I'm back! Fake-Benz content inside (SRT-6)

[OSSHWA]

Sweet car, but pity about all the trouble going on.
CNC opperator is boring sometimes... Should make it easier to read.

That blows dude! It sucks when it's a friend/whatever that's not doing it right

Yeah i'm pretty blown right now. I just talked to another guy I know who works at a different bodyshop that I know for fact does great work. My roomate recently had a bunch of stuff repaired/painted on his Camaro ZL1 and they did great work. I am going to bring my car by their shop on Wednesday morning for some opinions.

[jazig.k]

Alright so......updates. So as you can see, I got the car back. However, the paintjob still sucks. Ok so maybe sucks is a pretty harsh word, but it's damn sure not up to par with my expectations.

I could give you a whole timeline of the events leading up to this, but i'll try to make this short and sweet. The shop had my car for THREE MONTHS and still delivered me a car with a paintjob that is littered with imperfections. They originally had my car for about 2 months (after telling me it wouldn't take any longer than 3-4 weeks to paint).

As some of you may already know, upon taking delivery of it the first time I noticed a ton of imperfections. Little pits in the clearcoat everywhere, several streaks/runs here and there, rough edges around the seams of my hood/doors/hatch, hazy areas that were buffed properly and lots of body shop dirt/gunk in the nooks/crannies throughout the car. I mean I thought it was proper etiquette to at least detail the car before you deliver it to a customer....right? Well, I tell him i'm not satisfied with the outcome and he asks me if I can bring it back to him in a few days stating that it'll only take him 2-3 days to get everything straightened out once I brought it back. I even brought him a typed up list of the imperfections to ensure that nothing accidentally gets overlooked.

Well, 2-3 days turns into 3 weeks. Springfest was closing in fast and I had already pre-registered/paid months ago, plus I wanted to have the car to drive down to the Outer Banks for vacation. He messages me telling me that the car will be ready for pick-up the night before Springfest. I wind up getting the car home at 2:30AM because the car still wasn't ready when I arrived after work 10:30PM and had to leave around 5:00AM to head down to Springfest.

So anywho, the car is still littered with imperfections....even some new imperfections that weren't there the first time. I haven't addressed my concerns with him yet because quite frankly, after not having my car for 3 months, missing Panda Junction and almost missing the opportunity to bring my car to Springfest & on my vacation, I just said it is what it is (not to him, but in my head) upon picking the car up the second time. I wasn't going to get into it at 2:30AM in the morning the morning of the start of my week vacation.

So now that my vacation is over, it's time to face the music. The problem is, i'm friends with the guy that owns/runs the shop. I'm not looking to burn any bridges or ruin any friendships here but I want what I paid for. And I definitely do not feel that I got my money's worth. I even gathered a few unbiased opinions from a few friends who have seen the car in person and they all agree with me. I honestly wish that I had some random bodyshop paint it because then I wouldn't hesitate to approach this situation and speak my mind. But because i'm friends with the guy who painted it (who also happens to be a mutual friend with alot of people in my local car scene) I want to approach the situation carefully.

I honestly have little faith that he can actually get the paintjob "right". I mean he's had 3 months at this point to get it right and yet I can still go knit-pick the car and find flaws on damn near every body panel of the car. I think at this stage I think it's best to just cut my losses and ask for some of my money back. I am thinking that I am going to ask him for at least half back. It's not to say that he didn't do anything and I realize that asking for a full refund might be a bit extreme. But I at least feel that asking for half back is fair considering I am likely going to take the car elsewhere now to have the paintjob redone.

The most frustrating part of all of this is that I know if I had taken it to the shop that painted my Miata, I wouldn't be dealing with any of this mess. But the shop that painted my Miata just didn't seem like they wanted my business this time around. I called them, left several voicemails, messaged the owner on facebook, etc etc. and never heard a peep back from them so I decided to take my business elsewhere. What's sad is that I only paid $300 less for the Crossfire's paintjob than I did for the Miata's paintjob and the Miata was nearly a full color change, including jams, underside of the hood/trunk, core support and even some rust repair in the rockers. And the paintjob on my old Miata was freakin' flawless!

I know that the guy who painted my car has been under alot of stress lately and even was hospitalized for stress related reasons recently and I empathize with him......I really do. I truly feel that he bit off more than he could chew which led to certain things being rushed on my car's paintjob. And if that's the case, I would have just rather him told me he wasn't up to it than try to salvage things which ultimately led to things becoming even worse.

