# Repair after damage



## BMW-AK (May 28, 2011)

Hi guys, 

I had someone do a hit and run on my car. It left the rear quarter and bumper scratched with a dent on the quarter arch. I was told by many body shops that this area is double skinned, so PDR wouldn't be possible. 

Commissioned a known body shop to do the work and whilst the paintwork and match looks perfect i'm a little worried about the fact that the paintwork has ripples slightly above the repaired area and if you look very closely, you can see sand marks. Obviously the whole panel had to be lacquered to be blended in. The body shop hasn't given the car back to me as they say its work in progress and it still needs flattening and polishing to get rid of the tiny imperfections. I'll have a look tomorrow but just wanted to get some professional thoughts. My thoughts are maybe the ripples will go, but how will the sand marks go with flattening and polishing?!


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## cossierick (Jan 19, 2011)

I think it best to see what happens tomorrow ! If all is gone then good. If sanding marks are still there then there more than likely to be under the lacquer so the only way to get rid is paint it again. 

Keep us informed


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## Andyb0127 (Jan 16, 2011)

Signs of ripples above repair, are normally from a poor repair or the paint around the repair hasn't been feathered back properly, resulting in it seeing ripples around repaired area.
Sanding marks that are visible, would almost possibly be in the primer. Caused by the filler being finished in a coarse rubbing down paper, instead of working through to finer grades before priming. 

Honest answer to the above remove it all and start again. But see what it looks like when they have finished it. And keep an eye on it looking for the rubbing down marks slowly starting to appear again.


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## Matty77 (Nov 7, 2012)

BMW-AK said:


> Hi guys,
> 
> I had someone do a hit and run on my car. It left the rear quarter and bumper scratched with a dent on the quarter arch. I was told by many body shops that this area is double skinned, so PDR wouldn't be possible.
> 
> Commissioned a known body shop to do the work and whilst the paintwork and match looks perfect i'm a little worried about the fact that the paintwork has ripples slightly above the repaired area and if you look very closely, you can see sand marks. Obviously the whole panel had to be lacquered to be blended in. The body shop hasn't given the car back to me as they say its work in progress and it still needs flattening and polishing to get rid of the tiny imperfections. I'll have a look tomorrow but just wanted to get some professional thoughts. My thoughts are maybe the ripples will go, but how will the sand marks go with flattening and polishing?!


Let us know what happens


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## BMW-AK (May 28, 2011)

Cheers guys, got the car back and it looks good now. Hard to tell it was ever resprayed. Bodyshop re-did the panel and it looks like a good match. Only problem I have now is that the fresh paint has less orange peel than typical BMW paint. Bodyshop says it will take time to cure and it will look fine after. BS or true?

Usually people love orange peel free cars I know, but i'm not going to wet sand the whole car to get rid of typical BMW orange peel.

Appreciate some advice please.


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## jolls (Dec 25, 2012)

Bodyshop says it will take time to cure and it will look fine after. BS or true?


BS is my opinion. A proper paint finish should match the original. It sounds to me that they have flatted the paint to remove imperfections and taken any orange peel with it. As has been mentioned by Andyb0127 keep an eye out for marks reappearing.


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## mr paint (Jul 11, 2009)

i would'nt say total bull s**t ..if the paint is low baked it can take upto 5 weeks to fully cure .... with this doing so the clear may move creating some texture in the panel 


i would say they probably blocked out the repair re based and clearing the whole panel .... putting fresh clear onto of blocked clear will lay flatter ..also known as flow coating 

I would leave it a few weeks and see what happens 

if in doubt take it back!


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## BMW-AK (May 28, 2011)

Sorry I forgot to add in my second post that the base and clearcoat was applied again. When I went back to see the car after polishing, the bodyshop put it back in the spray booth for re-doing as he said it wouldn't polish out and that he will re-do it. I saw the car myself sitting in the spray booth and the paint was flattened down and it looked smooth, as it should be. Just to clarify, the marks weren't where the damage was previously, it was above this where the arch would typically flare out.

The bodyshop knows me and knows how picky I am so I've seen the car at all stages of the repair as I he didn't mind me popping in everyday to see progress. 

The repair now is perfect. I've noticed one or two dirt blobs but i'm sure they can polish out. The match of paint is perfect, and now you absolutely cannot tell where it was repaired. The only giveaway is the non matching lacquer texture. Its as if this needs more orange peel to not look so perfect - never thought i'd say that :S


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## Kriminal (Jan 11, 2007)

Glad to hear the defects have been dealt with :thumb:

One thing I would say though, is don't try polishing it YET!....I'm sure you're more than aware of that, but when I read it in your last post it sent goosebumps up and down my spine

As for the lack of orange-peel effect. How noticeable would you say it is to the 'normal Joe' out there?..ie. is it something worth stressing about?


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## BMW-AK (May 28, 2011)

Kriminal said:


> Glad to hear the defects have been dealt with :thumb:
> 
> One thing I would say though, is don't try polishing it YET!....I'm sure you're more than aware of that, but when I read it in your last post it sent goosebumps up and down my spine
> 
> As for the lack of orange-peel effect. How noticeable would you say it is to the 'normal Joe' out there?..ie. is it something worth stressing about?


I haven't tried polishing it mate. The bodyshop had to polish it I believe to blend old and new paintwork in the panel . They used 3M perfect it range of rubbing compounds on it.

It looks a good match, but when the sun hits, the new paint looks amazing but the rest of the paint, if looked closely looks dull and reflections such as lampposts look a tiny bit more cleaner on the new panel, than original panels. Its noticeable to someone who goes looking for it but not obvious at first glance. I can see a tiny bit of orange peel back on it but its not to the level of the rest of the car. Not too sure what to do...


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## squiggs (Oct 19, 2009)

One of the things about spraying by hand (as opposed to a factory robot) is that the finish can vary, being either better or worse.
If I were you I'd get the rest of the car machine polished - if done properly will take out some of the original peel and give you some better reflections.
Maybe have a quiet word with the guy that did your original job - he might be interested in doing it 'away from the books'


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## craigeh123 (Dec 26, 2011)

Ill add id rather have a flatter finish with a good colour match than a closer finish with a poor colour match . Colour matching is very difficult next time your in a car park have look at how many cars have different coloured panels


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## Paintguy (Oct 31, 2005)

I very much doubt the bodyshops word that it's going to settle and will "look fine" when it's fully cured. More like you'll get used to it 

I agree with the guys above though - getting the texture exactly right out of the gun can be harder than getting the colour right, but at least you can do something about the first one. If you don't want to go as far as flattening the texture out on the whole car you could start with the areas adjacent to the resprayed panel and go lighter on the polishing as you move further away. So (for instance) the front edge of the rear door will be untouched and match the front door, but the rear edge of it will be smoother to match the newly painted rear quarter. This gradual reduction in texture will be almost impossible to notice, certainly compared to the current edge to edge difference you have between panels at the minute.

I hope that makes sense!


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