Brand New Paint, Swirls Galore!

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DiZzyBonne

New member
First off, I don't know how to differentiate one buffer from another, so a rotary buffer, PC buffer, etc., are all the same to me, so I'll just be calling them automatic buffers :lol. Also, I have read other threads and whatnot, but I figured the best way to get a more personalized answer it to ask :D!



Well my car is in a body shop (it's a very reputable body shop, they actually do the work for the cars in my dealership, and man are they great) getting a new hood and bumper, and it should be done tomorrow. The hood is already on and painted, so I took a look at it today under the sun and boy did it look good, and the paint matched perfectly! Well I went back an hour later to take a picture and it was in the bay being polished. I saw the guy using some kind of automatic buffer, and that's when my heart stopped. Then I thought that the guy does this every day, so it should be good, right? Wrong! I just took a look at the car under the sun, the hood is full of fine swirls, all very close together! Is there any way to fix this myself without the use of an automatic buffer? Paying someone is my last resort. The reason I say I don't wanna use a buffer is because I've never used one, and I don't wanna spend $100+ just to use it and **** the paint up even more. I'd rather do this by hand, so what do you guys recommend? Btw, the whole car already had swirl marks, deeper ones, but not as closely knit, so it wasn't AS noticeable. On the new paint job they're so close that it looks like a trail! I'm sure you guys know what I'm talking about :).



Any and all help is appreciated, thanks! :bigups
 
Unfortunately, your are not going to be able to fix this by hand. Nor will you spend less than $100 on a good machine, pads, and a couple polishes. You *might* be able to pay a pro to fix just the hood for that cost. Have you complained about the poor job they did?



BTW, what you are seeing is known as buffer trails or holograms caused by a circular polisher (rotary). The guy shouldn't have been allowed to touch that machine if its as bad as you describe it.
 
Yeah, it was a circular polisher, I saw him polishing it. Well the car isn't done, it's still missing the bumper, and all the work I've seen from them so far looks great, and they did our black GTO, so I'll just have to wait until they're done. Btw, what good will complaining do me if the guy can't handle the rotary to begin with? It's not like re-polishing it will fix it, if anything, it'll only make it worse!
 
DiZzyBonne said:
Btw, what good will complaining do?
Click to expand...



Maybe one of the other guys actually know how to finish down properly. I would not pick up the car in that condition.





Either that or money out of your pocket to pay a pro.:grinno::grinno::grinno:
 
As stated, you cannot fix it by hand.



Why not just point it out to the body shop people and have them correct it?? but if you do tell them no glazes as that will only temporarily fill and hide the defects and they'll return after the first wash.



Otherwise have them pay a pro detailer (a real detailer) to polish it all out.



Josh
 
is there a chance he was in the process of buffing out wetsanding scuffs? I'm not too sure what the re-spray process is, but I'd more expect a hack to do a crappy job of removing swirls/leave a bunch of trails and holograms more than actually creating new blemishes...



See what the finished product looks like and be open and honest about the work product with him. If your guy stands by his work, he'll make it right.
 
Well like I said, the paint looked spectacular when it was finished and parked - I looked at it in the sun - but after he buffed it, it had a ton of swirl marks. Also, what exactly do you mean when you say you "expect a hack to do a crappy job of removing swirls/leave a bunch of trails and holograms more than actually creating new blemishes?" It sounds like you're saying that you expect a hack to do a bad job of removing the trails, but then you say instead of creating more blemishes, which sort of sounds like a double negative if that makes any sense lol.



He definitely stands by his work, but since I work for the dealership which gives him a lot of work, I got a $300 discount. I dunno, it'll just feel awkward, but I guess since he's getting payed regardless (insurance is covering the car, deductible is $1,000, I'm paying $1,250 out of pocket to cover the difference of parts - I got the '03/'04 Cobra hood and bumper) I should just tell him straight up.
 
Sorry, I wasn't the most coherent before.



I was saying perhaps something transpired between you seeing it looking perfect and him going at it with the polisher. I don't know much about what goes into the re-spray process, but perhaps he had sanded some orange peel or something in that hour and you were gone... as in, you saw the guy with the polisher trying to remove the sand marks.





What I was getting at is that I would expect someone who isn't good with a polisher not to do a good job of removing blemishes or possibly leaving trails/holograms from making too big a jump between steps.



I would not expect them to actually create new imperfections with the polisher.
 
I think what people are saying is if they left your car's paint in such an obvious wreck, then don't expect them to know how to magically (and permanently-not using a filler) fix it.



Show/ask them about it. If they clearly understand they messed it up, let them have another go at it.
 
The only practical hope you have of "fixing" this by hand won't really fix it, just hide it for awhile. That's to use a heavy glaze with lots of oil and fillers, then wax over that. It won't last long, perhaps a few weeks at best.



I'd go back and gripe, like the others have said. Be aware that they may well just slather it with glaze to make it look good long enough for you to pick it up. A couple of quick wipes with diluted alcohol should reveal the truth. I've been known to irritate a shop by insisting that they don't use any glaze after they do body work. That sort of request throws them off their game a little.
 
Well, I guess time will tell. Seeing as the body shop shares the same lot as my dealership, I just walk back there at my leisure to check out the status on my car. I took a picture with my phone, so I doubt you'll be able to see the blemishes, but I'll upload it regardless.



2001fordmustanggtbullitfb7.jpg




On the bottom right of the hood, what looks rather cloudy on the hood is only a small portion that my phone happened to catch. If you look closely, you'll see it also looks like the cloudy portion has two horns, that's the trail. It's all over the hood and it sucks :(.
 
You can remove those by hand, M105 is just such an amazing marvelous product. Even by hand it won't leave holograms and for light to medium swirls you can eliminate them with M105 by hand. If you just want a better finish or for deeper swirls you can get a cheap 6" random orbit and wool bonnet for like 30 bucks and use the M105. It'll come out better than you'd expect and is relatively cheap. Heck the M105 will cost more than the polisher.
 
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