Rant against a particular bad bodyshop (not sure who, though)

Was fiddling with my 200SX today, getting some minor stuff in before the major work on it starts this week. I found something REALLY unpleasant.

The previous owner of the car moved to Japan for about five years, putting the S12 into storage. Right before he went overseas, he was sideswiped, denting the passenger door and putting a ding in the lower rear fender between the bumper and wheelarch. Not having enough time before he left, he put it into storage as it was, intending on getting it fixed when he got back.

His dad had other ideas. He took it to a "body shop" (in quotes for reasons that will soon be apparent), and had them repair the damage as well as giving the car an overall respray, since the paint was getting faded.

Boy, did these guys do a number on the car. The paint, about a shade too dark, looks like it was shot on the car without the aid of a water trap, making thousands of little blisters where the paint cured over top of small water droplets. Further, they did not clearcoat the paint, so the paint immediately began to fade. But I knew that. What I didn't know is how bad the body guys, whoever they are, were exactly. Now I know.

They did not scuff or etch the car at all before repainting. Not one bit. The paint is now flaking off, showing the original paint underneath.

But wait, there's more. Instead of pulling and smoothing the dents, they just layered on a thick coating (around 1/5"-1/4" in some places) of filler, covered by 1/8" of glazing putty -- again without scuffing the car at all. I discovered this when, as I was removing the stock rubber mudguards, there was a strange crack on the aft fender. I picked at it, and a slab of the filler came off, exposing the fresh, shiny Metallic Orange underneath.

And I have a feeling the passenger door is the same.

Boy, am I angry about this. Not at the P.O. -- he had nothing to do with it. But I am sure pissed at the hamfisted jerkwad who inflicted this on the poor 200SX. I don't even know if the P.O. knows exactly how bad the bodywork is. He mentioned the bad paint before I saw the car, and was visibly ashamed of it when I got the car (despite it still being better than my CRX which has half the mileage and is two years newer).

So, yeah. Once it's on the road I think it'll be getting a cosmetic makeover.

I've got a pretty good idea who the body shop was: either Macco, or Earl Schibe(sp?) depending on who is nearby.

I had bodywork done at a Maaco. They fixed two dents and repainted my entire car for under $1400. They actually did a good job at it, if you don't mind a bit of orange peel. Apparently some of the Maacos are privately-owned and better than others.

Blame the person who said, "I doing this as a favor and I need it done CHEAP."

There are PLENTY of MAINSTREAM body shops out there that will do this kind of work when they normally won't.....

the one I've used to fix some of my track days oops refuses to paint my car .... his reason is if I'm not going to do the body work ( and he realizes that it's a "race car" and I'm not going to "smooth" out the body) he doesn't want anyone to think that he's that kind of body man

I deal with this and watches at work. Customer comes in and says their watch wont keep time despite "just having it serviced". I look inside and it looks like it has been to "Bobs Watch and Anvil repair" No offence to anyone named Bob.

My business partner had a $1200 black paint job done on a 70s Olds. Initial impressions, were pretty good. Paint was a little thin along the bottom of the car in spots but it was a nice 10 footer. Within 8 months though, rust bubbles started popping. Within 2 years, it looked like crap. You get what you pay for.

Sorry for the mess. The only thing worse than doing it right to start with is pealing other people's crappy repairs off to do them over. Good luck.

My yellow RX-7 Turbo has a Flake-O paint job. There are big patches of paint missing from the passenger side of the car. Luckily the tin worm hasn't taken hold since the car is in a storage unit, but a repaint is in order. Provided I ever get the damn thing out of the storage unit and back home.

Head to the high pressure car wash and take the rest of the paint off. It will likely peel off in sheets if you get the water at the right angle.

Yeah, once I get it on the road I'm going to be power washing it like nobody's business. Luckily I have a friend (ex-boss, actually) with a DECENT bodyshop, and he'll do the repaint at cost as long as I do the prep.

I've had some brilliant paint jobs done to cars for under $1k at Maaco. They also warranty their stuff (and if you yell enough, they stand by it), hard to complain!