bob r

iTrader: (46)

Well I would have guessed it. Another 2nd rate job that I have had done.
Why do I always seem to get the f'kin cowboys?

A neighbour was having a bit of body work done on his car by Chips away and I made the mistake of sticking my beak in.
I arranged for the lad to come round this morning and spray the rear bumper on my RB5 as it had a scrape and a few nasty marks. He did the work in my garage so there wasn't a great deal of light apart from the open garage door.

When it was finished it looked ok and the colour was a good match but overall it didn't look particularly shiney so he said he would buff it up. I didn't want to be in his face as he worked but he then proclaimed he had finished so I paid up and off he went.

I thought I could work my polishing magic in a few days or so when the paint had hardened, so I was relatively content until I reversed it out of the garage.
When I looked at it in the natural light my heart sank. There is a patch on the nearside close to the wheel arch that isn't even covered and the finish is very flat and dull compared to the 10yr old paint.

I have rang the lad and calmly explained things but he is busy this afternoon but he will be back next weekend so sort it out.
It actually looks far worse than before. Gutted.

I should have guessed it.ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH.......

bob r

iTrader: (46)

Someone give me some hope please.
Is it possible that the lad can get the bumper back to a good shiney standard or will it need to go to a paint shop?

LUCKO

iTrader: (3)

would never use people like his tbh

painting is for bodyshops not for some geezer on your drive holding a spray can

scoobynutta555

Chipsaway are hit and miss due to the work being done by individual franchise outfits. I've had some work done before, as a budget repair I've had good results. However, expecting a factory finish when you're paying low prices is unlikely to go hand in hand!

bob r

iTrader: (46)

BULLOCKS!

PaulC72

All you can do is give him the chance to put it right, if it is not right next time her comes get a refund and don't use them again

bob r

iTrader: (46)

Yeh, I suppose thats all I can do but I am really p!ssed at the moment.
Another lesson learnt the hardway.

fatscoobfella1

iTrader: (1)

My friend has his own smart repair business..

He does do a lot for porsche and Aston in cheshire but will do anyones car at there home/place of work.

His work is fantastic,so good results can be had outside of the bodyshop.

n9oll

its definately possible to get it back to normal, its just whether he is good enough to do it! my uncle does a lot of work for vw in bolton spraying cars as he owns his own business and his work is top notch. as said before, give him another chance and if it still isnt right then ask for a refund.

SwissTony

iTrader: (19)

chipsaway are pants

C17RPA

thats what i would do to but then i would be in his face and watch him

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Personally, I don't believe in micro-repairs as a effective method of a "concours/showroom/as new" repair. The end result is often detectable by the naked eye aftewards, be it a variation in the dispertion of metallic/peal pigment or the finish of clear coat where new paint has been blended into existing.

Metallics and pearls that have micro-repairs often show up as a slight "bruise" where the paint has been applied. But depedning on colour it can be much more or less noticeable depening on the angle one looks at the body panel and depdning on light type/angle. Solid (non pearl or metallic) colour tend to fare better.

Repairing a large area as opposed to small bits and bobs makes this issue less prominent (unless the paint is mixed or sprayed wrong, in which case the whole section looks wrong ).

All IMO of course, as we thrashed this topic over quite a few times - there are pros and cons either way. As to the general joe public who puts his mondeo through a automated car wash every odd week, wouldn't notice - unless its "really" bad. A car enthustiast on the other hand....

jonny_693

iTrader: (5)

I'd ask for a refund and get it done PROPERLY! How much did he charge? A proper job may only of cost £125 or so.

StickyMicky

it can be done so its undetectable, but a large majority of the smart repair blokes don't put the effort in.

i know a bloke who will turn work away if he thinks he can not make it right, finding people like this, is pretty hard for most people as most of them go for the quick buck.

bob r

iTrader: (46)

It cost £100. Not bad for 3.5 hrs work.
When I do foreigners [Bricklaying]. I charge £100 for a full days work, hard graft.

The more I think about it the more I realise the bloke was just after a quick few quid.
He was more interested at getting off to his missus' house rather than get the job done correctly.

If he can't produce the goods next time then I will be on to his gaffer.
I don't think the boss will aprove of 'foreigners' that give his CO a bad name.

bob r

iTrader: (46)

Is it possible to buff up the paint to a decent shine with polish when the laquer has hardened or should there be a shine as it is now?

jonny_693

iTrader: (5)

The laquer should allready of been flatted back after the last coat. The problem with repairs like this is its not been baked off in an oven so might not be hard enough to do this yet. Maybe when He comes back the laquer will be fully hardened and will cut and polish up ok.

rickya

iTrader: (18)

Similar thing happened to me a couple of years ago with Chipsaway.
They did a great job on refurbing my wheels & I assumed theyd be good at spraying my Alpina Replica front spoiler for my BMW. Biggest load of crap paintwork Iv seen. The colour doesnt match at all & starting to fade & flake off soon after!!! Never again

stuartknox

hi

i had a front bumper sprayed by chips away at harrogate, the repair was arranged and done at a bmw dealership as i had just bought the car and was not happy at the amount of stone chips on the front bumper, the car was only 1 yr old.

Dropped the car off and collected it on the evening, unfortunately it was dark but the repair looked fine.

