and the left fender had some sort of chemical splatter that etched and altered the paint. Possibly transmission or power steering fluid.
Also some evidence of a wool pad on rotary finishing work.
Several before and afters (compound only):
More of the straight line marring.
No correction Is complete without the taillights being corrected as well.
The wheels were not too dirty. I presume they were cleaned prior to the purchase about a year ago. Cleaned with Eagle1 AtoZ wheel cleaner diluted 1:1. On close inspection the clear coat is failing in areas and they will need to be refinished within the next few years.
The long, straight scratches that flank the camera in the reflection are evidence of washing with a brush. The entire car had similar marring. The dealership accepted responsibility for the damage. The customer told me the service manager said “To be honest, all our black cars look like that.” I can confirm this fact since I took a good look at the vehicles in the dealership showroom and found similar marring. The sad thing is this is a dealer that deals in $100k+ vehicles. Their detailer took a stab at fixing it. I later learned his “fixing it” consisted of claying and waxing it. I was rather surprised to learn that, out of nearly 20 dealerships in the area under the same ownership that their detailer didn’t have any clue how to deal with this issue. This is an important point to keep in mind when purchasing a new vehicle. DON’T LET THEM TOUCH IT!
Here is another indicator of the poor quality of the dealership detailing:
Greasy tire dressings may look good when first applied but they attract and hold dirt… until it slings up onto the side of your car.
In this case the dealership paid for the work to correct the paint. When I went to the dealership to pick up the check I met with the service manager. He was very appreciative that I was able to make the customer happy and was open-minded to making some adjustments to their wash methods. After observing their process (my suspicion was confirmed that they are using a brush on a broom handle, one bucket method, starting at the bottom and working up then using a 12”x12” chamois to dry the entire vehicle.) I made some suggestions and offered further training to their staff should they be interested.
This car is 7+ years old and the current owner has had it for about a year. Once it was washed and inside I was able to get a good look at it.
Once again the pattern of the scratches are long straight lines and turned out to be quite deep. For comparison here is a picture of another black car that has wash induced marring in the typical circular pattern.
A test 50/50.
Ultimately M101 on a 5.5” orange LC pad got the job done but was a little slower than I wanted. To speed things along I used a 5.5” yellow LC pad on a Makita 9227c on the flat, open spaces, then did the final couple passes with the orange pad on a GG6. This helped to see better to make sure I got the desired correction and not camouflaged them.
For the tighter areas and concave curves I used a 4” orange LC pad on a PC7424.
The car was not without its issues. Front bumper and rocker panels had heavy road rash and the left fender had some sort of chemical splatter that etched and altered the paint. Possibly transmission or power steering fluid.
Also some evidence of a wool pad on rotary finishing work.
Several before and afters (compound only):
More of the straight line marring.
No correction Is complete without the taillights being corrected as well.
The wheels were not too dirty. I presume they were cleaned prior to the purchase about a year ago. Cleaned with Eagle1 AtoZ wheel cleaner diluted 1:1. On close inspection the clear coat is failing in areas and they will need to be refinished within the next few years.
Hopefully it isn't totaled and I will get to do a correction on it.