[RoadsterMadness]

So here's the likely bad news - while looking at my M3 in my poorly lit garage last week. I noticed what I thought was excess wax or spatter on the car, predominantly at the edges (a full 4-6 inches thick tho') of the wheel wells in the rear on both sides, bearly the whole hood, head lamp lenses and 6 inches thick on the body in front of the front wheels on both sides. It was not really obvious when I picked it up a few weeks back from being clayed, compounded and detailed, as the car was damp, but after a manual wash at the same place a week later, I really noticed it. The prior owner, who did everythin himself and had never taken the car to be detailed at a commercial place, thought it would take a drill buffer to remove the spots, which are all below the clear coat. He warned me not to try it mysef as doing it too hard would burn the clear coat and damage the paint leaving it blotchy and wrong.Well I went to my other top of the line local detailer yesterday and the managers told me the clear coat HAD been burned, and that it had to have been done with the drill driven electric buffer as no cash wash no matter how harsh could cause the damage showing.

SO - several tough things now loom for me. They tell me they can detail it up and make it better for now, but it will never be right until it is repainted. With all the areas affected, a partial paint job to save $$ is likely not an option. I now have to go aboiut the very unpleasat task of telling the owner of the first shop his people burned my clear coat and ruined my paint and that he owes me a paint job. I will likely have toi sue him to make it happen, but have close up pics of no damage a few weeks earlier and it is flawless. I very much want an easier, nicer solution but if it needs a paint job, we are looking at a major expense. Thoughts? Color change maybe if it gets painted? Interlagos? SIGH - headache...maybe they're wrong???

 

[witeshark]

Wow, sorry to see that. I think it's hard to say what's best, but I wish you the best of luck with it.

 

[Bimmermann]

Wish you the best of lucks, but despite the fact that all you need to do is to tilt the scale in your favor with the proof, it will be hard and aggravating collecting from a commercial car wash or detailing business. It will boil down to how much they charged you and what the judge understands ordinary care at that price would be.

In any event, don't expect to receive a judgment for an amount to repaint the whole car. It will be just for the pad in question, at best.

I regret having to be so gloomy, but use your time as you see it will best fit your schedule.

 

[RoadsterMadness]

Well the good news is that I took it to the really good body shop today and it seems the detailers did not burn the clear coat, merely did a sloppy job and left a lot. Of wax behing which created an ugly residue in some tiny specks where sand had hit (there is a huge empty highway where speeders go near the beaches here off hours and the prior owner told me many times he frequented that spot so the story is consistent. An excellent compunding job by my other local detailer (who actually DOES give a damn) is in order. The first place is willing to do it over, but I'd much rather have the other place do it as they have gone above and beyond (and refused to charge me at all) and there detailing includes much more like power washing/steam cleaning the motor bay etc.). I can stop payment on the credit card for the half assed job of the first place and then move on or see what they can do to fix it up. The problem is that regardless I will likely then have to pay again to get it done right at the other place. SIGH. Again, it's not like it's not beautiful, it's just that it should be as perfect as it can be, not just sorta clean and shiny, especially for all that $$.

Thank you for you concern and constructive comments. Such are always welcome.

 

[witeshark]

Very nice! Glad to see this, and that you're happy!

 

[Ivan Rajic]

It's good to hear that they didn't burn the paint but at the same time, unless you paid the shop a lot of money, stuff like the wax residue, and even paint burning, is to be expected from a low quality shop for little money. A few of my clients have taken car washes to court because their "full detail" was merely a wash & wax and car ended up looking the same after a couple months when all the crap on the car washed off.

That's the other thing I would recommend doing... find a good, quality detailer to strip the wax or whatever they sealed the paint with and see what exactly the paint looks like underneath... you could get your money back if there are swirls and they promised swirl removal but I doubt you can get money back for some wax residue.

Good luck bro!

 

[BimmerE39]

I'm glad that you don't have to get the car re-painted or sue RM, because that would suck and take a LONG time to see any money or any positive result. I do all my detailing myself by hand so I don't have problems like that (although I've been known to miss spots on occasion). My mom used to have one of her Mercedes ML's detailed by a local place and they seemed to be really good at swirling the clear coat on a consistent basis.

I hope the other place can fix your pride and joy up for you. Let us know how things turn out. Very strange though that you wouldn't have noticed it earlier. Perhaps they knew they messed up and tried to hide it from you?

 

[RoadsterMadness]

Thanks guys! It did, as my friend from CT knows, rain like crazy for more than a month so it was, with the bulk of the car shining, tough to see the specs in the dim garage. Plus, you don't usually stand in front of the car when it is parked in the garagel, just not practical to do and darker still. Anyway, I still have the custom plate to choose, the good detail, and some ECU program updates to get from Dinan while all is covered. A busy Saturday at the dealer looms ahead...Grrr. It is a labor of love though...

 

[BimmerE39]

Yes indeed, it has been raining quite frequently as of late. I think we've had a really long spring and no summer.