Dealer scratched my paint...have them fix it?

[Drjones]

Well I got my oil changed at my local BMW dealer yesterday, and they washed it.

When I got home, I discovered some pretty severe scratching on the rear part of the car, right at the seam where the hood meets the rear body panel on the drivers' side.

It seems to be limited to the clear coat, but it is quite severe. I'm not talking mere swirl marks here...

Needless to say, I'm livid and this is precisely why I do not let anyone else wash or otherwise touch my car unless absolutely necessary.

I'm sure they'd be willing to "take care of it" if I were to call them up and take it back in, but I'm very reluctant to do so.

I'd rather just try to tackle it myself, knowing that I'd do it right and wouldn't put swirls in or otherwise F--- up the paint.

These scratches are bad enough that I think they're probably going to require the FI-2. I don't think my 3M SMR is going to cut it.

What do you gents think? Let the dealer try to fix it, or do it myself? I suppose I could request to take it by their body shop and have them buff it really quickly...hopefully the guys there know better than the idiots at the dealer...

Opinions please...

A very : : :
Drjones

[Kyle K.]

Man, I know how you feel. I spent 3 days straight of my winter vacation detailing my car, fixing all the swirls that the body shop put in when it was getting fixed, etc. The car was almost perfect, I could barely notice a swirl anywhere and this was with Klasse on the car (so no glaze type fillers). I then take in my car to have a faulty rear hatch latch replaced and they proceed to wash the car and swirl it up again horribly!! : : I normally ask them not to wash the car but since I didn't even have an appointment and was just getting the one small thing fixed I assumed they wouldn't wash it. Oh well.

Anyway, back to your question. Honestly, its unlikely the dealer will fix the problem to your satisfaction. What they consider a good detail most of us on here wouldn't ever dream of calling acceptable, which is why they wash the cars the way they do. Ever walk down the used car sections of your BMW dealer? EVERY car I've seen at many different dealers is swirled. As their pre-sale detail on the car they use a nice layer of glaze and voila, "the car wasn't like that when we sold it to you, you must have done that yourself" :

I'd just bite the bullet and fix it yourself. Certainly let the dealer know about poor quality of your wash, but as I said before, chances are they'd just glaze it up and give it back to you as their fix. And yes FI2 sounds like a pretty good starting place, but if the scratches are really that bad, you may have to even step it up once more and try something like their fine cut cleaner. Definately don't use FCC until you've tried FI2 though, if its not needed then theres no reason to use it.

[Drjones]

*sigh*

That's what I thought, Kyle.... Thanks for the reply...

FI-2 is where I'd want to start, right?

Actually, I'm going to try the SMR since its less abrasive, but I doubt that will work.

Assuming the 3M SMR doesn't work, the FI-2 is where I should go next, right?

Oh well...I need to PC my new rear bumper that I had put on recently (got rear-ended), so its not too big a deal...fortunately the scratches are in a small area, but still...

Thanks...

Drjones

[David]

Can you feel the scratches with your fingernail? If yes, then no polish will remove them. You'll need to use touch-up paint and either wetsand or langka the area.

If you can't feel them then try different polishes and pad combos until they start to diminish.

I wouldn't go back to the dealer. Morons will probably pass it off to their equally inept bodyshop. Avoid the bodyshop, any bodyshop, like the plague. Most of them suck a$$.

If you can do it yourself, then you should.

[Drjones]

Well David, as I said, they aren't that bad, at least I'm pretty sure.

I was hoping you'd weigh in on this.

I'll give the SMR and, if necessary, FI-2 a try.

[hal9000]

What color's the car. From what it sounds like, they left a tool by the windshield wipers when they tried to close the hood. I'm guessing it's pretty deep into the clear, if not into the base coat if that happened. If it's a small area AND it's not thru the basecoat, I'd say pick up some clear touch up paint (either factory touchup or autosharp pen) and cover otherwise use the color touchup. Then hit it with FI to get it back down to smooth. Just make sure you wait long enough for the paint to cure before you try to polish it.

[Drjones]

Whoops!

I meant "Trunk lid," not hood.

No Hal, it looks like some sort of abrasive pad, maybe it had a metal bar in it or something...

And I don't think they're quite deep enough to require touch-up paint or clear coat.

I'll take another look at them, and maybe try to post some pics.

Thank you so very much for all your help, gentlemen. It is much appreciated!

Drjones

[hal9000]

Originally posted by Drjones
Whoops!

I meant "Trunk lid," not hood.

No Hal, it looks like some sort of abrasive pad, maybe it had a metal bar in it or something...

And I don't think they're quite deep enough to require touch-up paint or clear coat.

