[lotuscupcar]

My car had a new rear clam put on about 1.5 years ago. Due to work etc car has been garaged since then and I have put on about 600 miles in the last 18 months since i picked up from shop.

I havent washed the car. I have quick detailed it few times. Car stays in garage with fitted cover on it.

This morning I noticed the rear clam of the car (chilli red lifestyle paint) doesn't has as much shine as the rest of the car. I can't explain in technical terms, but rest of the car I can see my reflection perfect, but on rear clam my face looks grainy.

Another example the long white tube lights I have in garage ceiling, they reflect shiny and perfect on whole car, but on rear clam the reflection is very dull.

Rear clam almost looks like its kind of matte finish compared to rest of car. It's not full matte but the shine and luster is not there

Anybody know what might be the cause of this ? Any thoughts ? I have never experienced anything like this.

I called the body shop and they told me to bring in and take a look, but some thoughts would be appreciated. Solutions ?

 

[lotusespritse]

If the paint is generally healthy, a nice wet sanding, compounding and polishing will bring it right up.

You'll need the paint shop to tell you if the paint is in good health or not, which will determine if it's up to the regime above. I just did that regime, on a 2006 Black Town Car that had panels that were not as shiny as the others. Problem solved.

 

[lotuscupcar]

Thank you kindly

Is th ere a reason this happens ? I don't want to come back two years later with same problem..is it quality of paint issue ? Thanks

 

[ZeRoSL]

did you try a clay bar?

 

[lotuscupcar]

did you try a clay bar?

I have not. I was just taken aback that car Looks like this. Haven't taken any actions

 

[David Craig]

Normally if the paint is a bit dull like that it can be made shiny again without needing a repaint.

I'd take it back to the bodyshop. They can probably bring the shine back. Probably they didn't shine it up originally as much as the rest of the car.

 

[Dr Joe Schmoe]

How does the surface feel? Is it just as smooth as the rest of the car? It's possible that the clearcoat wasn't applied correctly, and may need to be re-done. If it doesn't feel smooth than it most likely just needs to be professionally buffed/polished.

How is the color match?

 

[Vulcan Grey]

If the newly painted section has diffuse reflections with grainy edges, then that is orange peel.

Orange peel on the lower half.

Usually needs color sanding. It is fixable. But the painter should have done it right the first time. Some high end cars do have orange peel paint frm the factory, but if the rest of your car doesn't then they should have matched the finish of the rest of the car.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_peel_(effect)

 

[lotuscupcar]

Normally if the paint is a bit dull like that it can be made shiny again without needing a repaint.

I'd take it back to the bodyshop. They can probably bring the shine back. Probably they didn't shine it up originally as much as the rest of the car.

The thing is I am pretty anal. I looked at the car 3 times in two days before picking it up, and it looked perfect.

 

[lotuscupcar]

How does the surface feel? Is it just as smooth as the rest of the car? It's possible that the clearcoat wasn't applied correctly, and may need to be re-done. If it doesn't feel smooth than it most likely just needs to be professionally buffed/polished.

How is the color match?

Color match is good, no issues. Surface feels smooth as glass, like rest of the car.

 

[lotuscupcar]

If the newly painted section has diffuse reflections with grainy edges, then that is orange peel.

Orange peel on the lower half.

Usually needs color sanding. It is fixable. But the painter should have done it right the first time. Some high end cars do have orange peel paint frm the factory, but if the rest of your car doesn't then they should have matched the finish of the rest of the car.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_peel_(effect)

\

WOW

The pic you put is EXACTLY what it looks like.

The bottom part of the orange you sent, is EXACTLY how the rest of my rear clam looks.

Now I am second guessing myself, if it really wasn't done right the first time, and I didn't notice???

Is color sanding a long and involved process?


I will bring it to the shop in another week or so, as I have been out of town on business. They have promised to look at it. I also have proof in mileage that my car has been sitting, not driven.

I really hope they stand behind their practice and fixes it correctly.

 

[fitfan]

if the paint (pearl) is orange peeled, and its clear coated... you are pretty much done.... you can take the clear down a little and add more clear and take that down. but if you hit the pearl color... you'll really e'f it up. in other words. there is not such things a "color sanding" a clear coated pearl paint process. only option is to take the clear down and add a coat, take it down, add a coat until it matches the rest of the cars "orange peel" texture. Chili red is built up over translucent layers...

what the shop is going to say is - for x amount of dollars they can cut and polish the clear, and that will take some orange peel out. the question is how thick the clear is and how much needs to be taken off to get a better match.

who painted it?

 

[Gunpilot]

Im pretty familiar with Paint. Microsoft made it, its an old program but I still use it once in a while to edit a BMP.

