# What the heck has caused this?



## Synergist (Mar 13, 2014)

I was touching up a small stone chip yesterday when i decided to quickly look over the rest of the bodywork for any other damage.
I've previously only inspected the car in daylight and, to be honest, not scrutinised it that much.

The car was ex demo and I didn't inspect it that closely when I picked it up. My mistake!
The paintwork was already badly swirled from the granite mop the dealership must have used to wash the car...

(I've only ever cleaned the car with hosepipe prewash then Auto Glym shampoo/conditioner concentrate,
two bucket, two microfibre, parallel horizontal strokes)

I was doing this particular repair in an indoor car park with no natural light so was using the LED torch on my
phone - I first noticed the swirling under a street lamp at night. (Point source light ftw.)

When i got to the corner of the front bumper, I saw this horrible bit of paintwork:










I struggled to get a decent photo due to the kind of problem. It's clearer to the naked eye, but I'll describe it:

The whole of the front bumper (plastic) has a dark 'grain' to the red paint, except the section you can see in the photo.
In the photo it almost looks like a layer of wax which has bubbled away, but the car isn't waxed.

Inside the circular part, the red colour is slightly lighter - there's no black mottling / graining, and the finish is smoother.

You can also see bubbling / 'orange peel' around the edge of the panel - very visible to the naked eye.

The rest of the paintwork (metal panels except the other bumper) appears to be ok, and is certainly smoother and uniform in colour.

I'm wondering if the bumper was resprayed, or if this is just a bad paint job? The car is now outside of its initial warranty
period (13 months) but this is very poor and I'm wondering if I should speak to my local dealer about this because it looks rubbish.


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## squiggs (Oct 19, 2009)

Yes the bumper has had a (poor) respray - the bit you're showing is where someone has polished through to the original lacquer.
You could talk to the dealer - but (and assuming it's not a new car) it might have nothing to do him. The previous owner may have had it repaired and maybe the dealer didn't spot it.
No quick fix I'm afraid - it's going to need repainting.


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## B17BLG (Jun 26, 2012)

What car is it?


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## steveo3002 (Jan 30, 2006)

squiggs said:


> Yes the bumper has had a (poor) respray - the bit you're showing is where someone has polished through to the original lacquer.


yep this

remember what it looks like when people tell you a smart repair in the driveway will look great ...thats what will happen after some polishing


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## squiggs (Oct 19, 2009)

steveo3002 said:


> yep this
> 
> remember what it looks like when people tell you a smart repair in the driveway will look great ...thats what will happen after some polishing


Why are you assuming that's a Smart repair and not a sprayshop job????

I've been working outside doing Smart repairs for nearly 8 years now and even though I offer a lifetime guarantee for as long as the customer owns the car not once has a customer ever come back to me and said 'It's falling off' or 'I've polished through'.
I've done work for pro detailers where I've deliberately left them to polish my work with no comebacks.

Prep and products used on a driveway can be the same as used in any sprayshop ..... and there are good and bad in both trades.

To suggest one trade as always producing poor work is just wrong!


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## mr paint (Jul 11, 2009)

As above !!


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## squiggs (Oct 19, 2009)

squiggs said:


> Yes the bumper has had a (poor) respray - the bit you're showing is where someone has polished through to the original lacquer.
> You could talk to the dealer - but (and assuming it's not a new car) it might have nothing to do him. The previous owner may have had it repaired and maybe the dealer didn't spot it.
> No quick fix I'm afraid - it's going to need repainting.


:speechles

I've just re-read the OP and seen that it's an ex demo - so yes it maybe worth having a word with the dealer - whether he'll do anything about it is a different matter.


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## Synergist (Mar 13, 2014)

B17BLG said:


> What car is it?


Fiesta ST.



steveo3002 said:


> yep this
> 
> remember what it looks like when people tell you a smart repair in the driveway will look great ...thats what will happen after some polishing


As others have said, it's probably unfair to tar everyone with the same brush  but I've never used aftermarket paintwork repair so can't claim to know much about the usual quality. Will leave that to the professionals 

Update: took it to the estimator who promptly said it wasn't like that out the factory according to the paperwork (heh) and, after some gentle pushing, agreed to file the pre auth form to Ford - but advised he expected it to get rejected immediately as paintwork is a 12 month issue (car's JUST out of 12 months from first registration).

Luckily I've spoken to a helpful guy at local branch of dealership who's said he'll help me if I get nowhere. (I didn't buy the car from this branch.) More updates as I get them...

Now, can anyone advise me on how to try and reduce horrible paint swirl (as inflicted over several months by a lazy garage employee?)


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