I just had my 95 525iA re-painted. It was Schwartz Black II and had it re-painted the same color with Sikkins paint. I'm no paint or body expert but I think the car looks worse than before. The shop contends that the swirl marks and the Spider webs are normal on a new paint. It has been color sanded once and then buffed out. It looked good when I picked it up. I was told that it could not be waxed only polished. I had to wait at least 60 dyas for the paint to cure. So after having it for 2 weeks and 2 washes later the car looks like shit. I have never seen Swirl marks and spider webs as bad as it is now. It almost looks like brushed metal!:mad: The shop is telling me not to worry that once I can do a full detail job that this will all be gone. In my experience with the car and black this is a result of the shitty job done by the shop. (((JUST FIY when I wash the car it is done with a Wool wash mit that is washed after each cleaning and I use Zymol shampoo washing up and down strokes no circular motions. I even use 2 buckets..one with soap and one with clean water.))) I feel that the shop is full of shit. The only thing is that this shop came highly recommended by may people....

What is your opinion. The Paint job cost me $6100.00 that included the cleaning up of the body and all the little dings...

I'll post some pics later tonight

theDogger
525iA

Although I am not there to access the paint job myself, I think there may be some validity to what the shop is saying. Your car has no protection at the moment. When the paint has completed the curing process you can go ahead and put on a good quality glaze and wax. This should improve things significantly. In my experience however, buffing jobs/wet sanding done by body shops are lousy, and done with SPEED not QUALITY in mind, with old and dirty equipment. You may want to do an aggressive swirl removal with a power orbital and some 3M SMR prior to glaze and wax on your own.

Bottom line though, its your call. If you are not satisfied with the work have the shop bring the paint to your satisfaction.

I agree with you 100%. I'm am going to wait and see what happens after I can do a full detail job. Then at that time if it is still funky I will return to the shop....The one thing that is bothering me is the car has been back 3 times for minor flaw touch ups.......spot that were sanded that they missed...I also agree about the dirty eqip. I stopped by one time and watched them use a older pad for the polishing......They are just starting to brush me off saying that you can't get a black car perfect.........BULLSHIT!

I'll just wait and see...I'm just not one to wait....



theDogger
95 525iA

here are some pics...the car was washed 2 days ago so there is some dirt. Also let also add when I received the car back I had found several interior parts were damaged....My door panels had 4" cracks in each one. My tweeters on the sail panels were cracked and glued. My door trim as bent and the window trim could be lifted off with a finger. The plastic jail bar under the lungs were damaged and would not allow the lungs to mount. So after discussing this with the shop they have replaced all of the damaged parts but here is the kicker....when I went to put the jail bars on today to replace the broken peice I discovered that they screwed it in because they broke other tabs. So back to the shop tomorrow......This will be the final call. I should also add the $6100.00 was for some minor damage that was repaired. I was rear ended and that is how all this started...they agreed to paint the entire car so the est. was ran up.... So any way here are the pics.....
http://www.bigfootdesigns.com/paint/p1.jpg
http://www.bigfootdesigns.com/paint/p2.jpg
http://www.bigfootdesigns.com/paint/p3.jpg
http://www.bigfootdesigns.com/paint/p4.jpg

theDogger

it looks like theres still compound on the car, also thats a shitty buffing job for shure

They are full of shit.Your car looks like ass.Swirl marks are a fact of life on a black car in direct sunlight,but you have a poorly polished paint job.Let the paint cure for 30 days and then have them redo the polishing.You will always see fine scratches in black but what you have is unacceptable.I am a painter and I would be ashamed of that kind of work.

I'm a Sikkens paint rep. and I agree they should polish it better than that. That said have you tried to just polish a fender or door. There is no reason you can't polish it right now. You just can't wax or seal the paint. Try some Mequiars swirl remover and buy some microfiber cloths like 3M #6016 available at any automotive paint store. These microfiber cloths really work and don't leave scratches especially on a black car. It may polish up by hand easier than you think and you don't have to worry about any "new" damage by the shop. Just my thoughts, feel free to ignore them, my girlfriend does!

Wow, that does look terrible. I was in an accident a few months ago and had to have some parts painted... the body shop I took it to did a flawless job. Although it did take some time for the work to be completed, the car was beautiful after they were done. I didn't have to bring it back to them for any screw ups.