jmichaelp

Hi, my car just got back from the body shop & despite my request that they not wax it they did. Now I have swirls... Unfortunately, most people won't/can't even see them so I'll probably have a hard time convincing the shop they're there.

Can they re-spray clear coat to get rid of these or get them out some other way? Do you think I have a case to make them fix this?

Thanks!

coop1018

How do we prevent swirls when we need to wax the car?

KJSmitty

The swirl marks you are seeing are most likely from them "machine" buffing the clear coat, not only to finish off the job but to help blend in the fix. You could take it back and have them apply a non silicone/wax cream, get some yourself and apply, or just wait a month or so and start applying your favorite wax job. Either way they should slowly diminish with time/wax.

**3M has a great "Imperial Hand Glaze" for filling in swirl marks on freshly painted surfaces. Non silicone/non wax - normally only available through an automotive paint supply distributer. Thats what I use/used when in the trade**

Without seeing how bad it is I a can't really recommend you return it. One thing you could definitely do is bring it to the attention of the body shop manager. That way they are aware of your concerns thus if you bring it back in the future for the swirls, they shouldn't argue.. They may just ask for you to brink it back now....

Good luck

Smitty

DMZ

DO IT BY HAND, NEVER BY MACHINE!

KJSmitty

Obviously, the first thing is to use plenty of soap when washing, clean your rag/sponge often, and rinse well. When it comes to waxing (and washing), you should never perform in circular motions. apply the wax/wash in straight lines as best as possible, IE in the direction of the car - basically front to back.

Straight line "marks" do not show-up near as bad as the swirls..

Due to the dreaded swirls and extra effort keeping them clean, I no longer buy dark colored vehicles.. But damn don't they look good when taken care of.

I'm a WDP TL guy

Take care

Smitty

JoganJani

Try using Zaino Z5. Wait till dry, remove and then use Z6 to polish. All movements should in straight lines, back and forth on hood and trunk and top and up-down on sides.

NYTHAWK

My third black car. I use 3M, here's a link.

http://www21.3m.com/dr/v2/ec_MAIN.En...P=0&CACHE_ID=0

copter

Hope this helps::::>

http://www.bettercarcare.com/articles.php?articleId=15

Hybrid

Respray clear-coat? I'm positive they won't do that, but you also should not let them even if they offer.

Clear coat is PAINT. Clear paint. So respraying clear coat is not really different from repainting the car. If they did that, you could possibly look forward to extra chipping problems, possible adhesion problems, visible paint lines where they masked off parts and trim, new dust under the clear, etc. That is, unless it's a $2000 clear coat job.

A body shop should know very well how to prevent swirls, but they probably aren't too sensitive to it, because the general public has no clue what they even are. Just walk down a row of "general public" cars in a store parking lot sometime and try to find even one car older than a few months without a real mess of swirls. To them, your car is perfect.

BrandHdriver

YES, YES, YES, you can re-apply clear coat.

Any first-rate body shop can sand off the clear coat on a part of (or all of) a car and re-apply to make the car finish look outstanding again.

It is very common when repairing body damage to sand off the clear coat from body panels not damaged (next to the damaged panels) so the paint can be "feathered in." After the feathering is done, the clear coat is re-applied over the non-damaged and newly replaced panels.

If it bugs you significantly, then ask around for references and get a few quotes. It is a quick job to sand off the clear coat and re-apply.

Hybrid

Yes, and you can have a whole car completely painted a new color for $200 at Maaco. But any owner who is concerned about seeing a few swirl marks isn't going to be happy with any cheapie clear coat respray. Other things that may not be right afterwards are the degree of orange peel in the finish, the exact amount of "shine" because of differences in the clear coat used by the factory vs. body shop (yes, it can be blended, but some of us are picky), and even more important, what happens, say, 5 years from now. It's unlikely the re-cleared areas are going to age the same as the areas that weren't. And, again, unless all trim is stripped off the affected body parts, and the spraying is done correctly, it's going to be obvious that the car was "repainted" to an experienced eye. Unless it's a "big buck" and careful job.

The factory does the best job (short of spending thousands at a top quality shop). Minor swirls can be easily polished out of a clear coat. Redoing the clear coat isn't required.

jmichaelp

Yeah, I started w/ Zaino products - 6 hours for my first session! I had hoped to prevent swrirls from happening in the first place, but I guess I'll get Z5 & see how well it works...

avs007

Oh god, please stay away from Maaco. When in highschool, I had my Chevelle painted at Maaco. They left so many bubbles and fisheyes it wasn't funny. They repainted the car 3 times, to try to fix the problem. They blamed the car and said the metal was too old, so they said there is nothing they can do. Needless to say, because they advertise satisfaction gauranteed, we hired a lawyer and sued them, and got them to pay for a paint job at paint shop of our choosing, and let me tell you. It almost looked like a show car afterwards.

Hybrid

Yes, that was essentially my point. Nobody here should want anyone messing with their paint on the "cheap." That includes clearcoat, as it's also paint.

(I've seen a lot of misunderstanding on clearcoat over the years. Lots of people think it's some sort of factory polymer wax or wax-like protective coating.)

gregory28

One Word- Zaino