Thin paint.... time to quit?

[Zingledot]

I've posted here a couple times...to recap, I have a 2013 black miata. The dealer destroyed my paint and then tried to fix it but didn't do a very good job. I got rid of some holograms and most issues, but I have some water spots and some more lines I wanted to get out. But I went to a shop with a PTG and it read 2.5 mils everywhere. Which is 63 microns.

Ugh. Well, am I basically stuck with finishing up with a light polish, sealing it, and calling it a day?

Thanks.

-Aaron

 

[Rsurfer]

At 63 microns, you are in a danger zone. For a 1 year old car, that's pretty bad.

 

[Eric@CherryOnTop]

Can you elaborate on how the dealership destroyed it?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Zingledot]

The entire body was swirled with the effect my friend got from using the green scrubby side of a sponge on his car. I took it back to have it fixed and they made it look much better, but said they were afraid to go any more without damaging the paint. So I don't know how far they went. After that, it had terrible holograms and lots of swirls still that I got rid of, but I wanted to get it a little better....

 

[aim4squirrels]

I've posted here a couple times...to recap, I have a 2013 black miata. The dealer destroyed my paint and then tried to fix it but didn't do a very good job. I got rid of some holograms and most issues, but I have some water spots and some more lines I wanted to get out. But I went to a shop with a PTG and it read 2.5 mils everywhere. Which is 63 microns.

Ugh. Well, am I basically stuck with finishing up with a light polish, sealing it, and calling it a day?

Thanks.

-Aaron

Light polish and opti-coat it. You can't afford to lose any more paint, and the opti-coat can gain you a mil or 2 in thickness. If you can find a detailer that can apply it sprayed, even better as you'll get a thicker coat on the vehicle and it should be pretty even thickness by the accounts I've read here using that application method.

If it works up after that, you can bud out the opti-coat, not the paint, and Dr-coat it. That would be the only option with a 2013 and that thin a coat of paint.


Then start saving your pennies for a respray if you want to keep this car.

 

[allenk4]

Sell it

 

[GreatAvalon]

^right. going to be costly in a few years.

Make the dealer take the financial hit instead of you. They caused the problem, so they are responsible for it.

 

[Zingledot]

^right. going to be costly in a few years.

Make the dealer take the financial hit instead of you. They caused the problem, so they are responsible for it.

I owe at least 3k more than I could get for it private party, since I bought new. Taking a 3-5k hit on my wallet probably isn't worth it. If I wanted to do that I could spend $5,000 on a baller paint job.

I don't know that I could do anything to find them 'responsible' for it. It was messed up, but I didn't know until after I accept delivery. Then I asked them to fix it, so they burned my paint away at my request.

 

[ducksfan]

Ok, so somebody help me to understand paint better. Why can't this guy just have more clear sprayed onto his car? And if he can, what would be the disadvantage of doing that verses paying for a complete paint job?

 

[jamesboyy]

63 is thin my suggestion to you is to leave it be yes for autogeeker its hard but you have to accept the facts unless you want to cause more damage then whats present

 

[allenk4]

You may be relegated to using glaze and an annual light polish

 

[aim4squirrels]

Ok, so somebody help me to understand paint better. Why can't this guy just have more clear sprayed onto his car? And if he can, what would be the disadvantage of doing that verses paying for a complete paint job?

Once a paint has cured, you can't add more. The new coats won't adhere correctly and you'll have one heck of an ugly mess.

Now, a body or paint shop could do it, but by the time you pay them to prep it correctly, it's going to be about the same price as a full repaint anyway. That's the big cost in paint work: all the prep that must be done before you spray.

 

[ducksfan]

Once a paint has cured, you can't add more. The new coats won't adhere correctly and you'll have one heck of an ugly mess.

Now, a body or paint shop could do it, but by the time you pay them to prep it correctly, it's going to be about the same price as a full repaint anyway. That's the big cost in paint work: all the prep that must be done before you spray.

Thanks

 

[GenesisCoupe]

Sounds like you could do a coating, that will add just a tiny little bit of extra protection to the surface.

 

[BlackHawk]

yea if this where me id seriously consider selling the car or getting it repainted, most likely would sell the car. I cant imagine living with so little paint on the car...

 

[Radarryan]

I'm sorry to hear about what has happened. It's a real shame that people in the automotive business don't understand how to properly care for a vehicle. Props to you, though, for doing your best to try to remedy the situation. I would still harp on the dealer to try to either give you financial renumeration, pay all or a portion for a new paint job, or offer you favorable terms for a new purchase in the future, or frankly anything you can get out or them. It won't be easy but it's worth a try and you have nothing to lose but time.

As for your car I see two options: coat it and leave it or add glazes periodically (every 2-4 weeks) to help hide the damage as best as possible. I suppose you could coat and then glaze after the coating has cured to try to get the protection of the coating and the filling of the glaze, but that wouldn't last long at all. Unfortunately, your options are limited. One thing is for sure, though, no more polishing. And always make sure you have protection on your car to try to preserve as much clear as possible. Be very gentle when washing and detailing.

Hope this helps. Good luck with the dealer and everything. Happy detailing!

 

[Munich77]

What about opti-coating it to protect what is there.

 

[TurboToys]

Once a paint has cured, you can't add more. The new coats won't adhere correctly and you'll have one heck of an ugly mess.

Now, a body or paint shop could do it, but by the time you pay them to prep it correctly, it's going to be about the same price as a full repaint anyway. That's the big cost in paint work: all the prep that must be done before you spray.

doing the sanding and "prep" required for simply repainting isn't very costly if the car has nothing that needs to be fixed.

removing headlights, trim, taillights, etc is going to take as much time as doing the sanding work on the body. taping off and painting.

the fact that he wouldn't need bodywork would save a ton of money.

shop around, find a place that can shoot a new base and clear, and you will find you could have it done for anywhere between 1200-2000. the paint will only cost around 300, but the time it takes to prep, spray, and reassemble is what is costly.


if you are confident with your mechanic skills, then take the steps to remove everything you want out of the way (headlights, taillights, etc etc). tow the car to the shop since you wont be driving it, have them finish their side of sanding, taping, spraying etc. and then after its cured enough to be outside (2 hours about), have it towed home and start reassembling.

you can save a lot of money by doing a lot of the prep yourself.

 

[TurboToys]

yea if this where me id seriously consider selling the car or getting it repainted, most likely would sell the car. I cant imagine living with so little paint on the car...

selling a car because it needs paint is.... not that great of an idea, people freak out because of paint, but paint is not very difficult to deal with if you go about it the right way. you could save more by buying a car that has a terrible paint job for cheap and having it redone.

 

[ShaunD]

I would get in touch with a Mazda Rep and let him know the history of your paint with the dealership and find out what the minimum/recommended thickness for your paint. Then find out if they will warranty your paint against failure with its current thickness(thinness). The dealership is responsible for the damage regardless regardless of you requesting them to buff the paint. They didn't do the job properly, and probably didn't read the thickness at all. If that doesn't seem worth it to you then I would locate a professional detailed to coat the car.