A body shop rant

[scorpio333]

Just about a year ago someone keyed our car. A friend of mine recommended a body shop over in Eighty Four. He works for a high end dealer and said they send all their work over there, so I figured why not. We took the car there and they gave us an estimate, the insurance company didn't like it. Back and forth between the two for a couple days and they finally agreed on something in the middle. We drop the car off and pick it up three or four days later. It was cloudy and overcast that day, I looked the car over and it looked fine, it was shiny, the color match was dead on.

A few days later I noticed a rough surface where the edge of the rear window meets. No problem I smoothed it out. About two months later I noticed the panel they pained was looking dull. I decided it was a good time to detail the entire car - claybar, polish, wax, etc. I was amazed at the overspray the claybar was picking up on the back window, the rear wheel, the roof, the trunk lid, the driver's door. I had to really go to town with the cutting compound on the rear bumper where they didn't feather the paint in or mistaped. I thought this was unacceptable, but at least I was getting rid of it. When it came to to polish, nothing was bringing back a shine to the painted area. The rest of the car was like new and this newly painted panel was crap.

I haven't taken it back to complain. I figure if they do anything they'll buff it to a shine and two months from now it'll be right back to dull. I'm not saying who the shop is, because I haven't taken it back yet. I just had an adjuster here the other day for a different issue, we're shooting the breeze when I showed him the paint job and told him 84...he immediately named the shop.

No real point here, other than me venting some steam. You could tie my legs together and one arm behind my back and I'll single handedly dismantle the little gutless maggot who keyed it in the first place.

[weareweird69]

More and MORE high end shops these days are cutting so many corners, and hiring crap employee's that its almost easier (and ALOT cheaper) to learn to paint stuff on your own.

I had a local shop, ironically "The Best", paint a few things for me. The paint on the fiberglass on my Lightning is cracked, the paint is bubbling off the grille, and is so easily rock chipped its not even funny. They also cant repair fiberglass for the life of them. Same with my DD Diesel truck, the bumper filler and fender joint is almost bare, the paint just peeled off. Looks like they just sprayed over the damage and sanded it out without prepping, and they have repainted the front bumper once already, and messed it up the 2nd time too... Oh, and the paint chips off when you look at it wrong, not to mention that they forget to mask a vehicle off. I've had to wetsand my truck everytime it came back. It was so thick that a claybar wouldnt remove it.

Im going to learn to paint, because I cant see paying some of these shops the money they want for the crap service we get... Anymore, I will go out of my way to keep anyone from going to "said" shop. Its just Bull. Its almost like a Monopoly.

[somethingclever]

Cessna's?

[scorpio333]

Cessna's?

Nope.

I hear ya weareweird6 about the corner cutting, quality goes down while the price goes up.

[somethingclever]

kilkeary's?

[How Much?]

More and MORE high end shops these days are cutting so many corners, and hiring crap employee's that its almost easier (and ALOT cheaper) to learn to paint stuff on your own.

I had a local shop, ironically "The Best", paint a few things for me. The paint on the fiberglass on my Lightning is cracked, the paint is bubbling off the grille, and is so easily rock chipped its not even funny. They also cant repair fiberglass for the life of them. Same with my DD Diesel truck, the bumper filler and fender joint is almost bare, the paint just peeled off. Looks like they just sprayed over the damage and sanded it out without prepping, and they have repainted the front bumper once already, and messed it up the 2nd time too... Oh, and the paint chips off when you look at it wrong, not to mention that they forget to mask a vehicle off. I've had to wetsand my truck everytime it came back. It was so thick that a claybar wouldnt remove it.

Im going to learn to paint, because I cant see paying some of these shops the money they want for the crap service we get... Anymore, I will go out of my way to keep anyone from going to "said" shop. Its just Bull. Its almost like a Monopoly.

The prep is where its at, if there just tryn to move cars in and out, then thats why your stuff turned out like crap.....the quicker they get it done, the more they make....A ''Friend'' of mine works at OPEKA auto body up past donaldsons cross roads, they refinish porsches and high end stuff off of dealers , and as well as public, they are highly recomended by everyone i ever talked to....but you would have to decide for yourself!!!! alot has to do with the materials they use, you want to skimp? ........dont...because thats what you will get!!!! Cheap clear will fog and break down in sunlight,,,,,,,You need to tell them you want the good ...if not ,,,there gonna save any way they can

[weareweird69]

The front bumper on my Diesel cost just under 700 dollars to paint... And they had to do it TWICE, once for free cause it bubbled in the base coat, and they still missed some places the 2nd time. Its still raw steel in area's and has runs in it. They told me originally that the bubbles would buff out after they wet sanded... yeah thats the right way isnt it? ha

But yes, I agree with you!

[scorpio333]

kilkeary's?

You got it.

[somethingclever]

I've seen Kilkeary's personal stuff a few times and it's NICE.


I also heard that they hired out the paint jobs....don't know if that's true though....I really hope not. LOL


Hope you get things straightened out....

[Terminated]

I can agree with the cutting corners. I had a car into a bodyshop a while ago to get the bumper redone due to a few scratches. I have always seen excellent paint work from these guys so I trusted they would get the job done right. I essentially dropped $500 just to have it sanded down and blended halfway through the bumper.

From 5 feet away looking dead at the car you can see an obvious mismatch of the paint and it's got some orange peel and dull look to it. Just seems like they did it as quickly as they could to flip it in and out in one day.