[shibikot]

Hello all,

Wanted to get your honest opinions on what would you do in my current situation.

Cliff Notes:
1. Car looks like shit, not being detailed since new. Drop it off to a local "professional" detailer, with the promise that it will look like new.
2. Pick the car up 2 days later in the evening on a cloudy day. Looks good. Few days later on a sunny day i see all the swirls and holograms.
3. Detailer agrees to take it back and fix the swirls and holograms.
4. Pick it up in the evening again, looks good. Few days later on a sunny day, looks even worse than before.
5. I'm pissed. Detailer asks to work on it again and i refuse. Want to file a credit card dispute.

Long Story:

In the beginning of the month, i dropped off my 06 330I to a local "professional" detailer in Staten Island NY that claimed to have 30 years of experience doing Ferraris and rare show cars. I passed by his place a couple of times before and saw nice cars (porsche's, MB SL550, etc) being washed there. So i decided to give him a shot to do some paint correction/compounding for my car that has never been detailed before.

We agreed on $350 for exterior detail, cleaning/vacuuming the interior, and engine bay rinse. He saw all the swirls on my car and said he'll make it look like fresh from showroom.
By no means my car looked great before. There were a lot of swirls and minor scratches all over (its an 06!). Also, by no means it was a complicated job for a professional detailer - maybe a 1-2 step process with rougher polishing compound, and a finishing compound. I know that all the rock chips on the hood and deep scratches cannot be taken out. I only drive my car on weekends, and take the bus to work during the week. I left the car with him for 2 days.

After picking up the car in the evening on a cloudy day, the car looked nice and shiny. However, few days later, on a very sunny warm day, i decided to give it a rinse and see how well the job was done under all the wax. I was horrified - holograms all over and more swirls than ever before. Even my girlfriend said - "what did you do to your car?"!.

So i went back, talked about the situation with the "detailer". He admitted that it looked like shit and that one of his workers "used the wrong compound" on it. So he took the car for another day to fix it.

I pick it up again in the evening with the sun almost down, and it looks great.
The story repeats itself. A week later, i rinse it off, and car looks even worse now (pics attached). I confront he guy, and he says that he will take it in again and try to fix it. At this point im fed up and tell him not to touch it. He then says that i washed it during the week and fuxed up the detail job myself.

Aftermath pics attached. Im thinking about filing a dispute with my credit card to get my money back, but this detail honestly made the paint look even worse than before. Is there anything else i can do?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/76686402@N07/6884595428/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/76686402@N07/7030694651/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/76686402@N07/7030694435/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/76686402@N07/6884653110/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/76686402@N07/7030694757/

[shibikot]

Trying to get the pics in

[///M3NACE]

pics or it didnt happen

[BMW-335i-07]

wow this photo after???

I think $350 was only for inside

[shibikot]

yea, the photos are of the aftermath of the "detail"

[g9sBMW]

OP, what did you use to wash your car after a week?
Perhaps Dishwashing liquid or over concentrated dilution of soap?

Just playing devils advocate, as you can strip cars of wax by using Dawn or say Citrus Wash and Gloss when diluted at 2oz per gallon

[shibikot]

Just a spray hose and light wiping action. No soap of any kind.
Car wasn't dirty, just a bit dusty after being parked on the street for a week.

Those holograms on the hood, rear panel and trunk couldn't have been created by 1 hand wash, even if i had tried

[g9sBMW]

I was thinking the shop may have used some type of product that acted as more of a filler to "hide" the imperfections.

Then you wash your car and the imperfections are back as seen in your pics.

Goodluck.

[shibikot]

Originally Posted by g9sBMW

I was thinking the shop may have used some type of product that acted as more of a filler to "hide" the imperfections.

Then you wash your car and the imperfections are back as seen in your pics.

Goodluck.

They definitely applied some wax, but it didn't stick for long.
When i picked the car up it did look sleek and shiny (with it being somewhat dark and cloudy). Our agreement was to take care of the swirls, which they obviously didn't do. I agree that they put a ton of wax, but it faded away or didnt hide so much on a shiny day.
I can actually see the rotary "step" marks too.

[tofu-]

they likely just washed the car, MAYBE gave it a quick clay, then very likely used 3m perfect-it II on a black pad.

try to get at least a partial refund

in the ideal world, i'd want a full refund + compensation for the damage they did.

do NOT let them try to fix it. they'll just make it worse

[Ryballz]

Wow, they really made a mess with whatever buffer they were using. The hood shows off their poor technique, they were using the edge of the pad on a high speed machine. Hopefully you get your money back and can find someone competent.

[mikenap]

Originally Posted by shibikot

Just a spray hose and light wiping action. No soap of any kind.
Car wasn't dirty, just a bit dusty after being parked on the street for a week.

Those holograms on the hood, rear panel and trunk couldn't have been created by 1 hand wash, even if i had tried

Holograms come from improper polishing. You can try as hard as you want, but you won't get them from hand washing! Sorry, but they hacked your paint up pretty badly. There are some very good detailers in NJ/NY....just not the one you used, unfortunately.