And before anyone says it, I know that I shouldn't have paid him anything before being totally satisfied with the outcome. I paid him half up front (to cover materials and whatnot) and the other half upon delievery. Shame on me for that. But I was just trying to take the high road and help him pay his bills. I figured that refusing the pay would only add to his stress thus potentially leading to even more mistakes on the paintjob.

So yeah, that's where i'm at. Never thought i'd be in this situation. I just wanted my gloss black car to be metallic black.You know, that whole "OEM Plus" look. Simple enough, right? Instead I got a metallic black car that any person could clearly tell was painted. And to top it all off, upon getting my car back my head unit has been acting up, both HID's stopped working (I wound up gutting the HID's and just threw in some Silverstars for the time being until I can swing for some LED headlights), my side splitters are wavy (they were perfectly flat when I brought them in) and my doors are harder to open (the inside door handles seem off track or something). Just grand. I'm really at my wit's end with this whole situation/car. I'm going to message him later tonight probably and go from there. Wish me luck.

Sweet car, but pity about all the trouble going on.
CNC opperator is boring sometimes... Should make it easier to read.

[DER E30]

That blows dude! It sucks when it's a friend/whatever that's not doing it right

[OSSHWA]

Alright so......updates. So as you can see, I got the car back. However, the paintjob still sucks. Ok so maybe sucks is a pretty harsh word, but it's damn sure not up to par with my expectations.

I could give you a whole timeline of the events leading up to this, but i'll try to make this short and sweet. The shop had my car for THREE MONTHS and still delivered me a car with a paintjob that is littered with imperfections. They originally had my car for about 2 months (after telling me it wouldn't take any longer than 3-4 weeks to paint). As some of you may already know, upon taking delivery of it the first time I noticed a ton of imperfections. Little pits in the clearcoat everywhere, several streaks/runs here and there, rough edges around the seams of my hood/doors/hatch, hazy areas that were buffed properly and lots of body shop dirt/gunk in the nooks/crannies throughout the car. I mean I thought it was proper etiquette to at least detail the car before you deliver it to a customer....right? Well, I tell him i'm not satisfied with the outcome and he asks me if I can bring it back to him in a few days stating that it'll only take him 2-3 days to get everything straightened out once I brought it back. I even brought him a typed up list of the imperfections to ensure that nothing accidentally gets overlooked. Well, 2-3 days turns into 3 weeks. Springfest was closing in fast and I had already pre-registered/paid months ago, plus I wanted to have the car to drive down to the Outer Banks for vacation. He messages me telling me that the car will be ready for pick-up the night before Springfest. I wind up getting the car home at 2:30AM because the car still wasn't ready when I arrived after work 10:30PM and had to leave around 5:00AM to head down to Springfest. So anywho, the car is still littered with imperfections....even some new imperfections that weren't there the first time. I haven't addressed my concerns with him yet because quite frankly, after not having my car for 3 months, missing Panda Junction and almost missing the opportunity to bring my car to Springfest & on my vacation, I just said it is what it is (not to him, but in my head) upon picking the car up the second time. I wasn't going to get into it at 2:30AM in the morning the morning of the start of my week vacation. So now that my vacation is over, it's time to face the music. The problem is, i'm friends with the guy that owns/runs the shop. I'm not looking to burn any bridges or ruin any friendships here but I want what I paid for. And I definitely do not feel that I got my money's worth. I even gathered a few unbiased opinions from a few friends who have seen the car in person and they all agree with me. I honestly wish that I had some random bodyshop paint it because then I wouldn't hesitate to approach this situation and speak my mind. But because i'm friends with the guy who painted it (who also happens to be a mutual friend with alot of people in my local car scene) I want to approach the situation carefully. I honestly have little faith that he can actually get the paintjob "right". I mean he's had 3 months at this point to get it right and yet I can still go knit-pick the car and find flaws on damn near every body panel of the car. I think at this stage I think it's best to just cut my losses and ask for some of my money back. I am thinking that I am going to ask him for at least half back. It's not to say that he didn't do anything and I realize that asking for a full refund might be a bit extreme. But I at least feel that asking for half back is fair considering I am likely going to take the car elsewhere now to have the paintjob redone. The most frustrating part of all of this is that I know if I had taken it to the shop that painted my Miata, I wouldn't be dealing with any of this mess. But the shop that painted my Miata just didn't seem like they wanted my business this time around. I called them, left several voicemails, messaged the owner on facebook, etc etc. and never heard a peep back from them so I decided to take my business elsewhere. What's sad is that I only paid $300 less for the Crossfire's paintjob than I did for the Miata's paintjob and the Miata was nearly a full color change, including jams, underside of the hood/trunk, core support and even some rust repair in the rockers. And the paintjob on my old Miata was freakin' flawless! I know that the guy who painted my car has been under alot of stress lately and even was hospitalized for stress related reasons recently and I empathize with him......I really do. I truly feel that he bit off more than he could chew which led to certain things being rushed on my car's paintjob. And if that's the case, I would have just rather him told me he wasn't up to it than try to salvage things which ultimately led to things becoming even worse. And before anyone says it, I know that I shouldn't have paid him anything before being totally satisfied with the outcome. I paid him half up front (to cover materials and whatnot) and the other half upon delievery. Shame on me for that. But I was just trying to take the high road and help him pay his bills. I figured that refusing the pay would only add to his stress thus potentially leading to even more mistakes on the paintjob.

