I wouldn't let the body shop touch it, like Mike said above...they didn't do it right the first time, and they probably won't get it right the second time either.
I'd ask to speak with the person at their detail shop before hand. Ask him about the process he plans to use to remove the swirls. Find out what type of polisher, pads, and products, as well as technique. That should give you a good idea whether they know what they are doing or not.
Then come back and list the info for us.
I really don't want to over dramatize what should be a very simple thing but I've seen this happen first hand and answered threads like this for years.
Body shop and
Production Detail Shops are all about
speed, and quality comes second. At the very last step they put glaze or some kind of wax or sealant over their buffing work to mask or hide the swirls they leave in.
Note, it's not all the detailers fault, I've met man detailers, or what's loosely referred to as
the painter's helper, (the guy that does the buffing work because the painter usually doesn't do it), and these guys doing the work are stuck
- Using the products and tools given them
- Doing the work in the time allotted to them
Product and Tools
For example, if all the guy has is a rotary buffer with a wool pad, or even a foam pad, and who knows what kind of chemicals, then it doesn't matter if he's good at buffing out paint, it's his tools that are at least part of the problem and he has no control over that.
Time allotted
If the shop manager says get that car buffed out and then do this one next, then the guy know he has two cars to get buffed out and that's 4 hours in one day for both cars and there's probably other things he has to do also. You can't rush quality work.
Something I post all the time goes like this,
Detailers that hang out on forums know more than detailers that don't hang out on forums.
I'm not dissing detailers that don't hang out on forums it's just a fact. I've met plenty of production detailers that don't have a computer or if they do they don't get on the Internet with it and even if they do get on the Internet with it they don't hang out on forums like AutogeekOnline, Autopia, MOL or DetailCity and educate themselves.
They know what they know and for the most part that's about it.
That's why I said, if they couldn't do it right the first time, chances are they won't be able to do it right the second time because they're going to do the same thing they did the first time only at the end add a little more glaze or wax or something to get the paint to look good enough to get you to accept it. It might even look good but what happens when you start washing the glaze or wax off.
What's crazy is the dual action polisher isn't really an expensive tool, it's not hard to learn, and it's pretty good at removing swirls after the rotary buffer steps, yet so many body shops and production detail shops don't know about them and/or don't use them.
Now let me add this to the mix...
Each time they buff the car they take some of the precious paint off that you just paid, (or your insurance company just paid), to have sprayed on.
The life of the paint is in it's thickness or film-build. If they buff off too much you increase the chance for the paint to fail down the road, (clear coat failure), and also there's less paint on the car for
>you< too work on, for example a bird dropping leaves an etching in the paint, is there enough paint on the car to remove enough to remove the etching without going through the clear coat?
I apologize for bringing up all these subtle points about this typical scenario that's played out in body shops and production detail shops everyday, but it's my nature to do my best to educate people on all these factors.
Again, this is why so many people turn to discussion forums to get information and then buy tools like the PC and pads and chemicals and
Just Do It, as Nike is famous for saying.
I'm sure some people don't even want to buff out their own car but they don't know who to trust so they take ownership of the process.
rops:
I hate shoddy shop jobs and fixing the paint after uneducated people wash their cars over the years with the wrong materials and wonder why the paint looks so bad. Good luck you two.