Originally Posted by g9sBMW

I was thinking the shop may have used some type of product that acted as more of a filler to "hide" the imperfections.

Then you wash your car and the imperfections are back as seen in your pics.

Goodluck.

They definitely used something with fillers, but at the same time those holograms weren't there before the "detail." If they'd only used fillers by hand or DA, it would have been shady and lazy, but they (probably) wouldn't have hurt the paint. But they used fillers AND poor rotary-polishing technique, so now they have inflicted more damage to the paint than was likely there in the first place. I wish I could say this is an isolated incident, but it's not. Happens quite often, and gives quality detailers a bad rap.

[e92LuNaTiC]

sucks man.... I'd hit up a local detailer in your area that's active on the forums and see what they can do for you because your going to need some help there bro.

[bender rodriguez]

Wow that is horrible..

[MuttGrunt]

Originally Posted by mikenap

Holograms come from improper polishing. You can try as hard as you want, but you won't get them from hand washing! Sorry, but they hacked your paint up pretty badly. There are some very good detailers in NJ/NY....just not the one you used, unfortunately.

They definitely used something with fillers, but at the same time those holograms weren't there before the "detail." If they'd only used fillers by hand or DA, it would have been shady and lazy, but they (probably) wouldn't have hurt the paint. But they used fillers AND poor rotary-polishing technique, so now they have inflicted more damage to the paint than was likely there in the first place. I wish I could say this is an isolated incident, but it's not. Happens quite often, and gives quality detailers a bad rap.

THIS. You won't find a quality full polishing job for $350. Call a guy like David Saunders of Street Dreams or Phil from Detailers Domain to have your car looking better than new, and while not cheap, you're going to be impressed by the results.

[bender rodriguez]

Originally Posted by MuttGrunt

THIS. You won't find a quality full polishing job for $350. Call a guy like David Saunders of Street Dreams or Phil from Detailers Domain to have your car looking better than new, and while not cheap, you're going to be impressed by the results.

Thats not true at all.

[wrickem]

Did it look better after 6 years of neglect, before you took it to him?

[shibikot]

Originally Posted by wrickem

Did it look better after 6 years of neglect, before you took it to him?

It definately did not have the hollograms, those were introduced by the detailer. It did have the swirls/scratches that accumulated in the 6 years. I think it looked better before i took it in.

How hard would it be to fix it myself? Do i just need a mild finishing polish? Or is it going to take a few steps? Im thinking of tackling the job myself one sunny weekend. Looking at buying a detailing kit. I dont think i can screw it up more than it already is...

[driverman]

I'd be concerned about how much of the clearcoat they removed during each pass. Recommend you buy or borrow a paint thickness gauge and check paint thickness before and after the next shop works on it. Take lots of readings all over the car.

[jopa489]

Originally Posted by driverman

I'd be concerned about how much of the clearcoat they removed during each pass. Recommend you buy or borrow a paint thickness gauge and check paint thickness before and after the next shop works on it. Take lots of readings all over the car.

I disagree, that's probably the one thing he doesn't have to worry about. All the swirls are still apparent, meaning he didn't take off enough/any clear. My guess is a filling glaze applied with a very low-cut pad via rotary - that would explain why it looks great until it rains or you wash it, and the holograms.

Good luck getting it fixed. In the future, always check up on the detailer before you give them the business (detailing forums like Autopia are very helpful).

[driverman]

Originally Posted by jopa489

I disagree, that's probably the one thing he doesn't have to worry about. All the swirls are still apparent, meaning he didn't take off enough/any clear. My guess is a filling glaze applied with a very low-cut pad via rotary - that would explain why it looks great until it rains or you wash it, and the holograms.

You could be right, but....

My wife's car just had some body work, including a new hood, When we got the car back from the body shop it was a cloudy day. But the next day when the sun was out, we saw the swirls. We took it back and asked them to finish it properly and they did.

Based on my limited knowledge and experience in this area, light swirls are caused by not finishing the job properly (finer and finer cutting, proper pad, proper pressure, proper technique, etc.). The reason I'd be concerned is if this shop gives a customer the car back with swirls, maybe they aren't careful about other aspects of the job, like the amount of paint removed. The guy admitted using the "wrong compound". Could it have been too aggressive?

I yield to the experts.

[Detailed Image]

Sorry to hear about those results. You can definitely fix this yourself relatively simply. I would suggest a two step polishing process with the Meguiar's M105 and M205 (i.e. DI Packages PC 7424XP with M105, M205 and 5.5" pads). When you pair these polishes with the pads and the Porter Cable 7424 XP buffer even a first time detailer can get outstanding results. Check out this article to see how effective this combination can be - http://www.detailedimage.com/Ask-a-P...ars-m105-m205/. Let me know if you have any other questions and I'll be happy to help.

Greg @ DI