Bodyshop paint easy to chip?

[Murrayhe]

Ok I had a bodykit installed on my car, and since then I've noticed that the new front bumper chips easier than my stock ones. The bumper does extend lower to the ground, so that may have something to do with it.



The thing I did notice before he put the kit on was that there were a ton of bubbles on the paint. He told me that's normal, and that once it's installed, they just need to color sand it off. I asked him, "but won't that also take off the clearcoat in those areas, since to sand down bumps you basically have to shave it down to the same level as the rest of the paint?" He said it won't matter, blah blah.



Anyways, it's only been like 1000 miles since the install, and so far, I think the front bumper has collected more chips than my stock bumper, which I used for 10,000 miles!



Is this normal? What should I do?

 

[shaf]

Was this a very cheaply done paint job?



If it's a Maaco special or equivalent, there are a lot of reasons why you could have the paint chipping off so easily.



The bubbles are a bad sign right up front... AFAIK, nothing like that should be normal at all. I think he was just trying to excuse his shoddy workmanship. :angry

 

[tom p.]

will chip more than a factory finish. I don't know how much you can do about it.



Bubbling is not right...have it corrected.

 

[Murrayhe]

They're not bubbles as in air pockets, but like bumps on the paint. It was there when the bumper was just painted and wasn't installed yet. Right now it's smooth. The way they painted, was it still a bad job?

 

[imported_mirrorfinishman]

Is this normal? What should I do?

Yes, some bodyshop paint can be easy to chip. Think about it this way. Most auto manufacturers spend millions and millions of dollars perfecting their paint processes. While most body shops do not have those kinds of resources. That's why original paint will, in most cases, always be superior than any bodyshop repaint.