Anyone have a panel repainted?

I just purchased a 2010 Mercedes c300 a few weeks ago and last weekened I had my very first accedent and the front bumper and driver side fender will need to be replaced the body shop said they will have to blend the new fender into the hood and into the door.

Has anyone had a bodyshop do any blending to your car? How did it turn out?

I have never seen a body shop do a decent paint job. Every car I have detailed that had a panel replaced looked horrific!! Either it has really bad orange peel, super cloudy, drips or sanding marks under the clear. The car is going into a the shop monday and I am keeping my fingers crossed.

 

Sorry for the accident to your nice car.

I have seen many great paint jobs from Body Shops - I even worked in a few and turned out perfect work every day. Never had anyone complain or come back with a problem.

Not sure why anyone would accept bad paint and bodywork in the first place. They/you do have the option of NOT accepting the sub-par work if that is what they get.

A good, custom shop will be the place to go to, and yes, a good blend will not ever be detectable. A good Painter will perfectly match the color and texture to the rest of the vehicle.

A bad or Production Painter (Earl Schieb, etc.,) will not have the skillset, materials, or time, to make it right the first time.

Perhaps your Clients all cheap out on getting their body and paintwork done, and that is the result - too bad they accepted it in the first place. I would never accept it but then I would never go to a sub-par shop in the first place..

I have a good friend in Morgan Hill. He was one of the most visionary men I ever knew. What he started way back before the words "cellular phone" were invented, later became AirTouch Cellular, and then Verizon Wireless.
Good luck with this -
Dan F

 

Server flipped out and double posted this
sorry
Dan F

 

Thanks for some hope!!! Lol. I already told the body shop that of its not to my standards they will have to redo it and they said they won't let me take it from them unless I am 100% satisfied!

 

Sounds like you have found a good shop - this is good! It is very good that you "set your expectations" with the Shop ahead of time. Wish more people did that.
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When you go pick it up, do not, repeat, do not go into the office and pay for the work.

Instead, go look at the car with the Manager, and take your time looking at it from as many angles as possible.
If you are getting a new fender (which you should be getting), and a new front bumper, there should be absolutely nothing but straight and straight and curved panels to look at.
Does the paint all match? The Panels that were blended if necessary, should have also been compounded, blended, and then compounded again, to smooth everything so that it all matches the new panels.

Is the the paintwork all swirled up from improper use of a Rotary Buffer ? It goes without saying that telling you "its supposed to look that way" is totally incorrect. Insist they fix it, or pay your Detailer to come and fix it before you pay for it and take delivery.

The car should be washed and dried, so take your clean dry hand and run it lightly all over the hood, windshield, top and door to check for overspray. Your fingertips will tell you if there is something over than smooth paint. If you find any at all, then the rest of the car may also have it too. They will have to either take if off for you or pay your Detailer to come remove it before you pay for it and take delivery..

Is the inside of the car clean and not full of overspray/dust, etc..? If not, well, they have to fix that or pay your Detailer to come fix that for you.

Do not pay any money, sign any paperwork, etc., until you are absolutely thrilled by the way the car looks. Its a Mercedes, it deserves the best !
Good luck with this !
Dan F

 

I had to have the hood on my car reprinted when the roofer dropped a tool on it. They repaired the hood and recleared both fenders. I assume they blended too but they didn't tell me anything other than reclearing. You can't even tell they did any work.

The quality has a lot to do with the shop and the people who work there.

 

I will be bringing multiple lights with me to inspect there paint work and also making sure the new panel and bumper fit perfect! I told them only buff the panels that they have sprayed because Its a given that what ever area the will be buffing will be covered with buffer marks and most likely be hidden by a glaze:duh: if that is the case then i have no problem removing the buffer marks/holograms myself.(I would rather my self do it the right way then them compounding the shit of the car and not finishing the paint down trying to make it right)

they seem to be a real legit shop from the conversations we have had and them showing me car the recently finnished but they are supposed to say what you want to hear lol

 

Just a word of advice .... I detailed my dad's car last weekend and had some issues with two repainted doors. I couldn't remove the noticeable (but not terrible) wash marring. I tried every method and after many hours of fudging with them, I realized what was going on. The doors where blended in and the areas that didn't need a blend were resprayed with clear. Well, all the wash marring that was present on the OEM clear was cleared over. How did I come to that conclusion? I buffed the areas with the wash marring first and compared them with the blended areas. Blended areas didn't have any marring/buffer trails at all.

