I had some shelving fall on my car and I had 3 dents and a scratch left on it. I took it to the body shop where the dealer recommended I take it, and they did a pretty good job. However, I was wiping it down, and noticed that each of my front fenders have a chip in them already. I just picked the car up this morning. They painted the A piller, left fender, hood, and right fender. The left fender has a small circular chip, and the right fender has a 1/4" long scratch type chip in it...and it is down to the metal/silver on both. What are the fenders made of? Is this because it was fresh paint? I drove it just normally today. The body shop has a lifetime warranty on all repairs...should they cover this? Thanks for any replies.

 

If the paint around the impact (chip) area has a circular 'lifting' like it is separated from the metal, then it sounds like they did not prep the area to be painted well enough.

 

Repaints are always softer than the original due to chemical curing and low heat booth versus the high heat baking of the factory paint. I would assume the chips happen soon after the paint before it outgased all of the way through

 

Either way it would be worth taking it back to them and showing it to them ASAP. If they're closed on the weekend try to leave a message so you can at least let them know it happened right after picking it up.

 

Thanks for the replies...I picked it up yesterday morning, and called them at about 5:30 last night, just after they closed. I'll take it in Monday. If you run your finger of the chips, it feels like there is clearcoat over it. You can't feel down to the metal. So I'm thinking maybe they had some dirt/dust blow around in the booth while they were painting it, and someone that caused spots not to get coated...I'm not sure.

 

Pete,
Sounds to me like the area containing the chips in question was not completely painted yet only blended, then the panel clear coated (over the paint flaws). The chips were most likely there to begin with or obviously pre clear-coating.

I would definitely chat with the shop about making you happy.

 

So when they blend paint...they don't sand and repaint with the same batch...they just clear coat over it?? I'm not sure how this works, and would like to know how to approach the body shop. Is it their fault or mine? Something to worry about or not?

 

I'm not sure that's always correct. The factory uses a water-based paint, and some re-paint jobs (quality ones) use urethane or simiar paints, which can be more durable than the original paint. They are designed to cure without baking. Another point is that "softer" paint wouldn't always mean paint that's easier to damage. "Soft" paint could absorb damage better than "hard" and brittle paint (think of a layer of vinyl glued to the car, or a front-end bra). "Hard" paint (think of a thin layer of glass) would tend to crack, chip etc. "Soft" paint would flex and resist damage from sand and small rocks. So "soft" isn't necessarily bad as long as the paint adheres to the metal/primer properly. That adherence could also be the problem with the new paint chipping.

 

While probably a definitive such as "always" may be a stretch, I have not seen a repaint hold up to chips better than the original. Quality repaints would always use a sealer, base, clear. Good urethane clears take 3 days to a month to fully outgas and cure. Some dealers skimp on bumpers and flexible areas and use a single stage which is even more prone to damage. Go to the below forum for all of you paint questions and needs. The other thing that makes repaints prone to chipping is the added thickness. There are a million thickness and prep topics at this link.

http://autobodystore.com/forum/index.php

 

you've never seen a new Nissan's paint.

I can't even touch my Z with out scratching it. theres thread after thread after thread of scratches/rock chips on the Z boards.

bottom line. my 350Z at 10K miles had more rockchips on the front end and hood and fenders then my civic did at 116K.

 

From your first post description it sounds like they probably painted the entire hood then blended it into the fenders to facilitate a perfect match etc.. When blending with this type of job they would sand the majority of each fender lightly. Then use the/a color coat to blend/match the hood to the joining area/top of the fender. Thus, they would only paint color on a small area on top of the fender. The final step is to clear-coat the entire fender to create a uniform paint look and surface.

Overall, if the chips you describe were far enough away from the hood/joining panels, the chipped area would only receive the final clear-coat and not the initial color blend step.

Now, any good body man/shop would have noticed the chips during prep and should have taken the proper actions to remove them. This in turn would alleviate a result like yours, IE- the customer bringing the car back.. Depending on the bid, it may have cost you more money (extra 30 min of sanding and primer etc.). Either way, the shop should have pointed it out, discussed end results, and solicited your desires prior to painting.

Hope I was successful in articulating the process for ya. Best of luck

Smitty

 

Also the durability of paint either factory or repaint changes from fiberglass or plastic, urethane to metal (in order of strength) parts.
Example, at one time I had to camaros one a z28 with a metal hood and one a SS with a factory fiberglass or plastic hood. driving approximately the same miles the metal hood looked clean after the second year with the glass hood having a ton of rock chips and speckles. The facial on both cars which us urethane looked about the same when I sold each.

The major factors to consider with durability are the material is on, and the amount of substrate beneath the paint.

Another example is on my flexible bumper on my escalade, the first 2 years it help up well with minor speckling from rocks, nothing that couldnt be buffed, then I hit a deer and the bumper was replaced and repainted. Now chips are more defined and you can see the material shift it if takes a good rock hit. There must be something to the water based factory paint that keeps the material build lower the aftermarket but not sure.

 

Thanks for the replies. I'll see what the shop says tomorrow and let you guys know.

 

So I took the care back to the body shop, and they are not sure how it could have happened...the two chips that is. I explained that I wash my car often and would have noticed chips that were that deep, down to the metal. So the fixed side could have been them, the other side could have been me...who knows. But they are cleared over so it will not rust, and they offered to touch them up for free. They are pretty small chips, so they said it will look good. So that is what we settled on.