[WCM3]

Hey guys,

When I bought my 335i, the front bumper had little bits of rash on it from the previous owner. The back bumper was also dinged up from license plate brackets. Well, I decided I wanted to sell the car the last couple weeks and thought I would get the bumpers sprayed fresh for the next owner. I ended up getting this done at Dent Werx (DENT WERX PAINTLESS DENT REMOVAL) a shop local to my house. I took it to the guy and asked for an estimate, and asked if he was good with matching the bmw oem orange peel. He said yeah, yeah, yeah and I left the car with him. I picked it up this past Saturday and I'm not quite sure what to think of the job he did. I'm not sure if I should keep it, take it back, or have a professional bodyshop guy/detailer try to wetsand it and fix it. The front bumper isn't as bad as the rear bumper is. And mainly it's only the sides of the rear bumper that look pretty bad. And FYI my final price was $600. What are your guys thoughts?

Thanks,
Mike

Rear Bumper





















Front Bumper

[cyphr]

That looks really bad, I would bring it back to the shop and have them redo it.

[Innovative Detailing]

Take it back.......definately not acceptable, for you or the potential buyer. They should either colorsand and polish or refinish, but what I see on those photos is no good.

Dave

[jopa489]

That looks horrendous, talk about orange peel... damn. I don't know much about painting cars, but it looks like the clearcoat is extremely thick.

[Tee212]

lol you ask for orange peel..he sure gave it to you.

[ideliver]

I am always loathe to return a mistake to the guy that made the mistake...if he didn't get it right the first time and gave you the car in that condition...why do you think he will get it right the second time...

From what I can tell...I would start with a wet sand and polish...

[john715z]

to me it looks like the painter put on the clear really dry. the shop might be able to fix it with color sanding. Or else they will have to repaint it.

[catch]

thats absolutely terrible! I wouldnt be happy at all. Id bring it back and make them re-do it

[Noc57]

I wouldn't shell out another $600 to get it fixed. Take it back or live with it.

I don't think it looks that bad (The 2nd to last rear pic looks the worst)....It's off but from a distance can you really tell or is it only when you get your nose up to it?

[ak335]

thats horrible

[WCM3]

Thanks for all the comments guys. I talked to the guy this morning and he was pretty understanding, like he knows he effed up. I'm taking it back sometime this week or next week for him to try again. I'll give him one more chance and if he can't fix it I'll take it to another shop and send him the bill..

[corrupt23jj]

To me it looks as if he put too little of clear after painting. What's with the crazy orange peel, almost as if he dabbed it with a sponge to get that effect. Actually, looking at again it's as if the clear has orange peel giving it a hazy look, right?

[lopealle]

uea it does look pretty bad. atleast he is willing to fix it

[Zero.7]

Originally Posted by jopa489

That looks horrendous, talk about orange peel... damn. I don't know much about painting cars, but it looks like the clearcoat is extremely thick.

Same here. I am no expert when it comes to painting/spraying cars, but to me, that just doesn't look right. Either they were lazy/careless, OR that's just the best that they can do. If it's the latter, go elsewhere! It's not going to look much better the second time around IF they don't know what they're doing.

[kei169]

It fails!
Take back and redo!

[cyphr]

On closer inspection of the pics, it looks like they sprayed the clear on too dry or had a reduced volume set on the gun than was needed to match the factory peel. In either case, do NOT settle on the shop saying that "it's the best they can do". Even a novice painter can lay clear down much better than that. Best of luck.

[kugasman]

The price was decent, the work is not.

[celticsfan]

I'm getting my left quarter panel repaired next week. They said that the would have to pound out the dent, bondo it, and repaint it. I also have 2 very small scratches(5-6mm long)and it's into the paint (into metal) on both the left front and rear door as well. They said that they would have to take out the doors/windows apart and repaint both doors and apply a clear coat afterwards. I'm just worried that after they repaint the doors and quarter panel that there will be a different gloss compared to the origional gloss/clear coat on the car. Do you know if the body shop can replicate the origional "orange peel" gloss/clearcoat look like it was before the repaint? if they can't then i will probably not repaint the side doors since the scratches are very minimal. I guess I'm just worried that the repainted reflection on the left side of my car will look different/off compared to the nonpainted areas just like the pics from WCM3's post . Any inputs would greatly be appreciated. thanks.

[jopa489]

Originally Posted by celticsfan

I'm getting my left quarter panel repaired next week. They said that the would have to pound out the dent, bondo it, and repaint it. I also have 2 very small scratches(5-6mm long)and it's into the paint (into metal) on both the left front and rear door as well. They said that they would have to take out the doors/windows apart and repaint both doors and apply a clear coat afterwards. I'm just worried that after they repaint the doors and quarter panel that there will be a different gloss compared to the origional gloss/clear coat on the car. Do you know if the body shop can replicate the origional "orange peel" gloss/clearcoat look like it was before the repaint? if they can't then i will probably not repaint the side doors since the scratches are very minimal. I guess I'm just worried that the repainted reflection on the left side of my car will look different/off compared to the nonpainted areas just like the pics from WCM3's post . Any inputs would greatly be appreciated. thanks.

It shouldn't be off at all if the shop knows what they are doing. Visually, you really should not be able to notice anything different about that panel at all.

[jblackwell]

Originally Posted by WCM3

Thanks for all the comments guys. I talked to the guy this morning and he was pretty understanding, like he knows he effed up. I'm taking it back sometime this week or next week for him to try again. I'll give him one more chance and if he can't fix it I'll take it to another shop and send him the bill..

This is what I do, all day every day. The clear coat needs to be wet sanded and buffed. If there is not enough clear coat on the bumpers to wet sand down and buff to a shine similar to that of your car, they will need to re-spray them.

Typically, you get what you pay for when it comes to refinishing bumpers, etc.

[corrupt23jj]

Dude, why don't you start your own thread in the appropriate forum and wait for a response instead of hijacking other people's threads all across the board.

Originally Posted by celticsfan

I'm getting my left quarter panel repaired next week. They said that the would have to pound out the dent, bondo it, and repaint it. I also have 2 very small scratches(5-6mm long)and it's into the paint (into metal) on both the left front and rear door as well. They said that they would have to take out the doors/windows apart and repaint both doors and apply a clear coat afterwards. I'm just worried that after they repaint the doors and quarter panel that there will be a different gloss compared to the origional gloss/clear coat on the car. Do you know if the body shop can replicate the origional "orange peel" gloss/clearcoat look like it was before the repaint? if they can't then i will probably not repaint the side doors since the scratches are very minimal. I guess I'm just worried that the repainted reflection on the left side of my car will look different/off compared to the nonpainted areas just like the pics from WCM3's post . Any inputs would greatly be appreciated. thanks.

[WCM3]

Hey guys, thought I would post an update. I took the car to Kraftwerks in Broomall, Pa and had the guys there wet sand the bumpers and quarter panels. They improved it about 90%..looks definitely better. What do you guys think? (FYI, i just drove the car to take pictures and it has a light amount of road salt on it)