As many of you know, in January I took my car in to be painted. I had a dent I wanted to be fixed, and I got the car painted torch red. The car looks awful. Last week I took it back into the body shop to get him to wetsand it, to see if that would make it look better. It has serious orange peel, a few bad runs, and trash in it. The wetsanding job he did made it look a little better, but only in spots. It's like he only did a few spots, which ended up looking okay, but left out the others. I took it back today and told him I wanted it all fixed or my money back. He told me he would "mess with it some more." I have really run out of options. He already has his money and he's not going to do very well on my car, and it looks awful. I spent all the money I had on this paint and I haven't driven my car anywhere but to his shop in a month because I am ashamed of it. I'd rather have the dent in it than having it look this way. It is seriously depressing. What are my options now? He is not known for his bodywork so there is really nothing I feel I can do, he will just go into the "I gave you a deal...blah blah." I am thinking about wetsanding/buffing it myself but I don't know what it will take. I think if it were smooth and somehow I could get the runs out I'd be pleased with my car... But is this possible? And what sort of legal options do I have if any against this guy? I really want my car fixed and I want to drive it again. This has had me down and broke for the past month and I am just sick about it.

You should be abel to wet sand and buff if he put enough paint on the car. It sounds like he did if it has runs, but possibly not.
First, let the paint harden. If you start wet sanding and the paper gets loaded up quickly, stop. Start with 1000 unless the orange peel is really bad, you might try 800 first, but be careful. Especially around the corners.
Stop sanding as soon as you see the dimples dissapear. Go any more and you will start seeing primer. Get a wool buffing pad and some 3M rubbing compound in the squeeze bottle. Follow the directions on the bottle.
Start with the medium, not the coarse stuff. Do the whole car then go to the fine. Finally use the polishing and swirl remover with a foam pad.
You will be suprised how nice it can look.

Cheer up. Could be a lot worse.
Now you know not to take stuff there, right?

Dave

Huck,
Be very careful if you try to wet sand the car yourself. I worked in a body shop when I was in college and it took me a whole summer to get the hang of it. It is VERY easy to go too far and end up doing more damage than you think.
I do not know how much you paid for the paint job, but if I were you, I would take the car to another body shop, preferably at least 30 miles or so from the first one and ask thier opinion. Do NOT mention the name of the shop that did the job, just tell them what you paid and ask them what they think of the quality of the work. Body work and paint is like everything else, you cannot get good work for cheap. When I had my Blazer painted about 8 years ago, just the materials cost over $800...and that was 8 years ago. Like I said, I dont know what you paid, and really probably do not want to know, but I think you owe it to yourself to get a second opinion. Then you might have some bargaining points with the first shop.


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Bill Koustenis
Advanced Automotive Machine
Waldorf Md

1971 Heavy Chevy - original owner
Team Chevelle #100

Huck, sorry to hear about your paint job. There is hope but it may require you to do alot of work. http://www.chevelles.com/forum/wink.gif As others have suggested, make sure your paint job is bone dry before trying anything at all.

I'm going to assume that your paint job was a basecoat/clearcoat. My cars' paint job was never 'finished' correctly either...it had tons of orange peel all over the surface and with the advice of a good friend, I set out to remedy the problem. I managed to wet sand my entire Malibu over the course of 7 days (about 4 hours a day) and did a 1.5 sq.ft. patch at a time. To do it right, your back is going to ache and your muscles will be sore but the results (I promise) will be fantastic. http://www.chevelles.com/forum/smile.gif

First step: Wet sand the patch with soapy water and start with 800 grit to cut off the tops or 'peaks' of the orange peel. Use a rubber block sander, lots of clean soapy water and use moderate to light pressure. Wet sand for a bit then stop and wipe clean the surface with a dry towel...check your work and go back at it if need be. You'll see the orange peel peaks getting knocked off as you go.

Once the peaks nearly dissappear (be careful not to go too deep into the clearcoat), prepare the same surface by wet sanding with 1,500 grit paper. This step basically removes the deep cuts you just put into the paint with the 800 grit paper and better prepares the surface for the next stage. You're shooting for a smooth even surface with no deep swirl marks or visible cuts.

Next, with a thick cotton bonnet and a high speed polisher, use 3M's Imperial Microfinishing Compound-Liquid (part#051131-06011) on the same surface. Polish the surface back and forth for about 20-30 seconds and check your work. Don't need to apply hard pressure here...moderate will do fine. It's important to keep the bonnet fairly wet with polish during this step. At this point you'll just start to see the surface becoming 'glossy' again.