+1 with fitfan..............That is a clear coat problem all the way. I could see if you lived in Asia and a lot of pollution deterioration but to me it looks like Maaco! I had had a Fiat Spyder a while back that looked the same after Maaco screwed it up. And a Grand AM fresh from GM that looked the same way.

 

[lotuscupcar]

Well Maaco didn't paint it. I think total bill was $18,000+. I will have to check the paperwork.

Forum sponsor painted it.

I will be taking it into the shop next week, and I will post here what they said.

So is the consensus, this is what they did initially, and I didn't catch it? Or it deteriotated sitting in my garage covered?

Paint is Lifestyle Chilli Red.


FITFAN-I miss eating lunch with you, and seeing all your beautiful woman.

But now I am sad about my car

Are you guys saying full rear clam repaint necessary ? I hardly doubt paint shop will do that. Who knows, I hope they stand behind their product and reputation.

 

[lotuscupcar]

what the shop is going to say is - for x amount of dollars they can cut and polish the clear, and that will take some orange peel out. the question is how thick the clear is and how much needs to be taken off to get a better match.

who painted it?

So you are saying the paint shop is correct in asking me for more $$???? I don't see how I am at fault.

 

[Vulcan Grey]

No, it sounds like the paint shop didn't do a good job of matching the rest of the car, they should fix it.

 

[Roundabout]

In a repair job, a good shop will match the color and the texture of the original paint. That means that if the factory painted it with orange peel, your repair should end up with a similar orange peel appearance. Conversely, if the original paint was smooth (meaning little/no orange peel texture) then they need to take care to spray it that way. If they don't, then they have more work when they color sand and buff the clear coat smooth. BTDT, everyone has a bad day from time to time and if it was easy, we wouldn't need to pay someone to do the job.

In my experience, the usual case is that the clear is orange-peeled, not the paint. In a metallic finish, it is usually obvious if the paint itself ran because metallic paint really shows runs. So the fix is typically to sand the clear coat smooth and buff it out. If there isn't enough clear on the paint, then there is a risk of sanding through the clear. In that case, a repaint may be all that can be done. But all they should be doing is matching what you have, not making it show-car smooth.

Maybe you've heard the expression "a shine that's a foot deep", it's referring to the smoothness of the paint. On a show car, you can place a ruler perpendicular to a flat panel and read the ruler perfectly in the reflection off of the panel. You can do the test yourself. Use an old panel and a repaired panel and see how many inches up the ruler are even readable.

As a contrast, if you were not doing a repair and were just looking to have someone paint the car, they are going to charge you according to how much labor they are going to provide. Meaning that if they have to color sand and buff, that will be more labor that you will pay for. The cheap shops are going to look at you funny if you ask for CS and buff because they know their typical customer is not going to pay the extra $1,500-2,000 in labor. A good painter can adjust the spray and the paint's consistency to lay smooth, thereby saving them a bunch of labor.

The repair/insurance job aspect can make things harder to judge as to how good it should look in the end. I would just say that the texture and color of the paint should match the surrounding areas.

 

[LenMcC]

I have some familiarity with paint. Fresh paint isn't fully cured when its dry to the touch and ready to be in-serviced. Auto paints off-gas solvents for months. I've seen or heard of instances where waxing too soon (inside of 90 days) or covering the car (I don't know what kind of covers can cause problems) soon after paint can inflict damage upon the clear. ...these kind of effects may not even be the customers' fault. There are plenty of variables that go into paint/clear selection, mixing, application techniques, surface prep, temp and humidity at application, time between coats, film build, number of coats, and lots more. Talk to the shop that performed the work, but be polite. Even the best make mistakes. ...and usually the best have made more mistakes than than average. So hopefully they want to work with you.

 

[lotuscupcar]

I have some familiarity with paint. Fresh paint isn't fully cured when its dry to the touch and ready to be in-serviced. Auto paints off-gas solvents for months. I've seen or heard of instances where waxing too soon (inside of 90 days) or covering the car (I don't know what kind of covers can cause problems) soon after paint can inflict damage upon the clear. ...these kind of effects may not even be the customers' fault. There are plenty of variables that go into paint/clear selection, mixing, application techniques, surface prep, temp and humidity at application, time between coats, film build, number of coats, and lots more. Talk to the shop that performed the work, but be polite. Even the best make mistakes. ...and usually the best have made more mistakes than than average. So hopefully they want to work with you.

Yeah they told me not to wash/wax for a while, and I didnt. I believe it sat uncovered for a while (not sure how many weeks), before the factory fitted cover went on.

GIven the color was Chili Red, I was initially concerened. They had done few Chili Red before, thus I had taken it there.

I have an appointment with the shop Monday, I will post here with the details.

 

[lotuscupcar]

No, it sounds like the paint shop didn't do a good job of matching the rest of the car, they should fix it.

Thanks. I am hoping they stand behind their product/process/work.