Given up on a perfect paint job

[spikepaga]

Hello all;

Sorry for the long story

I have a old Jaguar convertible finished in British racing green. 5/6 years ago the car went in for a full strip to bare metal job, doors/fenders/hood/trunk/bumpers removed. When the car was done, I was never happy with how wavy the sides of the car looked. The paint shop re did the sides a couple of times, but I never was happy. That was around 10k dollars

I decided to take the car to another shop that specialized in restorations to redo the sides of the car. The promised they could achieve the flat surface I desired, and they did......with lots of micro groups of tiny pinholes/or tiny solvent pop all over the car. They tried to fix this by sanding and re clearing the car, same thing happened after a few months. The paint looks perfectly flat but had these blemishes in every side panel. The second shop has agreed to take those panels to bare metal (again) if necessary, but I am thinking of just living with it as it is. As many times the car has been repainted in just a few years, 2 shops and thousands of dollars, I think its impossible to get what I want...a perfectly flat surface with no blemishes. I would much rather prefer to live with it flat and with the tiny imperfections than with a wavy car.

And yes the two paint shops I used are reputable and I saw their work before hand, and there was never any rust in any of my panels.

Any advise ?

Thanks !!

 

[Justin at Final Inspection]

Sorry to hear that man. But there is no reason that they can't get the flat paint and no imperfections. I think they either need to try harder or look for a different shop.

Solvent pop is usually caused by them not making sure the surface is perfectly clean before spraying. There was a chemical reaction of some sort to cause this. That should be on them to fix without charging you. If they promised they could do it right and can't deliver then you need to stick to your guns and get a refund or have them do it till it's right.

I spent over 5k to have my Camaro painted. First thing I told them was if I was unhappy they were fixing it till its right. Luckily they did a killer job and never had an issue. Hope you get what you deserve.

 

[DaveT435]

They are using a base/clearcoat paint system instead of a single stage paint? Seems like they would use a single stage. Now when you say wavey are you referring to orange peel? It's been a long time since I had auto body in school and learned about paint. I know fisheyes are caused by the surface not being clean. I thought solvent pop was from too much solvent, not allowing proper "flash" time between coats, using a fast drying thinner or reducer that isn't right, or improper forced drying. I think most of these problems are caused by their attempt to get a perfectly smooth paint without wet sanding and polishing after painting. I may be completely wrong, it's been a long time since I had auto body in school.

Are you sure they are using base/clearcoat paint system?

 

[spikepaga]

Thanks for the replies.

I did a careful search of the best shop in town when I chose the second shop. The 2nd shop I took it to is the best I could afford. I am sure someone can pant my car for 30k, but that's more than I am able to pay for a paint job. And to be fair they are willing to take care of it, unfortunately I am not convinced that what it can be done.

The waviness that the first shop could not fix was not orange peel. It was in the prep

They are using a base and clear.

 

[Justin at Final Inspection]

Between 5-8k should get you a nice job depending on the amount of work actually needed. Like I said. I got my 2000 SS done for 5k. No jambs, but the rest of the car was all apart. And they did custom flames. Full sanded and buffed and looking mint. You shouldn't need to spend that kind of coin. 10k is more than enough I would think. Sounds like they need to get there act together and learn how to paint.

 

[DaveT435]

Thanks for the replies.

I did a careful search of the best shop in town when I chose the second shop. The 2nd shop I took it to is the best I could afford. I am sure someone can pant my car for 30k, but that's more than I am able to pay for a paint job. And to be fair they are willing to take care of it, unfortunately I am not convinced that what it can be done.

The waviness that the first shop could not fix was not orange peel. It was in the prep

They are using a base and clear.

That really sucks!! For 10K you should have gotten a flawless paint job in my opinion.

 

[spikepaga]

Thanks again for the replies.

For what I paid I also thought it would be perfect, and like I said, the shop has agreed (in paper) to re-do the car. I forgot to add, the shop used a heat lamp in between coats to try to avoid what is happening now. These guys are not amateurs.

Problem is that all things being said, this is the best my car has looked since it went into the first shop. It's nice and flat, but has those damn micro-solvent pop clusters. Because of what I have been thru trying to get this car right, I am afraid they won't get it this flat again, specially considering they would be doing it as a warranty job, so they won't be getting paid. The other thing I have noticed is that my other much newer Daily driver Jaguar x type , finished in the same color, has factory panels that have the same type of solvent pop!....so it has me wondering why even bother.

The car looks perfect:

Until you see these things:

I have to add that after they wet sanded the car those tiny pops look more like tiny craters.

 

[rmagnus]

No way would I pay for that. Sorry but for the reasons stated earlier it's painter error. Plain and simple. Either they fix it or refund your money that's just UGLY.