Fatally Disappointed--The Thread I never wanted to write.

They already tried with three acid bath and unsuccessful. What else they can do? This is not a paint defect and not under any warranty.

 

I would only like to add here that IF you are interested in expanding your own ability to care for your vehicle's finish, this could be a good excuse to invest in the proper equipment that will both remove these spots and serve you for years to come, probably for the same money you'd pay a detailer. A random-orbital polisher will get the job done and is virtually impossible to damage the paint with (it is very important you use a true random orbital and not a direct-drive rotary polisher). You can't do any damage to the paint because as soon as you push too hard, the head stops rotating. It means that the pad and the product you apply to the pad does all the work. You can probably get everything you need for about $200, and you can use it to apply waxes and sealants in 1/2 the time as well.

 

Sorry to hear that!

Do you know what methods he used?

 

Completely unrelated to the Prius or to pianos, but one time one of my children's toys broke brand-new out of the box, a material defect of some sort. On a complete whim, knowing the local store wouldn't help I called the manufacturer who had an office in Hong Kong. I reasoned that as a former British colony someone there would speak English. They did, sort of. It wasn't perfect, but I got the point across, was polite, and within a few weeks we got a replacement free of charge. Sometimes it pays to roll the dice and try something like you did.

 

The Electric Me,

I have always enjoyed reading your posts, and I am very sorry to hear about this outcome. I hope everything somehow turns out, okay...

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

You might want to compare notes with this Oregonian also with a paint job issue

New Prius had paint work done...Toyota buy back? | PriusChat

 

Hmm. Not to beat a dead horse here, but without knowing what was done, I would never consider going the extreme route of a new paint job. Most detailers know how to do little more than wash wax and vacuum. Most customers expect little more than that, so the resulting reviews might be perfectly fine. You really need to find out exactly what methods were used and how aggressive he got.

To give you some perspective on a paint job, I would estimate to have even an acceptable job done, you'd be looking at $5-8k, and it would be nowhere near as good as factory, and likely start to show issues within 4-6 years. If it were me and I absolutely could not get those spots out, I would honestly far rather live with the original paint job and the spots than live with an average re-spray.

 

I'd be very nervous about having a new car repainted for the reasons above. It will never look right after the paint job and you'll be forever wishing that there had been another way to fix it.

Live with the spots. When you get ready to trade/sell, leave it dirty. They will most likely not even notice it.

 

at $3-4k for a paint job I would just trade it in toward another new vehicle. If you can manage to get your insurance to pay the $3-4k great, but I wouldn't paint the car, just use the insurance payment toward the new vehicle.

I would work with another dealer and perhaps even a different manufacturer for the new vehicle.

 

The problem with repainting is that when they respray it and bake it, they can only raise the temperature in the oven to about 150F because of all the materials in the car. At the factory, the body is dipped and then baked at about 300F, before they add any components. This make a big difference in the longevity of the paint. The front of my 07 was repainted in the front and the clear-coat started to flake off at about the six year mark. However, the shop was reputable, and they repainted the front for free. If you do repaint, ask if they give a lifetime warranty. You definitely want that!

 

Yeah, nothing can compare to a factory paintjob. Nothing. Not only do they bake it on, they use electricity to attract the paint to the metal. I know of no paint shops that can do that either. If it were me, I'd leave the spots.

 

5 to 8 grand for a professional paint job , I would trade for a new ride ..
I still go back to earlier post where you added som after market item and
Shortly it had spots as well ... Me ?? After all this , would call my insurance company
As it doesn't look like factory error , but ?? Chemical spray of some kind
Good luck

 

I'm with you brother. If it was mine, I don't know what I'd really do. I don't keep a car long enough for the $8K paint job to be worth it. But just the fact that it's annoying you so much is enough for me to think a repaint maybe your best option. As noted above, try to get a lifetime warranty so that if it does start to go south, you'll have the warranty to fall back on.

 

I'm still not convinced that the detailer really took the steps necessary to rectify the problem. Call him up and ask him for exact details of what he tried.

 

Yeah, I'm not convinced at all. There are so many options to deal with this.
1) The spots do not appear to have penetrated the clearcoat to the color. A good body man could simply wet sand out the spots, apply a few coats of clear coat to the affected panel and be done. For that matter, you could do that. It is not hard, just time consuming. If you want details on how to do this, let me know.
2) Just paint the affected panel. The whole car does not need to be painted. A good paint guy could easily match that paint. They do it all the time when an accident occurs
3) the number one option I would personally try is to use rubbing compound to get the stain out (this will take some elbow grease), then switch to polishing compound, then to wax. Try me on this one, don't let someone else do it because then you don't know what they did. Doing this won't hurt anything. If you really want to put this behind you, do this and report back the results
a) Purchase some rubbing compound and a microfiber cloth from your local APS
b) Pick the smallest and lightest spot, using the cloth, rub some compound in a back and forth motion (press moderately hard at first then ease up once the spot starts to disappear) until the spot disappears (note, this will put scratches in your clearcoat)
c) If this works and the spot disappears within a few (15-20) minutes, get some polishing compound and rub some polishing compound in a back and forth motion but at a 90 deg angle to the scratches (repeat 2 or 3 times until all scratches disappear

If you use the rubbing compound for over 20 minutes of good effort, and the lightest spot is still there, its not gonna work and (refer to options 1) or 2). Either way, report the results back here.