| Re: clear bra :)
OK here's what happened today:
so i take it there. first off the woman receptionist starts getting an attitude:
"can i help you?"
"i'd like to see Mark please" (the owner, who i talked with yesterday)
"well can't i help you? i've been in this industry longer than mark has..."
"i'm sorry. maybe you can help me. i just noticed, under flourescent light and in the sun, the paint's full of swirls, which it didn't have when i brought it to you yesterday"
"i'm sorry. you drive a black car. trust me. that's what happens. obviously you've never buffed it before"
"all i know is that i brought it to you not looking like this. i'll wait for mark..."
so anyway, mark didn't show up for over an hour, but in the meantime i talked to the 'hispanic' guys that did the work yesterday. they told me to pull it into the shop, after which they said "i don't see the problem". i said watch this, and pulled it into the sunlight. bam. they all admitted it was there, but they all said "it's a black car man. it's hard to not have those".
i said yes, i understand, but they weren't there when i brought it in. the paint was factory perfect.
anyway, so then they say they'll wax it for me. at this point mark arrives. i tell mark that i would like them to wax it, but not as a permanent solution... just because i need to take a road trip tomorrow morning, and i won't have time to put the clear bra on, so i'm hoping a layer of wax will do its job of protecting the car. he says OK, they'll do that (and the 4 or 5 guys start washing and waxing the car, which they work on for ~30 minutes or more). i tell him that i know the clear bra installers will REMOVE the wax when they put the clear bra on, and that when the wax is removed, all those swirls (or "halos", as i learned today they are officially called) will come back, and there's no way in hell i'm putting a plastic film on top of terrible looking paint.
he says "no, the wax will fill the swirls, and when the wax is removed, the swirls will still be gone".
i totally called BS in the back of my mind, because if wax is so powerful that it permanently removes light scratches, even after it's removed, then why didn't they just wax my car in the first place, instead of using a high speed rotary buffer to get rid of the scratches. total nonsense i think.
i also learned that, to their credit, the only way to get rid of scratches is with a high speed rotary buffer, and that an orbital buffer you can use to remove swirls, or with waxing, but that it won't ever remove scratches (deeper ones, even though they're still relatively light).
soooo anyway. even with the wax, you can still see the swirls LIGHTLY, only when the sun shines on it. still worse than when i got it, so i kept fighting with him. he was very nice. said i should bring it back on monday as soon as i get back and they'll wet sand it with 3000 grit. actually the head painter (i'm assuming that was him) suggested that, but i'm not so sure i'm comfortable taking it back, because none of the guys there except mark (owner) were happy with me after i questioned their work, you know. they BEGRUDGINGLY waxed and washed the car, but i watched them like hawks.
SO, they want to wet sand it on monday, and mark said it's going to take most of the day to do, if not the whole day (which makes me think... good... at least they'll do a good job)
took it to ANOTHER friend, who does work on Saleens, Vipers, Corvettes, and Ford GTs for a living, and he said that what he'd suggest is instead of 3000grit wetsanding it (which he said will remove even MORE of my clear coat, which is probably pretty low after that hardcore 'polishing' they did originally (don't know the difference between polishing and buffing)) that i should tell them to use 3M swirl remover, or whatever it is (he gave me a part# too). he also said body shops aren't good for getting the paint glossy, and i should've taken it to a high-end car wash facility instead (live and learn i guess), and should've had the body shop touch up the bumper and left it at that.
i also noticed, i must throw in, that the tail lights were 'buffed' or 'polished' or whatever too. the swirls extended right onto the taillights. same goes for the headlights. scratched and all. it's like they just ran the buffer right over the head and taillights. terrible.
what think. |