 

Yikes.....marring cleared over gosh. Thankfully when I needed a respray for my M3, I got the BMW factory here in Spartanburg, SC to do my paintwork, so technically it was OEM lol. Needless to say they did a *TOP NOTCH* job even for us DB guys standards. They even told me they used Menzerna compounds to polish the resprayed panels, and there was not even a trace of overspray or defects on my unsprayed panels. Perks of living in upstate SC!

 

Yeah I had my door skin replaced and my rear quarter pulled out on my Mustang a few years ago after some guy hit me. The body shop my insurance sent me to did a fantastic job. Pulled the fender out perfectly, used all OEM parts, matched and blended the paint to where even my critical eye couldn't tell the difference. They also included a lifetime warranty with it, which was good because about 6 months later a small section inside the wheel well started flaking and they re-did that with no questions asked.

If you're going through insurance, I'd talk to your agent if you trust them to send you to somewhere good, not cheap. Thats how I found the shop I went to. My insurance agent has done mine and my parents insurance for 20 years or so. She always follows up with clients after repairs to find out which body shops are good and which aren't

I do have this problem though. There is an area around the edges, that the swirls in my paint pre-accident will not come out of. Paint gauge reports VERY thick paint in that area. Its hardly noticeable though. Requires very critical lighting to see.

 

Same here ... you can barely see them, but they are there. My Fenix made them pop in my garage, but when I pulled the car out in the sun, I had a hard time finding them.

 

Be sure replacement panels are OEM factory replacements. Most shops use aftermarket panels to save insurance costs. But insurance will cover OEM.

 

The bonnet of my wife's Ford Explorer needed to be repainted, along with the upper front bumper. They blended the paint too, but it is not noticable. My only gripe is that the paint is a lot softer than the OEM paint. Marrs very easily and is generally a pain to take care of. Perhaps they did not bake it like they do when cars roll off the factory floor?

 

when you take delivery of the car 1)make sure its outside in the sun 2) wear polarized sunglasses, you can differentiate between the slightest changes in color from panel to panel. 3) if its not to your satisfaction refuse to take the car and contact your insurance company, I have state farm and I have refused a car before, in fact I had a shop repaint a hood and roof 3 times on their dime before even accepting the car, and when I did I had my adjuster present on the delivery.


If you have a good insurance company they will most likely back you on any issues with the repair, after all they don't want to be insuring a car that is not factory basically, so be diligent about what you are looking for, and be picky.

 

They are being replaced with oem parts!

 

Never thought about using polarized sunglasses!! I do have state farm and they have been awesome so far

 

15 years with SF, never an issue........ and they pay out quick too. But they will deal with shops and withold payment if there are issues.

 

I've had good experience with SF but I think some of it depends on the adjuster working your claim. I had a sorry one when my truck was broken into. It was like pulling teeth to get any info or to get them to call me back. After I complained to my agent it was much better.

 

Thanks guys for all of you input!

I am a little fusterated with the body shop already. They told me not to bring my car in till all the parts showed up because they want all the parts there so they can get started on it right away. They called me a few days later saying the parts are in so drop the car off on Monday the 10th and they said it should be a 5 day turn around. Today is Thursday and haven't heard from the body shop at all if they would be needing the car anymore then the 5 days so I decided to call them to see what's up? The guy just told that they just finished taking the bumper and fender off and seeing if there was anymore damage (there's not) and now he saying that I should have the car back by the end of next week.

 

Sorry this had to happen -
They DID say - " said it should be a 5 day turn around" and apparently it is going to be twice that.
I would rather they do a perfect job at this point, and not try to rush it out and screw something up.
Too bad they cannot stick to their original estimate of time.
Good luck with this -
Dan F