Dealer buffed my FJ to death.

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back9

back9

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Jan 16, 2007
Threads
16
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70
Location
Marysville, WA
:frown: oh my, what a sad day it was when I picked up my TRD from the dealership after having a N.W. Package applied. The said that I had some off road pin stripes that needed to be buffed out before they could apply the N.W. Package. Now, instead of having pin stripes. I have some of the worst swirl marks I have ever seen on a new vehicle. The guy must have been drunk. When the sun shines on this thing I can see scratch marks from across the street. :frown: I had a guy I don't know ask me what happended to the paint job.

They said they would try and buff out the marks. Hmmm. Buff out Buff marks. I am not a painter so forgive me but isn't there only so much paint that can be removed from the vehicle before I see primer?

What do you guys think I should do?
 
They are using what sounds like a rotary buffer, and have burned your paint some.
That kind of a buffer should only be used by a pro.

You can get those out yourself with a Porter Cable random oribital sander like I use.

That is what it is designed for.
I have details on it here.
http://pnw4runners.com/tando/wax/detail1.htm

What I would do though is tell them you want a professional detail shop to fix their mistake with them picking up the bill, and never let them buff it again.
 
Agreed - If they've admitted there's culpability on their part, get the truck the hell out of there and to a professional.
 
back9 said:
:frown: oh my, what a sad day it was when I picked up my TRD from the dealership after having a N.W. Package applied. The said that I had some off road pin stripes that needed to be buffed out before they could apply the N.W. Package. Now, instead of having pin stripes. I have some of the worst swirl marks I have ever seen on a new vehicle. The guy must have been drunk. When the sun shines on this thing I can see scratch marks from across the street. :frown: I had a guy I don't know ask me what happended to the paint job.

They said they would try and buff out the marks. Hmmm. Buff out Buff marks. I am not a painter so forgive me but isn't there only so much paint that can be removed from the vehicle before I see primer?

What do you guys think I should do?
Click to expand...

Man, you need to ask? Take the damn thing back to the dealer and tell them to make it right or else! Either figure some way to get the marks out, or repaint the vehicle at no charge!
 
Yes, it was an orbital buffer that made these marks. The thing is they buffed the entire FJ not just where the pinstrips were. So, my hood, fenders, roof, doors and quarter panels all got the same abusive treatment.

My fear is what if I pick it up and it looks fine. Then after a few washes the polish/wax wears off and these obital buff marks start to show up again. Do you think I will need to polish and wax my FJ everytime I wash it to prevent these burns from showing up? I just want to get it dirty and wash it. I miss the way it was before they screwed it up. A few nice N.W. Pinstrips was fine by me.

How often can it be buffed out?
 
Dude, call your insurance agent, have them send an adjuster out to look at the vehicle before you take possession of it. The adjuster will have lots of experience with paint defects and problems. Your insurance carrier will want it fixed to their own satisfaction right now, by the dealership so that you don't call them in two years with a claim. You say you are not a paint expert, that's why I say get a paint expert to look at it. The adjuster may suggest you take it to a body shop for a second opinion. Make sure to take pictures of it in its current condition so that no one can later say it wasn't like that when you took it off the lot.

You really need the input of an impartial third party.
 
not to pile on, but I had a few scraches on once, had it buffed, looked OK actually, until a few months later when the paint started to crack and show severe marks. Evidently they had buffed enough to burn it...
 
If the prep guy knows what he's doing he will be able to bring it back to new no problem.
And it will not show any swirl if done correctly.
I polish the clear coat on my black ZX-11 every couple of years and with Mothers products and it looks new.
 
if you have it done by the dealer again (not saying you should) give it a wash with dish soap on their lot - it will dissolve the wax and let you see exactly what's been done to the paint. Wax hides a lot. Then you can take it from there.
 
They have my FJ right now. I have no idea what will come of it.

I did take pictures of one side of the vehicle in the sun. Of course it would be easy to argue when the pictures were actually taken.

Thats some great advice guys. Thanks.

My insurance adjuster. Why didn't I think of that. I am sure it is to late since I already brought it back to them.

