Scatches under clearcoat? Possible to remove?

B

BMW335i

New member
I had some body work done in late April for a rear-end accident (amazing how people can hit you while you AREN'T moving).



I got the car back, the replaced and repainted the rear bumper and repainted part of the front-face of the trunk...when I got the car back I noticed upon inspection a series of scratches, I at first thought they were on the surface, then realized they are probably under the clear from sanding...I decided to not bring it up, I didn't want to cause a headache because the second time around it could be something else..



I need to know if these can be removed. They are an extremely isolated set of sanding marks (I am pretty sure), and are on a flat surface. They appear to be under the clear, I don't see abrasions ON TOP of the clear itself. Unfortunately, I think the only way to remove them is to wetsand? I was wondering if a professional detailer can do this.



I was wondering if I could bring it back to the body shop, but I already paid and they would probably tell me to go to hell (its been 2 months since I got it back), this is the first time I've dealt with a body shop so I am not sure. The scratches are really bothering me.



BTW, you can only see the scratches under full, head-on sunlight. If its overcast, the scratches are nearly invisible to the naked eye.



Thanks.
 
i think i know what you're talking about. i work at a dealership and work on cars that are traded in or bought at the auction or whatever. many if not almost all have had some sort of body work and have these underlying scratches you are talking about.

if you have what im picturing then the body shop didnt sand the primer fine enough prior to spraying coloer and clear, thus you have these underlying scratches you are seeing. your lucky yours are in one spot, ive seen cars that have many panels that look like that everywhere.

It sounds like your body shop did some shoddy repairs, id take it back and asked to have it fixed. If they give you static or screw something else up, call your insurance agent(if they paid for it) or the better business bureau. Hope this helps.
 
Djmigs said:
simple answer no, but that based on what you said.......
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Thats what I thought...



Anybody know how they would go about fixing something like this, I am wondering if its even worth it at this point?
 
Well I know that when I had my hood done this winter for an insurance claim I was given a satisfaction guarantee. I would take it back and see what the body shop has to say about it. I have a feeling most places do things quick and dirty to keep costs down. I had to take mine back because I wasn't happy with the match with the fenders, and the manager in discussing it mentioned how he could tell that "I take very good care of it", and he was great about it, so I have a feeling that helped my case. If I was some average joe off the street that kept a dirty car, he may have not been so willing to fix it.
 
I have problems of this type on *every* vehicle that's had paintwork except for the Jag :(



Yeah, it's from shoddy prep work/sanding prior to shooting the paint and the only fix is to have it redone. Sometimes it only shows up a while after the work was done, after the paint shrinks (or whatever happens). I live with it as I'm unwilling to open that can of worms again.



But yeah, it *does* *REALLY* bug the [stuff] out of me :angry After the deer incident, I just *knew* it would happen on the S8...sure enough, right on the hood too :rolleyes: And ditto for the rear hatch of the MPV when I had the badge holes welded up after it got rear-ended. In both cases it showed up a while after the work was done and the paint was almost finished curing. Unless you *really* look for it at the right angle, in the right lighting, you won't see it (so to Mr. Average Citizen it looks OK). The same shop did both jobs and yeah I raised [Cain] with them, and they offered to redo it. But IMO life is short and tough enough without stressing out over such things. Hey, they had redone the S8 three times as it was and I was tired of waiting for the paint to cure.
 
This will make you feel better. I just worked on a white '91 Legend coupe (thread coming when all is complete). The paint is SS and at some point a panel or two was repainted and cleared. While they did "scuff" the trunk they didn't bother to *clean* the trunk before they cleared it. You can see all of the dirt and swirls that are *under* the clear now. The whole car is bright white except the trunk. This should have been plain obvious to the painter!
 
Thanks for the sympathy, makes me feel a little better about it. I guess it bothers me mostly because the scratches are pretty much there permanently and I purchased the car. For most people, they would have no idea I was in a light accident, but for me, It looks I like I just got out of one, lol. There are literally HUNDREDS of body shops in my immediate area, difficult to choose the one who is going to do the work at "autopian" standards when you have nothing to go by (eg. reviews, ratings, etc.), I know about there BBB, but is there anything like a body shop rating/review site for your area? The only thing I had to go by was a few loose testimonials from customers (even then they could have diff. standards than you).
 
And even good shops can mess up. The place that did the S8 and MPV do concours-quality resorations (people ship cars over from Germany!), they know how particular I am, and they were genuinely disappointed and embarassed that it happened in both cases. They really wanted to fix the MPV. I think they'd seen enough of the S8 ;) and were afraid they'd have some other problem if they redid it yet again (their paintbooth needs refurbishing but the owner won't spring for the expense :rolleyes: ).
 
Accumulator said:
And even good shops can mess up. The place that did the S8 and MPV do concours-quality resorations (people ship cars over from Germany!), they know how particular I am, and they were genuinely disappointed and embarassed that it happened in both cases. They really wanted to fix the MPV. I think they'd seen enough of the S8 ;) and were afraid they'd have some other problem if they redid it yet again (their paintbooth needs refurbishing but the owner won't spring for the expense :rolleyes: ).
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It's really an unfortunate thing, the fact of how "hit or miss" body shops are and going to one and getting your done even to your minimum level of standards is pretty much a crapshoot, IMO there should be tighter regulations on this industry.



BTW, just as an aside, pretty much everyone in my family thinks the job is "perfect", while I think its definetly the least amount of effort they could have done (maybe my job is typical of body shop work?), just goes to show how you have to take every piece of advice wiht a grain of salt.
 
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