Dull clearcoat from a repair on a used car - bring to a body shop, or a detailer?

[butters]

Long story short I lost my beloved daily driver 3 series last week when I got rear-ended by an FJ Cruiser, and smashed into a Suburban. Everyone was okay and insurance worked out fine. In my view the car was a unicorn of options, and this time around I decided to forego a monthly payment and get a 3 series I could pay for with the cash rather than rush out and end up in an expensive car that isn't as much a unicorn. 

 

I wound up in a 2006 330i, the last of the top-line 3-series with no turbo, and I have to say I really love it. The car has over 100k miles but feels great. Has the options I want, and crucially rear-drive with 3 pedals. Previous 9-year owner kept up with maintenance and was diligent with records. Dark gray exterior gives me a break from black metallic, and black interior likewise lower maintenance. 

 

However, there's an issue with the paint. It's all there and straight, no accidents. But the previous owner told me that he scraped the driver's side inside a tight parking structure so there was some repainted area. I'm not a body expert but I don't sense much filler by knocking around. The color might be close enough, but it's terribly hazy and dull so I honestly don't know. 

 

Anyone ever dealt with this before? My thinking is that the body shop painted only the driver's rear door and quarter panel, and only blended slightly up the C-pillar. I suppose it's a good thing they didn't blend into the driver's door or bumper. Then they just didn't wet sand it enough. Hopefully it doesn't need more prep and paint. Should I bring it to a body guy, or a detail shop that will wet sand? I know a body guy I may as well have look at it, but need to wait until I can leave work early. I don't have experience with any detailers I'd trust, after all I'm on this site. 

 

I don't know how this image will upload, but maybe you can kind of see what I mean with the reflection in the front door vs rear, bumper vs quarter panel area. 

[Ls1transam]

Kind of hard to see at that angle. I'm viewing for a phone so that might be my problem. Is there any orange peel? Or is the paint pretty flat with a dull haze? My mom had a door repainted and it was hazy looking too. Black vehicle, and the door had a white looking tint almost to it. It was sanding marks. I had to buff it out.

[Adam]

Hi Stephen, sorry for the loss, and on your new car, hopefully you stole it!  From the pictures, looks like a poor color match, bad paint job, and a lack of sanding and buffing.  Is the color a closer match in person than it appears in the photo? Notice the difference between the bumper and trunk?

 

To have that sanded, re-shot, sanded, and buffed should cost about $1-$1.5K...

 

You can sand the existing panel and buff it, however, the color match will require a re-shoot!

[BRZN]

As stated above, tough to tell from the pics. If it is a poor paint job, I'd try the wet sanding if it were mine.

http://www.adamsforums.com/topic/30938-chrysler-nationals-at-carlisle-july-15-17/?p=485286

If it's not something you're comfortable doing yourself, check with local body shops or detailers in your area.

[mc2hill]

If you end up going the way of the reshoot, give the wet-sanding and polishing a try yourself.  It may come out good enough to leave, but either way you have gained experience in wet-sanding! 

[mathews31]

I actually had a similar thing happen to me last May...my Charger was a third party victim in an accident while it was parked...Thank God everyone walked away but my paint was trashed in the rear driver side quarter panel. I took it to a bodyshop and he painted it and fixed it up. When I picked up the car it was slightly wet from them washing off buffing residue...When I got it home and it was dried I could tell the paint was not as shiny as the rest of the car.

Now if your situation is the same as mine, I don't think compounding or polishing will take it out, because when I was paint correcting, I ran my polisher over it for a bit and there was minimal change. I asked Larry Kosilla through e-mail and he told me it would most likely need to be repainted. I've sort of avoided that route only cause I don't think it's worth it to me, especially because it's not a main visual part of the car in my opinion. Mine also feels different than most of the car which makes me feel like the painter didn't put a clear coat or didn't know how to paint at all.

I also though that perhaps it was orange peel that was not fully buffed out but as I mentioned about polishing didn't take it out...I hope you find a good solution...Good luck but know you're not alone

[butters]

Hi Stephen, sorry for the loss, and on your new car, hopefully you stole it! From the pictures, looks like a poor color match, bad paint job, and a lack of sanding and buffing. Is the color a closer match in person than it appears in the photo? Notice the difference between the bumper and trunk?

 

To have that sanded, re-shot, sanded, and buffed should cost about $1-$1.5K...

 

You can sand the existing panel and buff it, however, the color match will require a re-shoot!

Thanks Adam, and great to have your response! While I wouldn't say I stole it, I got a very good price for a car I've had an exceedingly difficult time finding (RWD manual sedan). I went into it knowing that this might require body shop work to be perfect.

 

Attached is another photo with my markup around the offending surface for clarification. The bumper and trunk appear original and in a condition I can work with using my 7424xp, but this repainted area definitely needs sanding at minimum. The color match might be a little better in person, but it's not great in its current state. The metallic makes it look worse with the different angles of the various panels reflecting slightly differently. I suppose I can give wet sanding a shot myself before going to the pros, I'll have to brush up on those tutorial videos... it's possible with a lowly porter cable?

[butters]

As stated above, tough to tell from the pics. If it is a poor paint job, I'd try the wet sanding if it were mine.

http://www.adamsforums.com/topic/30938-chrysler-nationals-at-carlisle-july-15-17/?p=485286

If it's not something you're comfortable doing yourself, check with local body shops or detailers in your area.

Great job on your car, that looks awesome. I'll have to look around and make sure I have the tools required to remove 3000 grit sanding marks.

[butters]

If you end up going the way of the reshoot, give the wet-sanding and polishing a try yourself.  It may come out good enough to leave, but either way you have gained experience in wet-sanding!

 

Yea I think this is the way to go, just a matter of properly gearing up. With the car being almost 12 years old I can accept a detectable color difference, but I gotta have that gloss!

[butters]

Now if your situation is the same as mine, I don't think compounding or polishing will take it out, because when I was paint correcting, I ran my polisher over it for a bit and there was minimal change. I asked Larry Kosilla through e-mail and he told me it would most likely need to be repainted. I've sort of avoided that route only cause I don't think it's worth it to me, especially because it's not a main visual part of the car in my opinion. Mine also feels different than most of the car which makes me feel like the painter didn't put a clear coat or didn't know how to paint at all.

I also though that perhaps it was orange peel that was not fully buffed out but as I mentioned about polishing didn't take it out...I hope you find a good solution...Good luck but know you're not alone

Thanks for the insight, I was actually thinking of emailing Larry too but I figure the recommendation would be to re-paint. I'm going to seek input from my body shop and give it a try with DIY. It has been 5 years since the repair so it has at least held up and not peeled, maybe it's salvageable. I just want to get it to the point of being worthy of my Adam's arsenal, which it currently is not.

[mathews31]

Thanks for the insight, I was actually thinking of emailing Larry too but I figure the recommendation would be to re-paint. I'm going to seek input from my body shop and give it a try with DIY. It has been 5 years since the repair so it has at least held up and not peeled, maybe it's salvageable. I just want to get it to the point of being worthy of my Adam's arsenal, which it currently is not.

 

When that happened to me I thought the same thing, "I might as well stop buying detailing products cause the car isn't good looking anymore," but to be honest detailing the rest of the car has given me a sort of recovery from this...don't give up lol

[LFairbanks]

My guess was the car was probably in an accident and the body shop didn't do the paint job right, clear coat and color match.  I would take it to a good body shop.  Trying to polish it may be just a bandaid.  They may catch things you're not seeing and issues that may come up down the road.