Checked it the next morning, my god it looked really bad, flat paint and no filler used just sprayed over the holes.

Complained and the car was sent to the bodyshop for a proper job, even the bodyshop laughed when they looked at it.

think you best take it to a proper paintshop, probably wont be much more!

stu

hux309

£100 quid he's laughing at you mate, i got my whole splitter done for that much and it's nearly as big as me bumper, if it fails again just send the thing off to a bodyshop, it'll mean much less hassle in the long run.

bob r

iTrader: (46)

Got the guy back this afternoon which wasn't too easy until I had a word.

He got here thinking it was a 10 minute job until I gave it him both barrels. "be honest" he said

Well the muppet is still hear with artificial lighting, sweating a bit, so I will see how he gets on this time.

'Amateur' springs to mind.

andywiddss1

iTrader: (4)

dont let him go till ur happy with it ,u will never see him again mate

scooby1doo1

iTrader: (7)

Did a repair on my bumper my self, i must say its looks good. My bro even said how much for new bumper, i told him i painted it. But if you look in the right light you can just about see the repair. So not to bothered as you have to look hard.

G8RDK

neva use smart repairs, they are used by car dealers as a "put me on". They spray outside which is all ok, but by law they have to use 1k laquer and colours which is a really old method of paint. You will find that 1k paint does look ok to start with but after a few weeks the paint will start dulling. Also another thing to take into consideration is they work out doors where there is dust etc as apposed to a extracted oven. you can find some decent smart repairers but they charge a lot of money and are always rushing the job. I work fora large paintshop and have my own place and the amount of people that have had smart reapirs done and cannot be put right that come to me and the company i work for you would not believe! They are ok for paintng wheels and thats about it in my opinion. Also Bob you paid the lad £100? a proper body shop would only charge around the £150 mark for a good job! You can try polishing it but iff he has flatted and polished it you dont know how much laquer he has put on and can be quite easy to go through to the basecoat, hope all goes well though

stoneface

iTrader: (6)

What did he do to rectify it?

bob r

iTrader: (46)

He spent another hr on it and it looks 150% better.
He said he put quick drying laquer on last time but "this stuff takes a few hrs to harden and is far better quality, I'll put alot on if you want " Well why didn't the moron do this last time?

Anyway...........he is coming back again in a few days to sand it with 2000 grade paper and buff it up.

If he had only done it right first time..............

cossie-nutter

iTrader: (45)

Agreed!

CarDoc

Just found your site while googling smart repairs. As a smart repairer, I must correct your comments and do my best to defend my colleagues!

1) "but by law they have to use 1k laquer and colours which is a really old method of paint"

Not true. No smart repairer with an ounce of decency will use 1K lacquer on a repair. As a rule, you will find only water based paint and 2K lacquer being used. I say as a rule, because some are still using up stock of solvent based paint.

2) "Also another thing to take into consideration is they work out doors where there is dust etc as apposed to a extracted oven."

True. But that is why we confine our repair to small areas - SMART (Small to Medium Area Repair Technique). Even in a spray booth (which I guess is what you were referring to) there will be dust and contaminants. These are quite easily removed during the polishing stage of the process.

3) "you can find some decent smart repairers but they charge a lot of money and are always rushing the job."

Yes, you can find decent smart repairers - many with bodyshop experience. Rushing the job or using their skills effectively, who can say? In my experience, rushing can result in a poor outcome and therefore no recommendations. In my case, all my work is retail, so I depend on people like yourselves to recommend me.

4) "I work fora large paintshop and have my own place and the amount of people that have had smart reapirs done and cannot be put right that come to me and the company i work for you would not believe!"

I cannot argue with that statement. I am sure things go wrong, but equally, when my car came back from a large well known body shop following an insurance job, I sent it back due to the obviously poor lacquer application. Hey, **** happens! It's worrying that the smart repairer could not fix the job - one thing about body repair is that everthing is fixable if it goes wrong. The big difference between the bodyshop & smart is that the customer sees everything you're doing. In a bodyshop, when they ****-up, only they see it - and believe me, they ****-up too!

5) "Also Bob you paid the lad £100? a proper body shop would only charge around the £150 mark for a good job! "

I charge £135 +VAT for a bumper scuff. Most customers are happy to pay that for the convenience of me coming to them, the fun of seeing it done and not losing their car for days, or having to drive a loan car.

6) "You can try polishing it but iff he has flatted and polished it you dont know how much laquer he has put on and can be quite easy to go through to the basecoat, hope all goes well though"

I think that if Bob not happy, he should call the company back to fix it. That's what he's paid for! If he does go through the lacquer, he won't have a leg to stand on.

I understand where G8RDK is coming from, I too have corrected other smart repairer's ****-ups. However, tarring us all with the same brush doesn't help - we're just trying to make a living like everyone else.

By far the best course of action is to get a recommendation - if your friend or neighbour has had work done, have a look to satisfy yourself before parting with your cash. I have worked on Astons, Ferraris and other high value motors and I do not leave a job unless the customer is genuinely happy. I hope you don't see this as a rant - I'm passionate about my job. The satisfaction I get from a really happy customer makes it very fulfilling.

I just hope others will give smart repair a chance and not be too put off by this particular episode.

Cheers
David