I was recently in an accident and needed to replace my front quarter panel, new door/mirror/window, fix extended cab door and box side for dents and creases...My truck was on the side in a ditch..dont ask how...

Had a guy come fix it on the side...he runs a body shop and we have heard good things about him. Well he put the cofindence in me that it would look "better than new". Well i finaly get it back and at first i thought it looked good. Next day i washed it up and started noticeing some things...

I can still see a few of the dents/creases in the box side. Now when u look at it and see your reflection, it is all wavy and not like it was before. When o walk by it and see other images they are all wavy and not in a straight line. Even on the new door. Also i see alot of swirl marks and now a few little like scuff marks where the clear coat seems to be scuffed some how.

My question is for one is it normal to see the wavy effect after being repainted? And as far as the swirl marks how can i get rid of them? I polish and wax twice a year with mequires and i have to wait until spring to do this. Any advice on how to get rid of the swirl marks and scuffs? Of do you think the job of painting just wasnt very good beings that i can see waves and some dents yet? Thanks for your time.

 

The 'wavey' stuff that you're seeing is probably what's known as orange peel. It results from poor painting technique (too much paint being blown in an area too fast as I understand it).

As for the swirls and scuffs (probably micro-marring), they can be dealt with but, I think you should take this up with your body guy first.

He should, for one, know better than to release his work in this condition and, for two, know how to minimize this type of paint flaw before it becomes problematic (like it is now).

I'm not going to advise you on how to remove the orange peel as it's way too risky in my opinion. It involves copius amounts of sanding and can potentially destroy your painted finish. Some may offer advise on this but, it's absolutely your call on if you take it or not (I'm not trying to be snooty here, I'm just advising you that orange peel comes in many different flavors and varieties... from my experience, it's typically the COLOR COAT that is OP'd rather than the clear. With that in mind, you'd have to sand off all of your clear coat to sand the color coat flat. As you can probably see, this would destroy the paint).

Is going back to him an option?

RP

 

Well i didnt want to come off the and sound like a butt so i just kinda asked if it was normal to see the waves in it. He told me it is and on new vehicles you see it. But the waves are large enough that you can see your own reflection in it very good. It is all distorted and you cant see the edges very clear. Im really disapointed the way it turned out. That truck was my baby and always washed up 2 times a week and now i find myself leaving it dirty so i cant see it. Whats been done is done and i dont think he will do anything about it. Im from a small town and id rather stay friends if possible. In fact im going to laramie wyoming to snowmobile this thursda with him. Im just disapointed it looks this way and what i figured as well was he globbed the paint on. My dad had his 04 box side repainted cuz of a scratch and they did a awesome job on his from a different guy. I hope polishing it and waxing it by hand in the spring will take out the swirl marks. If not i cant wait until its paid off and i will be looking for a new truck. Some day when it gets nice and i can detail it i will have pictures of it. My truck is pretty original of the things i have done to it. Its just sad now i dont see it as perfect anymore. I guess i learned a lesson and i shoulda avoided the reason why it went in the ditch. Thanks for replying though.

 

Sounds like your painter friend is playing off a bad job and doesn't want to assume responsibility for his poor work. If he's telling you that it's normal for a new paint job from the factory to look like this...it sounds like he's full of BS to me. I'd maybe take it and get a second or third opinion from another body shop. Not much I think you can do without some kind of written warranty.

 

We can definitely get the swirls out. I'm confident of that. I just thought you might be able to nip it in the bud before you had to do anything...

As for the swirls...

Being a new paint job, now is when the clear coat is at it's prime to work on it... it's softer right now.

You can obtain a bottle of Meguiar's #9 Swirl Remover and probably get most everything out. It may take a few applications but, you'll get them out...

Follow the directions to the 'T' and you'll love the results.

RP

 

Am i able to use this now since it was just painted? I have always been told you have to wait so many days before you can wax new paint. I might give this a try on my own and see how it turns out. Ill post some picutures once i get it done. Thanks RP, i appreciate your time.

 

EXCELLENT QUESTION!!!!