Now switch out your cotton bonnet to a 'thick foam' style and finish the same surface with 3M's Finesse-it II finishing material (part#051131-05928). Again, keep the foam pad fairly moist with the polish but not quite as wet as the previous stage. I used bottled water in a pump spray bottle to rewet the pad, along with the polish itself. This step is what brings out the 'mirror' finish and is the most rewarding part of the whole process.

All of these materials can be found at any pro-automotive paint store...I looked in the Yellow Pages and found one within 5 miles of my home. The 3M polishes are NOT cheap but they do the job.

There may be short cuts that others can recommend but I absolutely swear by these results...it works VERY well when you have a clear coat finish with lots of orange peel. Good luck!

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502 Rat Infested 1970 Malibu - Gold Member #39
Keep America Beautiful - Drive A Brute Force Chevelle!
http://pages.about.com/wescolby/personal.html

Good advice above from Wes. Anyone can do it. You just have to keep in mind that if you sand thru, you have to re-shoot it. Stay away from all of the edges, corners and seams. Don't sand them at all! stay away from them. The wet sanding is 90% of the work. So if you have someone else do the buffing & polishing, it won't cost as much. Buffing & polishing is a little more tricky. Now, here's my method for wet sanding: Start on the roof and move down. 1,000 grit 1st. lots of warm slightly soapy water and a small rubber squeegee. wrap the paper around the sqeegee and begin to sand. You may have heard 'back and forth in 1 direction'. Not. You can use a swirl motion also to smooth an area evenly. Do a 1 ft3 at a time. Here's the important part. Routinely squeegee (without the paper) the work area. Make sure you have plenty of light. As you squeegee, you will see if you have a truley smooth surface or not when you wipe away the water. Look at it from different angles to verify. You are looking for a very uniform, hazy-looking surface without orange peel or imperfections. Try this. You can do it. Once you get to this point, move on to the next area and make sure you don't sand any more than you have to. Don't remove paint unless you have to. Use the squeegee! Once you have the entire car done, do it again with 1,500. Then again with 2,000 grit. If you get to this point, you will truley know why your painter didn't want to do it! There are no short cuts for a primo finish. This is the way. You can do it. Know why I know? Because you're not satisfied with what you have. I can tell what you will be satisfied with.


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Triple Black 69 SS 396

One other thing, if your paint is metallic without a clearcoat, you cannot color sand it without affecting the final look, in other words you are sanding the small particles in the paint and light will reflect off of them and give the paint a somewhat molting look.

Thanks for the responses and help guys. I get my car back tomorrow and I have spring break off next week. I guess I'll have something to do, although the tools and materials will cost me. But if i can get my car back looking good, it will be worth it.

I wet sanded and buffed my car after it was painted. I agree with the above and will add a few things. I started with 1500 grit. Anything rougher than that seemed to leave deeper scratches that were hard to buff out. You may have to go rougher though on the runs. For the best job, follow that with 2000 grit. Use a rubber block that's plenty flexible to follow the contour of the metal. Sand in two overlapping angles approx 45 degrees from each other. When buffing, use a SINGLE ACTION buffer, not DA or orbital type, and do not hold it in one place over a second or two to keep from burning through or getting the paint too hot. Keep it moving. If a 2 speed buffer use the slower speed. Ideal is around 1500 rpm. The 3m Microfinishing compound slings everywhere and makes a dusty mess. I cover and tape areas like door seams, window channels, etc.

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von '69 300 Dlx SS TC #15 ACES #1575
My '69 SS (http://sites.netscape.net/von69ss/homepage)

[This message has been edited by von (edited 03-08-2001).]

Two words....

Suede, Baby

http://www.chevelles.com/forum/smile.gif



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64 2 Door HT 6-230 and a 'Glide (To be replaced by a big block, already found a 402 :) )
Formerly 71 Elco

From what I remember from your original posts, you were getting this car painted including bodywork for under $1000...I would not assume that it is base/clear paint, materials alone would run close to your cost. I doubt the "painter" would do this if he were only making $100. Assume its acrylic enamel, and before you sand also assume that hardener wasnt used. No hardener and the paint will never dry to the point of being sandable. Try sanding in a spot that wont be easily visible, if the paint turns to mush and clogs the paper then forget it. That would mean time to strip and repaint. If you get the results talked about above, with the paint easily flattening out and showing the high points, then continue with the sanding and polishing. BE CAREFUL, this painter doesnt sound like a pro, sand too much and you will be looking at primer (it any was used!) Who knows how many coats are even on the car.

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Dave (NY)
70 chevelle ss396 conv
66 chevelle ss396 hdp/conv
72 chevelle
TC member #493
Never forget Earnhardt!