Paint job from body shop

[TechnicallyKeen]

Had severe chips all over front of car from a road incident. No collision damage. Picked up vehicle with new grill, and full repaint of bumper, hood, fender, and front-most portions of A pillars with feather-edge/blend.
~$8,000

Is this an acceptable paint job with this much orange peel? If the answer is no, any suggestions to successfully have this addressed? The pictures are of left side hood, fender and A pillar. The right side thankfully has better quality work. My concern is paint failing in a few years due to improper clear coat. I had that happen years ago with another Lexus, after being painted at the Lexus dealership. I took this vehicle elsewhere based on recommendations.

 

[ToothDr]

My 1978 FJ40 had less orange peel texture than that. Not acceptable in my book. There is a paint and body forum here on mud. Maybe some paint experts can weigh in.

 

[Eyedaho]

I'm not a paint expert, but at that price (mid range for a daily maybe?) I would be upset.

 

[gasman4u]

I had to repaint a rearview mirror once. My orange peel was worse, but I did it with rattle cans.

I’m with you knowing that’s not been done right. Let the body shop know they did not do a good job and it needs to be done right.

 

[Sandroad]

I don’t know what your long term plans are for the truck, but I think that poor of a paint job is so obvious it hurts resale value.

 

[DanielW]

I don’t know what your long term plans are for the truck, but I think that poor of a paint job is so obvious it hurts resale value.

I recently dropped a heater on my hood and had to get a new hood and get it painted. The paint job for the hood (not counting the actual hood price) was $1000. It had nowhere near the amount of orange peel. Honestly for $8k I would not be satisfied with that job.

 

[Artie]

Not acceptable.

 

[CanadianRockyCruiser]

I don't look at that as complete. It's very common to have orange peel after the first few layers of clear coat. The key is to wet sand and then spray again. That eliminates the orange-peel effect, but it's a labor intensive job. That paint job needs a good wet sand, and another 1 or two coats, followed by cutting and polishing.

As a general process, I recommend:
-2 to 3 coats of primer
-3 to 5 light coats of color
-3 coats (light to heavy) of clear
-wet sanding
-1 to 2 light coats of clear
-light wet sanding, cutting, and polishing

I believe that your paint is salvageable, with light wet-sanding, 2k clear, cutting and polishing.

 

[NikP]

Not acceptable, especially for a professional shop. A professional should be able to lay down clear with little or no requirement to wet sand and buff. Thats not it.

 

[smorkington]

Looks worse than tesla paint

 

[ryanCA]

you got taken - HARD

 

[1MAC]

Looks just like my work! I’d start by asking nicely for the manager to look at it with me. Then escalate as necessary until it’s correct. Just compare the finish to the panels that are still original and let them know you expect the same standard.

 

[KLF]

Take a strong LED flashlight with you when you go talk to the paint shop, shine it along the surface. Sunlight can hide orange peel.

 

[gasman4u]

I think they have cheap special flashlights meant for paint inspection on Amazon, etc? Usually with a round light emitter iirc. Or at least the ones I used to see on detailing YT channels.

 

[TechnicallyKeen]

Thank you everyone for your input. I will speak to the shop and post an update when I have one

 

[sedole]

Preaching to the choir here, but absolutely not acceptable. I've had cheaper paint jobs look better than that.

 

[Heckraiser]

Yep, I've had Maaco jobs come out smoother than that for $800.

 

[Supra Turbo]

Meanwhile at the bodyshop....

 

[TechnicallyKeen]

Very politely asked if manager could look at vehicle. He couldn’t see any issues in the sunlight. seemed frustrated with me, “we will sand it, but you don’t ever re clear orange peel”
Hopefully I still have clear coat left when they are finished

 

[CanadianRockyCruiser]

Very politely asked if manager could look at vehicle. He couldn’t see any issues in the sunlight. seemed frustrated with me, “we will sand it, but you don’t ever re clear orange peel”
Hopefully I still have clear coat left when they are finished

If the clear is thick enough, sanding, cutting, and polishing will go a long way.

if not, a final coat or two of clear (followed by additional cutting/polishing) is a very normal finishing process for concourse results.