Meguiar's #9 Swirl Remover 2.0 is body shop safe. This means that it contains no silicones which prohibit curing and keep paints from sticking to surfaces.

This, in turn, means it's ABSOLUTELY SAFE to use on a freshly painted surface that may or may not be cured.

You are ABSOLUTELY CORRECT in asking this question as you don't want to put any type of 'wax' product on the finish at this point as it has to be allowed to breathe and flash off the solvents that are present in the paint.

The 'freshly painted' smell that you smell when you're near it is actually solvents escaping from the mix. You typically don't smell this when roaming the dealership for new vehicles because they utilize what is known as CATALYZED PAINTS. In short, they bake the paint and thus, flash off the solvents.

Again, GREAT QUESTION!

RP

 

One last thing, i have never used the clay bar and thought about trying it out this spring. Would this help get rid of swirl marks or scuffs at all? After washing my truck today...i just kick myself in the but for a bad judgement that put me in the ditch..but what has been done is done and the guy just seems like he globed the paint on and errrr it looks horrible!!! Cant even hardly see your reflection in the paint. I wonder how much it would cost to repaint it.

 

Let's work on it before you jump to getting a re-spray. Look at it this way, from the sounds of it, you're not going to hurt it.

As for clay...

Clay is only intended to remove SURFICIAL CONTAMINATION. In short, it's going to 'pull off' the bonded contamination (bird poo, sap, tar, rail dust, mineral deposits, etc... etc...) that has bonded to your paint and cannot be removed by washing alone. It will, in NO way, help deal with swirls or other scratches.

If a scuff is present and the material that scuffed your paint was softer than the paint itself, odds are that the material that scuffed it was left on top of the paint. In this instance, clay may remove the scuff.

Reverse the situation and say that the material that did the scuffing was harder than the paint, you're out of luck because the paint is damaged. See the difference?

Feel your paint. Does it feel like GLASS? If not, clay it. Feel it after the clay and prepare to be amazed.

Surface preparation is the KEY to success on any vehicle finish! Spend your time in surface prep and everything else will fall into place!

RP

 

Please post a pic. If it's wavy looking, it's probably crappy body work, not poorly applied/worked paint. Very hard to tell w/o seeing it.

SL

Added: Is what you're describing on new or repaired panels? The reason I ask is, I don't want to you to disregard any of RP's advice. He's no dummy in this area, but if you had a new door/door skin and fender (no such thing as a front quarter panel) put on, the only reason for wavy paint on a new panel would be either an el cheapo panel OR a doofus with a paint gun, and you did say this guy runs a paint shop, so I'm hoping he's not a rookie.

 

Good point Snappy!

 

The fender was an aftermarket product. The door was a new door from ford. Actually the fender looks the best. I was at the body shop yesterday and he had some vehicles he just painted and they looked fine. I can still see a couple of the creases and dents because they werent filled or pulled out enough. The waves im talking about are on the new fender/door and also the fixed back door and box side. Its the same look on either. My guess he globbed the paint on because on new door there should be no waves or defects. Really is starting to P*SS me off the more i look at it. I highly doubt he will take it back and repaint it like he should so i dont know what to do. Its like looking into a mirror that is flexible and you cant exactly see the outline of yourself. I dunno.

 

If it was a side job (no receipt) , you're probably out of luck. If that's the case, and you have full coverage, get the insurance company involved. Otherwise, learn to love it, or get a long board sander and straighten out what the clown left behind.

SL

P.S. If you decide to tackle the job yourself, prepare to repaint. You don't know how much base this guy put down. Good luck.

 

Insurance company paid for it. He runs a body large body shop. He also does work on the side with his buddy. The reason he did it on the side was to save me some money. Now i wish i would have taken it else where and just had the body shop fix it. But we have heard nothing but good coming from this guy. I think it should sanded down to metal, finish filling in a few of the dents and then repainted.

When im driving down the road, looking in my side mirror and looking at the whole side of the truck it is nothing but a glare of paint. When the yellow lines flash of the side of my truck they are not straight lines, they are extremely curvy lines. This shows how bad it is. I might take it else where to get an opinion, but i know i will never get him to repaint it unless im kicking in more money.