First Day of Business

bbr4d3r

New member
Had an ok start to the season, Today I was doing an RSX and it had several bad scratches on it that the owner asked me to take out. I used the SSR3 with heavey cut pad with PC followed by SSR2 medium cut and SSR1 with polishing Pad and it removed the scratches just fine over the driver side door. Then i took it to the bumper right around where the lip of the bumper is at the top and all of a sudden the paint started to peel off at the top of the lip. Just about the size of dime came off. The owner came out and I told him what happened and he was fairly bummed out. I called up a friend of mine that does body work and he said he would make some touch up paint and put it on for me. It came out alright but the owner was still not happy with how it looked. I told him the next time it would be on me but he said no to that and said he would rather have the discount on this one. He was very impressed with the rest of the car though when i was done and he told me he was happy that i was honest with him saying that his last detailer was no longer doing the job because he messed up the car and tried to hide it on him.

From talking to my friend who does bodywork the reason why this happened on the bumper was because it was aftermarket painted and the paint was very soft and thin. I think im going to begin asking people before i do a car from now on if they have had any aftermarket bodywork done from now on.

ON A HAPPIER NOTE I got to work on these two beautys today = )

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I know that there are a number of detailers who use the practice that you have described. Meguiar's more specifically Mike Phillips recommends never using a heavy cut pad on a PC. He claims that very least you'll end up with a haze that is difficult to remove even with the traditional follow up steps. There are many others on this board who agreee. I personally consider this to be sound advice. I also believe SSR 3 is best when used with a rotary. Some claim that a PC can't ruin a paint job but I've seen a number who have managed to do this. Though thin paint may have contributed to this problem at this point you can probably be one who would substantiate this claim.
 
I used this step many times before on factory paint and have not once come across this problem. I think it would have been just fine if i had been just a tad bit more carefull, Im not blaming this entirely on the paint job i know that i am the one that messed up. Im just saying that after inspecting the rest of the bumper afterwards you could see the paint was starting to go in other places too that i had not even touched.

I am learning from my mistakes, just sad that i had to make the mistake on this guys car and not my own.
 
I'm really sorrry this happened. It sucks.

Once I was doing a 4 runner with those cheap plastic rims above the wheels. I was using only a light cut pad, but I looked away for a sec with my rotary and burned it a little. I felt badly, and gave the customer $100 off the detail. She was thrilled, but I am ready to paint if I have to.

Time has passed. I don't daydream, or turn away when cutting. Paint will usually be okay, but when you hit a bumper or molding or accessory, everything is different.
 
Plastic bumpers all use a flex additive in them with in lamens terms is a sort of plastic.You can quickly burn and heat up a bumper way quicker then regular body panels.I do all bumpers at around 600 rpm, it takes longer for the bumber but you aint gonna burn them though.Just my two cents
 
wouldn't it be safer to use a PC in those areas..

fivestardetail said:
Plastic bumpers all use a flex additive in them with in lamens terms is a sort of plastic.You can quickly burn and heat up a bumper way quicker then regular body panels.I do all bumpers at around 600 rpm, it takes longer for the bumber but you aint gonna burn them though.Just my two cents
 
I dont use a rotary I was using a PC cause i am a bit afraid of burning thru paint. It didnt burn the paint it was weird it just caught and edge and peeled the paint right off. Nothing that i could have seen coming.
 
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