Her 72 Mach 1

[72Mach168Cam]

Detail guy declined to do the work. Above his skill level. I appreciate honesty. He put us in touch with a heavy hitter that travels. A phone call will transpire for a consultation today. It will be expenses plus the job. Nobody local will touch this paint job.

If the phone call proves to be not doable (too $$) we might as well wet sand ourselves. I see a new paint job in our future...

 

[turtle5353]

Man that sucks!  There must be a lot of trash in that paint.  You may end up having to get a lawyer involved. I don’t like to do things that way but you dropped a lot of money on a subpar paint job. One of my customers had to take the guy that painted his 67 mustang to court. It was bad.  But he did end up getting his money back, at least most of it. I wish you luck with the next detail guy. 

 

[72Mach168Cam]

Yes. It was the size of the "dirt nibs" and air bubbles. Car restoration ain't for the faint or the weak of wallet....

 

[72Mach168Cam]

We have contemplated just doing the wet sand and buff ourselves. I'm sure we could watch some youtubes and sort it out.

But considering even one of the best local detail shops (likely the best here) won't touch it, we figured it would end in a re-paint. In for a penny in for a pound. Or something like that. So we found someone that will save the paint job. Yes, that is what this is. Ain't cheap. Still a gamble. 

We could attempt to resolve it with the original painter (don't want to deal with that hack). Or consider some sort of legal action. Call it; turn the other cheek, take it on the chin, non-confrontational avoidance, whimping out. I just don't want any more stress. I am done.

Come the 1st week of August, a guy is coming from out of town and doing a professional finish job. He'll be in our (tiny) shop all week. We'll be acting like highfalutin car collectors.

More details shall follow....

 

[Kilgon]

We have contemplated just doing the wet sand and buff ourselves. I'm sure we could watch some youtubes and sort it out.

But considering even one of the best local detail shops (likely the best here) won't touch it, we figured it would end in a re-paint. In for a penny in for a pound. Or something like that. So we found someone that will save the paint job. Yes, that is what this is. Ain't cheap. Still a gamble. 

We could attempt to resolve it with the original painter (don't want to deal with that hack). Or consider some sort of legal action. Call it; turn the other cheek, take it on the chin, non-confrontational avoidance, whimping out. I just don't want any more stress. I am done.

Come the 1st week of August, a guy is coming from out of town and doing a professional finish job. He'll be in our (tiny) shop all week. We'll be acting like highfalutin car collectors.

More details shall follow....

I know you are stressed out over this and as you said you just want it to be over. This might sound crazy but this would  make a good case for the TV show "The People's Court".   Based on all the info I don't see how you could loose.  Could sue the guy for up to 5K and get a free trip. No guarantee you would get on the show but worth a try in my opinion.  You already have all the evidence and everything you need in this post.   No lawyers involved, just fill out the form and see what happens.   Would teach him a good lesson also.

Submit Your Case — The People's Court (peoplescourt.com)

Edited - Also  Judge Judy

Submit Your Case - Judge Judy

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

I would never just walk away from the guy that painted it. You need to make him pay for his mistakes. I would stand in front of his shop with the car there and talk to everyone coming in and ruin his business. If I had to stay there for days I would. Not right and you need to make him make it right. Shops here have had to redo paint jobs at a cost of over $30,000. They knew they did it wrong and it had to go back to bare metal and start over. The customer paid nothing. They are a great shop. He would have more bad luck than he could ever handle if it was me. I never back down if I am right like you are.

 

[72Mach168Cam]

Finally an update worthy of posting:

Work will commence in 7 days. We hired a legend in the detailing community that will come to our shop for a week and work the paint job. If we had the skills we could probably make a Utube video and have our own reality car show. Hopefully in 2 weeks I can then go out to my 1000 sq. foot shop and stop pretending the Mach 1 isn't there.

 

[72Mach168Cam]

Spent 2 days prepping the work space. Hope it is sufficient. Pics to follow....

 

[JimB73]

The paint issue is such a bummer, I hope the guy is able to save it. Look forward to hearing how it goes!

 

[turtle5353]

Can’t wait to see it!  Good luck!

 

[72Mach168Cam]

The Paint Whisperer will arrive this evening. I can hardly believe the length at which I prepared to save this paint job. I still have my doubts that it can be saved. We shall see...

Our tiny shop is prepared as best I can prepare. I bought a super expensive creeper stool. Since my 20 year old harbor freight stool that still works may not be comfortable enough for the hours the PW will be using a stool. The work bench on the right side of the Mach 1 hasn't seen the light of day for 2 years!

 

[c9zx]

I hope it works out well. Chuck

 

[72Mach168Cam]

Work has begun. A little scary to see at first, but knowing the outcome is going to be positive I am good with it.

 

[turtle5353]

Looking good. What grit did he start with?

 

[72Mach168Cam]

1000 grit to start.

He did an ultrasound measurement of the paint. All is well except the roof. It is thin. Special care will have to take place......

 

[turtle5353]

1000 is pretty aggressive. Must be a lot of orange peel and a lot of clear on there.  
You would think the roof would have more clear since you have less worries of runs when spraying a large flat panel.  Keep us posted. I’m curious how this is gonna turn out. Good luck !  If you don’t mind asking the gentleman doing the work, what products he’s using? Just curious what others use.  Did he say what grit he is going to take it to? Sorry for all the questions. But I have been following this thread with alot of interest.  

 

[72Mach168Cam]

He didn't say the product names/types. I'm not sure it would be appropriate to ask finite details. The only thing I do know is the sand paper is made in Switzerland. Nice stuff. Amazing to watch him work. His name is Chris Larson. I showed him the website and this thread and asked if I could put his name on here, he didn't mind.

I know he mentioned taking it to 3000 grit. Not sure if it will go further. He started the roof at 1500 dry. But it didn't do what he wanted. So he switched to wet. If I were to guess and I did earlier today as to why the roof coatings ended up so thin. It was because the car was on jack stands in the paint booth and the painter is about 5'6". Tough to reach.

To add to my theory of the roof, Chris mentioned the angle at which he had to hold the spray gun if the painter was short caused the metallic to "splatter". Which are the dark spots we see and the chunks we thought were dirt here and there could be the metallic particles clogging the nozzle. He also mentioned the difference in gun types top loading vs bottom loading. Or was it feeding not loading. Not sure. He has sooo much knowledge to speak from I have a hard time keeping track of it all.

Oh btw. Finally page 12. That last page was a pain to scroll through with a misbehaving web browser.....

 

[turtle5353]

No problem. 
 

If he’s going to 3000, it will make buffing a breeze.  At 2500-3000 grit the shine actually starts to come back before you even start buffing.  
 

Short painters need bigger stools!! Lol.  Again good luck with the paint. I’m sure he will get it looking great. 

 

[72Mach168Cam]

Couple of pics at the end of the day yesterday. Amazing that the sanded sections actually feel smoother than the two spots (where side mirrors mount) of un-sanded paint.

 

[turtle5353]

Looking good! Man I don’t miss all that wet sanding by hand. On a plus side it makes your hands really smooth! Lol. Sands your fingertips right off. 
I’m  curious if he will use a DA and an interference pad once he gets above 2000 grit. Makes it a lot easier and quicker. Can’t wait to see it finished.