I'm going to take my car in Monday to take care of a flaw in the finish noted at delivery. It's not clear whether this is a scratch in the clear coat or a flaw in the paint underneath. You can feel it with your finger so there is definitely something in the clear coat. How deep it goes is yet to be determined.

I'm caught in a bit of a quandry and am hoping some of your experiences can help me sort it out. I would very much like to get the flaw taken care of but am worried that whatever work they do may result in it being worse than before. How good are body shops at color matching these days - should they have to repaint?

Should I live with the flaw or let them fix it? (I recognize that the choice is mine, just looking for some experiences that may assist me in the decision)

 

I personally would avoid having a section of the car repainted. The downside is too much if not done correctly. Eventually the clear coat will start to peel off, color will not match exactly in time, just not as good as the factory and you may see some imperfections in the repaint. Live with it if you can and try to mitigate the damage. Repaint to me is a last resort. I have had too many bad experiences with repaints. especially metallic paints as the angle of the metallic particles is different during a repaint than the when painted by the factory and artificial light will have strange effects.

 

youngmic,

Have you seen this yet?

Took delivery, fabulous car...but I need advice by SSH

Hope it could help.

 

dealer prep guy buffed if out, you will never know it was damaged, I suggest you authorize them to buff out first, then you examine it, before any repaint.

 

Thanks for the reference and advice. Very helpful. I'll request that the body shop attempt to buff before repainting.