Dish soap huh. I would not normally wash my vehicle with that but I would guess if something was to remove the wax that would do it.

As far as sueing them. I just cann't bring myself to do it. I take this off road. I never expected it to stay perfect. I expect dents, paint scratches and things like that. My frustration is it should be me that screws up my FJ not some jerk at the dealership.

Well, I got a call back from the dealership as we speak. I guess it is ready?? I asked him if he got the swirls and burn marks out of the paint. He did not say yes. Instead he said "there was a small dent in the fender we and we did not fix that" I told him I was aware of that. I asked him again if the paint was fixed and he said "We gave it a complete exterior detail and it is ready to go" and went on to say there will be someone there until 7pm. He never said it was fixed.

What the hell does that mean?????
 
Good thing it's only an fj..........
 
jgordon said:
if you have it done by the dealer again (not saying you should) give it a wash with dish soap on their lot - it will dissolve the wax and let you see exactly what's been done to the paint. Wax hides a lot. Then you can take it from there.
Click to expand...

Actually the best suggestion here although I don't think you need to do it on the lot. Dawn in particular is recommended on many of the BMW and Z forums for removing any wax/polish. I use it before before waxing and you can definetely tell the difference. If it looks good when you pick it up just take it home and wash it good with Dawn and then evaluate the situation. As long as you don't sign any kind of release when you pick it up you're covered if you need to bring it back in a few days for the same problem. Make sure the situation has been documented in their records in case you have trouble months down the road.
 
bummer.
my wife uses dawn in her jewelry manufacturing... it does a great job of taking waxes and oils off of metals.

if the dealer has been good to you so far, I'd cut him a little slack and see if they were able to fix the problem.

regardless, if the problem is the same or worse after you pick it up, I'd complain in a reasonable way and ask them to fix it.

the insurance adjustor is probably your best recourse here. I'd be surprised if involving your attorney would make anything go any faster or result in a better paint job (more money.... maybe, but your attorney ain't interested in a % of your paint)

Good luck!
 
Back9- we didnt get to meet the last time at Tahuya. We were leaving when you pulled in. I work for the toyota/scion/gmc/buick/pontiac dealer in olympia. I worked in the detail dept for a few years before I managed it for about 5 years. If you get down this way I would love to take a look at it. there are certian things you can do to it to make it better but it will take more than one time. Try to find out the steps they took to buff it. Did the use a cutting comp and a whool pad or just a polish and a foam pad. Sounds like they probably used a whool pad and edged the crap out of it instead of keeping the buffer flat. You can pm me and we can go over somethings if you would like or I would being willing to help you out myself.
 
What they did was burn the paint by allowing an inexperienced detailer to use an orbital. The question (as you guessed) is how much of the clearcoat did he take off in the process. In order to get rid of the burn/swirl marks, you will have to remove a further amount of the clearcoat. (The swirls you see are microscratches).

What you need to do is go to a good body shop, or a really good detailer and have them check the entire car with a paint thickness gauge. They can then tell you how much clearcoat was removed and can guess how much more will have to be taken off. I WOULD NOT LET THE DEALER HAVE ANOTHER TRY AT THIS.

Depending on the answer you may need to go back to the dealer and say, "hey, your detail removed half my clearcoat, you need to pony up for a respray."
 
I got it back today. I can see some imperfections but it looks much better. I am not sure I want to wash it. I think I will drive with it looking good for a few days so I can stop stressing over the paint.

I talked to the service manager and he told me it was probly like that when I bought it. I just could not see the swirl marks because I had not washed it yet. He went on to say that the swirl marks would come back after a few washes because it is a black truck and black vehicles always have swirl marks.:mad:

I told him show me one on your lot with those swirl marks. His answer was for me to look at a used 93 Honda with black paint. I though my truck was a 2007. Isn't that a differance of over 10 years?

He told me that there are no products availible that could hide the swirl marks in the paint. He said if I could not see them now that they were gone. hmmm.

Hopefully what they did will work. I would rather move on.
 
Call me again when they swirls come back in a month. I will buff it for you.
 
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