I'll take another look at them, and maybe try to post some pics.

Thank you so very much for all your help, gentlemen. It is much appreciated!

Drjones

Trunk lid huh...that's going to be an interesting one given it's not necessary to be anywhere near the trunk to do an oil change. Which part of the trunk is it on - vertical or horizontal? Pics!

[Kyle K.]

Originally posted by hal9000
Trunk lid huh...that's going to be an interesting one given it's not necessary to be anywhere near the trunk to do an oil change. Which part of the trunk is it on - vertical or horizontal? Pics!

From the way I read into it, it sounds like the dealer put the scratches into the paint during the wash... more like severe swirling than actual "scratches". :

But yeah, Dr, I honestly wouldn't bother with SMR. If they're anywhere near as bad as you're describing it will almost surely be a waste of time. FI2 isn't even *that* abrasive, so for what you're describing it sounds like it'd be the perfect starting splace. Good luck with getting everything fixed, keep us posted.

[Drjones]

Originally posted by hal9000
Trunk lid huh...that's going to be an interesting one given it's not necessary to be anywhere near the trunk to do an oil change. Which part of the trunk is it on - vertical or horizontal? Pics!

As I said hal, they must have done it while washing.

Morons... :

Its not enough that I paid $80 for the oil change (last time!) but they scratch my car to boot!!!

: :

Gonna try to take some pics now...

[Drjones]

Here are two pics. They're not the greatest, but I'm in a hurry and I don't have experience taking close-ups. Just got the camera.

The scratches run perpendicular to the seam, and you can compare them to the swirls I have too...:

They are significantly wider and more noticeable than any swirl.

If you want, I can try to take better pics later...

Oh, and sorry my car's so dirty.

Thanks!
Drjones

[Drjones]

Next:

[Jasonb1971]

Originally posted by Kyle K.
Ever walk down the used car sections of your BMW dealer? EVERY car I've seen at many different dealers is swirled. As their pre-sale detail on the car they use a nice layer of glaze and voila, "the car wasn't like that when we sold it to you, you must have done that yourself"

Wow I couldn't agree more! And I agree that if you think you possess the ability to fix the scratches yourself, then do it.
You would think that higher-end car dealerships would spend a little more on trained, professional detailers but that is simply NOT the case. Our local Audi/Porsche dealership here is the only one in the entire Portland metro area that outsources their details to a high-end detail shop. The rest including BMW, Cadillac, Mercedes, etc all do it themselves with those fresh-outta-high-school-and-I-really-need-a-job-now guys.

[RedV]

Ok, i work at a dealer... and the swirl marks are not caused by the porters. Yes, the scratches prolly are since they use soap on the cars and the pads used to apply the soap usually have dirt and stuff on them. There is no way you can have swirls put into your paint by washing and chamoing the car. All the polish and wax that covered up all the swirl marks were most likely removed with the soap.

Hope this info helps...

And if this is that big of a problem for people (i see threads like this all the time) a simple DON'T WASH MY CAR sign works wonders.

[Jasonb1971]

RedV
People tend throw around the word "swirls" to mean almost any light, circular scratch in their paint. In the industry we both know that "swirls" mean "buffer swirls" caused ONLY by a high speed rotary buffer. So you are right, there is no way that washing a car can put true "swirls" onto the paint.
What many people mean when they say that washing has caused swirls is the "spiderweb" type lines that appear. I know spiderweb isn't exactly a technical/scientific term but it more accurately describes the type of scratches that are caused by washing.
I also think that we are saying that we are generally frustrated with the level of competence at the dealerships when it comes to detailing/washing. I believe I shouldn't have to put a sign in my car saying "Please Do Not Wash". They should be competent enough to know how to do it right. Or should we all have signs saying things like "Please remember to put the oil plug back in after changing oil"? "Please don't touch your grubby hands to my steering wheel"?

I'll shup now. lol

[coloboardin]

Originally posted by RedV
Ok, i work at a dealer... and the swirl marks are not caused by the porters. Yes, the scratches prolly are since they use soap on the cars and the pads used to apply the soap usually have dirt and stuff on them. There is no way you can have swirls put into your paint by washing and chamoing the car. All the polish and wax that covered up all the swirl marks were most likely removed with the soap.

Ok now my turn. No offense but this could be the dumbest thing i have ever heard. Swirls can be put in your paint almost anyway you touch the car. Chamoing definitly puts swirls in your car, maybe not noticible the first few times but after a while they will. Soap pads do have dirt in them and that could have caused the swirls too.

My suggestion would be to take it back and try and see if they will fix it. Those scratches are too close to the edge and you can easily burn your paint there if you don't know what you are doing.