So yeah, that's where i'm at. Never thought i'd be in this situation. I just wanted my gloss black car to be metallic black.You know, that whole "OEM Plus" look. Simple enough, right? Instead I got a metallic black car that any person could clearly tell was painted. And to top it all off, upon getting my car back my head unit has been acting up, both HID's stopped working (I wound up gutting the HID's and just threw in some Silverstars for the time being until I can swing for some LED headlights), my side splitters are wavy (they were perfectly flat when I brought them in) and my doors are harder to open (the inside door handles seem off track or something). Just grand. I'm really at my wit's end with this whole situation/car. I'm going to message him later tonight probably and go from there. Wish me luck.

[OSSHWA]

K.

*No racial pun intended.

[SnazzyQ]

K.

K

K

[Spawn613]

K.

K

[OSSHWA]

K.

[OSSHWA]

Spoke with my bodyshop today. They have addressed most of the things that I brought it back for already. I should be picking the car up next Thursday - a mere two days prior to Springfest and my trip to the beach. Talk about crunch time. I just hope that upon me picking it back up that it's 100%.

[OSSHWA]

Quick shot of the new booty makeover. I also got rid of a few stickers on the back window after I got home from this meet.

[OSSHWA]

damn that sucks about dealing with the body shop problems. Luckily I have only ever had doors painted for my jeep so far and they did one hell of a job, but that was a small job.

Cant wait to see it done tho.

Yeah, I haven't lost all hope yet. Chris is a stand up guy so i'm confident that he'll do right by me and address the little issues. Not going to jump to any negative conclusions just yet.

Oh bodyshops. Always doing half of what you wanted and taking twice as long to do it.

197 Obsidian Black Metallic is a gorgeous color, though. As rad as my single-stage 040 Black is, there are days where I really wish I had some of that metal flake. Yours should be just gobs easier to care for, too.

Yeah, that was one of the reasons I chose to paint it Obsidian Black Metallic rather than respray it the original gloss black. The metallic actually helps to hide imperfections and is easier to maintain. Gloss black is a nightmare....lol.

[Oh Damn, it's Sam]

Oh bodyshops. Always doing half of what you wanted and taking twice as long to do it.

197 Obsidian Black Metallic is a gorgeous color, though. As rad as my single-stage 040 Black is, there are days where I really wish I had some of that metal flake. Yours should be just gobs easier to care for, too.

[hinrichs]

damn that sucks about dealing with the body shop problems. Luckily I have only ever had doors painted for my jeep so far and they did one hell of a job, but that was a small job.

Cant wait to see it done tho.

[OSSHWA]

Honestly I NEVER thought I would say this, but this makes me really like crossfires. Absolutely beautiful, imperfections and all.

Thanks dude, I really appreciate that!

Update: I made a list of my gripes for the painter and will be dropping the car off at their shop tonight in hopes that I can get it back within a week or so with less imperfections. I also have ALREADY managed to buckle my driver side fender (that was repaired) simply by pulling into my driveway. It's no worse than it was before.......I think honestly that it was inevitable with my car being as low as it is and the minimal tire stretch I am running up front (225/40 on an 18x8.5). Oh whales, that's just the price you pay for being low.

[Sprinqer]

Honestly I NEVER thought I would say this, but this makes me really like crossfires. Absolutely beautiful, imperfections and all.