Are you kidding me?

[arjo.reich]

First off, I am the proud owner of a black '08 BMW 550i (E60) with the MSport front end and everything else except the night-driver system and heated seats. I love that thing, even if it chants "chug chug chug" every time I fill her up.

Now, on to my rant. Starting on Friday, I began rectifying the paint job... by hand. It took me over 32 man-hours to tape it off, clay bar it, and - using liquid compound and polish - to eliminate all the swirls and other blemishes in the finish. I stayed up day & night, my arms hurt so bad and I'm tired, I can barely complain. But oh man, I am fired up over this...

I had an accident in October - which makes for an awesome follow-on story, but I'm trying not to digress - that required a body shop to work on the driver-side front quarter panel and replace my alloy wheel on the same side. Apparently when he did the paint job he thought he'd do me the favor of putting a fresh coat of clear-coat over the hood and bumper. WTF!!!! OMG!!!

I came to realize this because when I finally got to the hood and bumper last night at 2AM, I couldn't rectify anything, because it's sealed under clear-coat. All kinds of road-rash, swirls, watermarks... hell it even looks like I can see tar and dirt under some of the areas he painted. Not only that, but the reflector on the driver-side bumper is all splintered and broken - as if he just recycled it instead of spending $20 on replacing it.

Even though it's been four months, I'm calling my insurance agency and telling them I just found this out and I'm very unsatisfied with the repair now. In my mind, my car has lost value because in order to fix those paint chips and whatnot, the hood has to be completely stripped down and repainted and since that bumper now has several coats of pigment and clear-coat, I hope to have it replaced because another coat is going to make it look like an UT OH from MAACO.

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OK, that's it, Am I being unreasonable? Is that standard operating procedure for a body shop? I feel like he's screwed me. Maybe it's just my delirium, but com'on.

 

[arjo.reich]

Here's an example of the before & after on the rear of the car, before waxing. Not bad for a hand-job with Meguiar's Ultimate Compound & Ultimate Polish. I'll never-ever do it by hand again, but it was a good experience, once. Even if only because of the awesome upper body workout required to make it happen.

 

[Boudin]

That's an impressive job by hand.

I would expect no help from the insurance company. Also, I would imagine that with enough machine compounding you could reach the original clear coat and remove the defects.

 

[cardaddy]

Wow, what an undertaking BY HAND!

As for the insurance repair.

If it was the other guys insurance then the body shop should have a warranty. All but the hole in the wall ones I've ever seen have from a 36/36 up to a lifetime warranty on paint and body repairs.

If it was your insurance, and you took it to one of their 'preferred' shops then your insurance company generally stands behind the work. Again, most I've seen are lifetime.

It's fair not to have seen how bad it was before now due to winter, bad weather, and most importantly, the solvents take more than a month to totally dry. This will start to show defects that you didn't see earlier due to the surface and/or base coat shrinking, changing, adapting while it cured.

 

[Andr3wilson]

WOW! Whole car by hand is bloody impressive!

I am so sorry to hear this! Post a pic of the damaged area!
icture:

It may be all on the surface and can be wet sanded and re-polished (NOT BY HAND THOUGH!)