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Did my smash repairer lie to me?

Tasmaniak

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Today I picked up my wife 03 C180 Kompressor from a smash repairer in western suburbs of Melbourne. We went there because they one of only two approved Benz repairers for RACV. The other place was closer to us, but we went with these guys because they had a really scmick and clean workshop. Plus in the West, they are supposed to be Stars for Prestige vehicles (won't name names lol)

The car was rear ended and was all minor damage. Dented boot lid, smashed tail light and a hole punched in the bumper. They replaced the badges, tail light but repaired the boot lid and bumper. They originally told me they would replace the bumper but I honestly don't care... What I do care about is the quality of the workmanship of the painter. There is heavy orange peel right through out the entire job and on the back of the boot lid and bumper, the orange peel is so heavy, that I can FEEL it through my fingertips. Running my hand across the top of the boot is smooth as glass. I can see the peel but can't feel it. Close my eyes and run my fingers across the back... well, the Braille stamped in there would tell a helluva story to a blind man!

I expressed my concern (politely) to the gentleman returning our car, who turns out to be the owner. The whole exchange was very polite and I made my concern quite clear. His response was
A, Because they sprayed over existing paint with their acrylic, it will always orange peel like this.
B, It's perfectly acceptable and well within "Specification" (What Specification? Where can I get a copy of said Specifications?)
C, They can't fix it, because there is nothing to fix, they send $170,000 Mercedes out with the same orange peel and call it acceptable and within "Specification"
D, If I have a problem with it, then I need to contact RACV and have them re-assess the work done.

So I will try to post some photos here shortly, if I can get some... but here are my questions.
A, Is this true? I thought that orange peel can always be fixed just by wet rubbing it back... taking care and pride in your work regardless of it being a Prestige vehicle
B, Anyone know what specification he is referring too? Is there some guidelines or is he pulling my leg?
C, If my dirty old Commodore came back from have some spray work done with orange peel that I can feel... I'd lose my ****. Do it on a $170,000, surely know one who can spot this would accept it?
D, Would it be worthwhile getting some opinions from other spray painters before contacting RACV or after? Obviously I'd have to be careful, it'd be too easy for someone to tell me what they think I want to hear and not the truth.

If it's considered acceptable... then I just have to deal with it and I'm OK with that... sort of. I would never recommend them but I'd just shut up and deal with it. But if they can and should've done a better job... then I want it done.

Am I being unreasonable?
I'll do my best to get some photos and post them up.

Look forward to opinions from both professional painter and amateurs... and opinions from just plain old anyone who'll listen to me whinge! haha

Regards, Tas.
 

Sabbath'

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Smash repairers are meant to put the car back to the condition it was before the crash. No more, no less.

Henceforth, go to RACV, point to the panel they havent touched and tell them you want the whole car to be in that condition as that's the condition it was in before the accident, and before their subcontractor touched it.
 

Tasmaniak

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Interesting point. They could argue though that the paint is better than how it went in... with lots of scratches from preuous owners poor attempt at a cut and polish. Although, there is harshly any orange peel throughout the rest of the car. I'm even happy to accept some light peel in their work... but i can feel it man! I can honestly feel it under my fingertips!
 

EYY

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Tell them to knock the top off their orange peel and you'll be happy. Its not hard and doesn't take that long.
 

Noeleter

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If it's the same as RACQ and one of their approved repairers hen they offer a lifetime guarantee. I am not a panel beater/ spray painter but if a panel is being repaired I would expect it to be as good as new and wouldn't accept anything less.
 

Tasmaniak

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Tell them to knock the top off their orange peel and you'll be happy. Its not hard and doesn't take that long.

Would they need to reclear and then buff it again afterwards?
 

Tasmaniak

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If it's the same as RACQ and one of their approved repairers hen they offer a lifetime guarantee. I am not a panel beater/ spray painter but if a panel is being repaired I would expect it to be as good as new and wouldn't accept anything less.

Exactly right, there is a spray painter on JC that I'd wantes to try and arrange but his shop isnt a Mercedes approved repairer apparently and hence I would not get the lifetime guarantee on repairs. This is the avenue I'll be using for repairs, but first wanted some opinions on if Im asking too much. Sometimes I know I can be anal retentive. But I dont think this is the case this time.
 

EYY

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Tell them to knock the top off their orange peel and you'll be happy. Its not hard and doesn't take that long.

Would they need to reclear and then buff it again afterwards?

No, but they'd need to 'colour' sand (even though they're sanding the clear) to knock the tops off the Orange peel with 2000-3000-4000 (depending on how bad the peel is and how long they want to spend cutting it) and then cut and polish it.

Tbh I can't believe the amount of orange peel that even the newer luxury European cars have. I'm not a painter btw, but I've done a little bit of painting for myself and a few mates and done a fair bit of research lol
 

Tasmaniak

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Thanks for that.

Actually it's my understanding that peel is fairly common in the very high end hand painted cars as most of the time that orange peel occurs is human error.

Looking over my car I can now see that most of the deep swirls from the POs cut and polish are actually STILL THERE!!!!! Furthermore, there was a small chip on the boot... guess what, it's still ####ing there! They just painted over the chip and the scratches!
 

EYY

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Definitely take it back, that's not right! Put the pressure on them. Take as many photos as you can asap detailing the poor repairs. If they've painted over a chip, then they can't really try to redirect the blame back to you.
 
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