Body Shop Advice (Los Angeles)

[EthanolTurbo]

Okay, results time, and I need help.

I got my car back a few weeks ago (Nov 6ish), but have had a nearly constant travel schedule since then and the car has been sitting in my driveway. I'm finally back for a week, got the car handwashed today to inspect the work.

I have mixed-to-negative feelings about it, and I wanted to get community input before going back to the shop with it. First so that I'm informed on what the issue I'm seeing is, whether or not it's "normal", and second so that I'm not unreasonable in any request I make to them for any possible fix. I also want to emphasize that I'm not making this post to antagonize or badmouth the shop that did the work, but rather just figure out whether or not I have reasonable cause to bring the car back to them.

Basically, I'm finding that there are some areas where there what looks like long "grooves" or "wrinkle lines" in the paint that go along each other and criss cross. In some places it almost looks like brush strokes. The grooves/lines range from ~1 to several inches in length. They aren't visible in all lighting conditions, but when visible I think they look pretty bad. There are some spots on top of the trunk lid, but there are way more along the rear quarter panel, especially on the rear fender flare, extending all the way up to the passenger door. This problem exists on the passenger door too, but to a much lesser extent than the fender and trunk. I don't seem to see this on the bumpers, front fender, or hood that were also painted. Also, I didn't see any of this during my original inspection the first time they tried to have me pick up the car. But I guess maybe I missed it due to lighting conditions?

PICS AND VIDEOS:

Here are photos of the quarter panel and trunk areas that show examples of the issue: https://imgur.com/a/McNp7fj

Here are a few videos that might give a better sense of what this looks like IRL, but it's hard to completely capture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xNH...FWQAou&index=1

QUESTIONS:

1. Is this kind of artifact/defect in the paint normal/expected in a paint job from a reputable shop? I've read a lot about "orange peel" and that it can be expected as long as it isn't too egregious.. but this seems like a different thing?

2. Is this fixable without repainting these areas? The detailers who washed my car this morning suggested that wet sanding could do it, but it would be a pretty big expensive job considering the extent of it. Any other thoughts?

3. In your opinion / if it was your car, would you expect the shop that did the work to correct this?

I really appreciate everyone's thoughts on this!!

This is totally fucked. Looks like the paint was runny somehow and didn't apply properly. They need to redo all of that, it's 100% unacceptable.

[ATB88]

Dropped the car off to the shop owner. He was understanding and gracious about it, said they'll fix it all. Will update.

[Nate047]

Did he tell you what he thinks happened?

[oceansize]

Did he tell you what he thinks happened?

I'll tell you what happened. The prep guy, painter, shop foreman, and shop owner all suck at their job and have never ever heard the words QC, nor do they give a flying f$ck. I can promise there wasn't one single time at the shop I worked at where this level of failure exited the shop.

[EthanolTurbo]

I'll tell you what happened. The prep guy, painter, shop foreman, and shop owner all suck at their job and have never ever heard the words QC, nor do they give a flying f$ck. I can promise there wasn't one single time at the shop I worked at where this level of failure exited the shop.

Agreed. I did a $1600 paint job on my old 335i that looks better than this and still looks good today despite no paint correction or protection by my friend that owns it now. I have seen TJ paint jobs with less flaws than this. Really disrespectful that anyone thought this wouldn't be noticed, especially on a car that's as eye-catching as an E46 M3.

[Gearhead55]

how is this looking?

[M Coupe]

Looks OK but then again you simply can't gauge anything based on that image. We'll need some closeups and how the bumper and hood match up to the rest of the existing paint. Also texture of clear. Getting that right amount of 'peel' into the clear isn't as easy as it seems.

[Tbonem3]

Luckily, LSB is flat, so no worry about the flop of the metallic. You can see orange peel in the reflection of the light, so hopefully it's close enough to stock.

If you really want to be picky, even if a shop matched the amount of orange peel to 2000's bmw paint, they wouldn't be able to match the "knit" as I call it or pattern of the peaks/valleys. That takes an extremely close examination in the right light/angle, however.

[enjoy_m3]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but the light reflecting off the corner bumper looks like horizontal streaks similar to the post of atb88. Am i seeing it correctly? Doesn't looks like orange peel. Orange peel should look like orange peel. Hopefully I'm wrong Jim, lol

[oceansize]

Body shops, even the better ones, are not considering orange peel outside of trying to avoid an excess amount of it.

[M Coupe]

Luckily, LSB is flat, so no worry about the flop of the metallic. You can see orange peel in the reflection of the light, so hopefully it's close enough to stock.

If you really want to be picky, even if a shop matched the amount of orange peel to 2000's bmw paint, they wouldn't be able to match the "knit" as I call it or pattern of the peaks/valleys. That takes an extremely close examination in the right light/angle, however.

Good point. Metallics and their flop/shifting nature adds additional complexities and are definitely more difficult to match than 'uni' paints. I find the best place to gauge whether or not body work and paint was done right is under a well lit gas station. You'll see everything there.

[Nate047]

If you really want to be picky, even if a shop matched the amount of orange peel to 2000's bmw paint, they wouldn't be able to match the "knit" as I call it or pattern of the peaks/valleys. That takes an extremely close examination in the right light/angle, however.

I would say none of the body shops in question in this thread are capable or interested in even trying to do that. Luckily, none of the customers in this thread are trying to have a perfect show restoration either, nor pass of a car as having never had paint work, etc... I believe most of us are in the same boat of wanting it to look good for the money whilst managing expectations, and if someone gets close enough to find flaws, so be it.

[oceansize]

There was a time when my eye was so trained I couldn't look at a paint job and not find flaws. Color match (there are all kinds of caveats here), lack of obvious flaws, general texture/gloss, and no clear coat peeling, solvent pop, fade/haze etc. within the first thirty days are good enough.

Let me say working in a collision shop was the toughest job I've ever had by far. I did a little bit of everything. Started detailing then on to parts guy, then I was the guy that ripped all the bad panels and mechanical bits off, then on to body work, then I was the prepper and finally painting. I quit two weeks before I was going to be sent off to what was then Sikkens paint school. I'm glad for the experience it provided but I would never go back to a production collision shop, just hardness all around. I'm telling you all, it really is tough. No joke tough (remember I'm referencing a busy collision shop, not Joe's backyard shed).

[cornerbalanced]

For future reference--

I collected my car from ABS last week. It took a week and change for a front bumper respray, in addition to my side reflectors and license plate bracket holes being shaved. I was charged $500 (I may have gotten a better rate, I may have not...I'm a repeat client). Upon delivery of my car, it was freshly detailed, and ABS took the liberty of adjusting my hood and adding foam on my bumper carrier to correct all panel gaps up front.

Overall, I'm happy with the quality of the job, the time it took for the job to be completed (ahead of schedule) ... Kevin, the owner of ABS also updated me with pictures throughout the process. My car being detailed--it was dropped off fairly dirty--was icing on the cake. Can't really ask for more from a bodyshop these days, esp. after reading about other member's experiences.

Of course, YMMV. Excited to see how Gearhead55's car turns out.

[M Coupe]

Glad to hear a positive experience. I hope everyone who ever needs bodywork does their due diligence on researching shops that put out good work and of course one must have reasonable expectations. Don't expect Concours level work for TJ's pricing for example.