Nose job

[leszekg]

To cut a long story short, a van reversed up a skip road and into the front of my Cerbera. Result was some minor damage that required a front end respray.

The work was done and I found some problems with the paint finish - some minor blistering. The garage obliged by sorting them out but this time after getting the car home I noticed a lot of fine circular scratches further up the bonnet. They're not particularly visible in the daylight but when you look closely it's not hard to spot them and they weren't there before. To me they look as though they've been caused by a polishing machine.

Anyway, took it back to the garage who got their paintshop to look at it again. I'm being told that the marks are as a result of 'heat transfer' from the engine and nothing to do with the recent work on the car. I'm planning to get a second opinion from another paintshop but has anyone come across anything like this?

[matt101]

I bet I know where you had this work done!!!

Had the cerbera done shortly after I bought it (headlight conversion) and noticed quite a few things wrong. Blisters appeared around the headlight pods and there was lots of swirling under the paint at the top of the bonnet.

Im no expert but Id say the swirls have cock all to do with heat! and they are far more likely to have been caused by poor flatting of the surface prior to painting . Looks to me like a section of the bonnet had not been sanded with a fine enough grade of paper.

I dont think there is much you can do about this problem short of another respray


Blisters Im told can be caused by moisture in the GRP and Ive heard that they can appear when the car is kept under a cover for long periods of time. Mine where only very small and seemed to go down after a while.



See here for my rant at the time!!!!!!!!
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=42110&f=6&h=0&hw=matt101



>> Edited by matt101 on Thursday 12th August 17:11

[leszekg]

Thanks for the reply Matt - read your previous post and sounds like an identical situation to mine. I'd be curious to know where yours was done. I'm not in favour of naming and shaming but do you mind if I email you off-line? How did it get resolved?

You're right about the blisters though these were sorted out the first time the car was returned to the paintshop. As was the misaligned bonnet and the broken bonnet lock mechanism. Simple quality control could have spotted these things before I picked the car up.

Second time around the bonnet paint looked a bit 'cloudy' and when looking up close in certain light I can see what you describe as swirls in the paint. The paintshop has buffed the bonnet again and this has disguised the effect to a large degree. You can barely notice it now unless you know it's there but of course I do so I keep noticing it!

[matt101]

Drop me an e mail and I will let you know who I was dealing with.

Matt

[pdavison]

Did you have any fibreglass repair done prior to the respray? Often when the fibreglass repair is done poorly or not allowed to dry completely, the paint will not stick (technical term!) to it as well.

I know that this is the case with metal cars as well as poor paint finishes can often be caused by poor preparation or spraying conditions.

I would guess that when you took the car back first time all they did was 'buff/mop' it which is basically a vigorous polish and nothing more. This will brighten the finish but will not solve the problem completely.

>> Edited by pdavison on Friday 13th August 13:33

>> Edited by pdavison on Friday 13th August 13:34

[leszekg]

matt101 said:

Drop me an e mail and I will let you know who I was dealing with. Matt

Thanks, will do.