How do you smooth out freshly done paint job?

[spederman]

How do you smooth out freshly done paint job and a run in the paint?

My dealer sucks. Everytime I take in my car for a problem, they give it back to me with another. My car was in a wreck and has been in the shop for a month and had the whole front bumper re painted. I finally got it back but it wasnt perfect. I took my car in for a rear axle problem, and they put it on a lift. Well, the idiot techs that were doing it, drove up the ramp and managed to scrape the whole bottom of my freshly painted bumper on the incline of the ramps. So i told them they can just re paint the whole bottom. Well they did, but did a quick half ass job. The paint is kind of rough feeling (not silky smooth) in certain areas and there is a run in the paint on the bottom. I'm so sick of this dealer that i would rather just take care of it myself. How do I take care of the rough feeling and the run? Would rubbing compound work? Or should I wet sand and with what grit? Any advice would be great.

 

[zincyellow03]

My dealer sucks. Everytime I take in my car for a problem, they give it back to me with another. My car was in a wreck and has been in the shop for a month and had the whole front bumper re painted. I finally got it back but it wasnt perfect. I took my car in for a rear axle problem, and they put it on a lift. Well, the idiot techs that were doing it, drove up the ramp and managed to scrape the whole bottom of my freshly painted bumper on the incline of the ramps. So i told them they can just re paint the whole bottom. Well they did, but did a quick half ass job. The paint is kind of rough feeling (not silky smooth) in certain areas and there is a run in the paint on the bottom. I'm so sick of this dealer that i would rather just take care of it myself. How do I take care of the rough feeling and the run? Would rubbing compound work? Or should I wet sand and with what grit? Any advice would be great.

Are you talking about orange peel(looks like the surface of an orange) on your bumper? If so, rubbing compound won't help. With that, you have to wet sand it. What do you mean that there's a run in the paint? There's some paint run on my driver side door and that's from the factory. Pics would be helpful. Good Luck!

Edit: About using the orange peel grit, I found this online about the grit: If orange peel is heavy (thus requiring the initial use of aggressive 1,000- or 1,200-grit paper), resand the painted area with a less aggressive paper such as 2,000 grit

 

[spederman]

By rough i mean, its not smooth, its more of a sand paper feel to it. You can see grainy stuff in the paint, just kind of a crap job. And the run, its like the paint was dripping and they didnt wipe it up. There was a spot on the back bumper that was like that also, i told them about that one, because it was bad, they took the car in the back, and brought it back in like 5 minutes and it was gone. So somehow, there must be a magical way of getting rid of runs in paint. I wonder what they did.

 

[zincyellow03]

By rough i mean, its not smooth, its more of a sand paper feel to it. You can see grainy stuff in the paint, just kind of a crap job. And the run, its like the paint was dripping and they didnt wipe it up. There was a spot on the back bumper that was like that also, i told them about that one, because it was bad, they took the car in the back, and brought it back in like 5 minutes and it was gone. So somehow, there must be a magical way of getting rid of runs in paint. I wonder what they did.

Sounds like they did a really crappy job then. If it has grainy stuff in the paint, I'm guessing that dust probably got stuck in the paint Pictures would help. About them wiping off the dripping paint, I don't think it's possible to get rid of it. Maybe they just sanded it down and polished it up? Other than that, I don't think there's a possible way to get rid of it. Don't worry about the dripping too much, mine came like that from the factory. How noticeable is it?

 

[Scott 96Cobra]

The "Rough" feel could be overspray. Is this feeling anywhere else or just on the area?

Regardless it sounds like a PC job. Whether it's dirt that has been stuck to the clear or overspray - it should be able to be removed by a PC and the proper HEAVY swirl removal steps.

 

[spederman]

Zinc yellow--its not that noticable but i am OCD about my car lately since i got it back from the body shop and want it perfect. Its towards the bottom of the bumper and you dont see it unless your looking for it. I tried to take pics, but my car is white and didnt show up very well.

scott96cobra-- this might be a stupid question but what is a PC that you talk about? is that a clay bar?

 

[5.0_GT_kid]

PC = Porter Cable orbital buffer.

 

[Turbo92PGT]

take a couple pics and send them to me [email protected]

I do paint and bodywork for a living.

it could be dry spray (not enough material laying down for how fast their travel speed was) which is bumpy and not shiny looking, and as far as the run, depending on the size, a razor blade can be used to get the majority of it off, and then follow with 1000 - 1500 paper and buff.

Use mequiars diamond cut compound with a HIGH SPEED (not orbital) buffer

And finish with something like fine cut cleaner or swirl remover.

 

[zincyellow03]

Zinc yellow--its not that noticable but i am OCD about my car lately since i got it back from the body shop and want it perfect. Its towards the bottom of the bumper and you dont see it unless your looking for it. I tried to take pics, but my car is white and didnt show up very well.

Spederman, I the same way about my car as you are. When I got mine back from the shop, I was able to point out ever single flaw in it. But I realized(almost a year later) that when you get it back, your going to look for flaws, and there's going to be flaws in it. Good luck with it.

 

[Scott 96Cobra]

Zinc yellow--its not that noticable but i am OCD about my car lately since i got it back from the body shop and want it perfect. Its towards the bottom of the bumper and you dont see it unless your looking for it. I tried to take pics, but my car is white and didnt show up very well.

scott96cobra-- this might be a stupid question but what is a PC that you talk about? is that a clay bar?

Actually you can start with Clay - But I've seen some cars in bad shope get worse from clay because the clay will pull out the particals and then rescratch the surface. Clay is better for contaminated but not "partical invested".

The other thing is DO NOT bring it back to that dealership. I have learned that if a dealship messes up your paint - it's because they do NOT know what they are doing - Get this taken care of at a detailing shop that will use a machine (pc or whatever) and fix it.

You can SEE the problem? Not just feel it? Doesn't sound like overspray then. get it to a detailer - they'll fix it.

 

[zincyellow03]

Actually you can start with Clay - But I've seen some cars in bad shope get worse from clay because the clay will pull out the particals and then rescratch the surface. Clay is better for contaminated but not "partical invested".

The other thing is DO NOT bring it back to that dealership. I have learned that if a dealship messes up your paint - it's because they do NOT know what they are doing - Get this taken care of at a detailing shop that will use a machine (pc or whatever) and fix it.

+1:Word:

 

[spederman]

Yeah, I am going to find a detail shop. I was looking for one anyway, I wanted them to give the whole thing a nice wax stripping and then re do it and get rid of the swirl marks. I want the paint to look like its wet. It looks good right now, but not as good as it could.

Thanks all.

 

[Daver]

...

You could always wet sand it.. but I would recommend taking it back and making them do it and do it right.. Wet sanding on paint takes some skill and I would not recommend trying it your first time on your vehicle