ARTICLE: The Car Care guide (Aesthetics)

[mithun]

Is there any advantage in going for Paint sealant coating ?

I've seen some dealers advertising that in their service centers !

[gandolf_thewise]

hey guys
i think its great the way car care has been so thoroughly explained by team - bhp members. ITS BEEN REALLY HELPFUL. i a in abit of a dilema . I own a maruti swift vxi azure gray . Like so many other helpless car owners a person on a cycle decided to liven up my driver side rear door . Now there is a nice dent on my door with the paint chipped off. I got my car door painted from sai service in mumbai the paint matching has been great but the polish has sufferes. Its looks very poorly finished . Not as bright as the normal doors. Very smudgy feel to it. can i do anything to improve or correct this ??? any place in mumbai where this can be done and the approximate price .??? would really appreciate help on this front

[androdev]

why don't you go back to them asking for a better finish? i am sure they should offer a finish that matches with the factory finish. more than the polish, it looks like they did a poor job of clear coat. my suggestion is to take it back to the same people and ask them give it a better finish. i think some inexperienced fellow worked on your car. i had a similar problem recently in bangalore.. they gave a lousy color match, they used a hair brush to do the base coat and a terrible clear coat finish (with foggy finish and dust particles in clear coat). i complained to them (not gently).. and they put their best man on the job this time and the final finish was perfect.


so my advice is.. identify all the problems (wash the car and watch the finish closely in bright light), take it back to the same body shop and complain. and see how it goes. as long as they put their best employee on the job, u can be sure u get very good results. refinishing is an extremely skilled job.

[gandolf_thewise]

hey androdev
thanks a bunch for the prompt replies . I will def get in touch with the service centre. Many a times i have had people telling me that it is just not possible to get a true factory finish as the entire car is painted at the factory using diff technology as against a single door or any other body part for that matter.Is it true ? Also i forgot ot mention that the colour looks smudged only from certain angles and that too from a distance prob more in dull light then in bright light....dont know if that helps !

[smsrini]

[quote Is there any way to clean up the car without damaging the paintjob?

>>> Get your lancer workshop to do a quick rubbing job if nothing else works. They have something called 3M diamond polish, which takes care of stubborn stains/tar marks 90% of the time.

Also, can any preventive measures be taken when going on the highway to avoid this situation? Maybe some coating on the front that prevents the bugs from sticking?[/quote]

>>>> Apply a healthy dose of wax polish or dab on a thin film of vaseline which should be easy to clean with soap/pressurized water later on....The idea is to put a thin film ontop of the paint to seal it off.

[androdev]

Originally Posted by gandolf_thewise

hey androdev
thanks a bunch for the prompt replies . I will def get in touch with the service centre. Many a times i have had people telling me that it is just not possible to get a true factory finish as the entire car is painted at the factory using diff technology as against a single door or any other body part for that matter.Is it true ? Also i forgot ot mention that the colour looks smudged only from certain angles and that too from a distance prob more in dull light then in bright light....dont know if that helps !

It is difficult to get 100% color match, unless the body shop knows the correct paint formulation (as u know they mix few paints to get the color match). But most body shops of any decent repute give you a good color match, unless rest of the car is too faded. So color match is a gamble at times.

But the finish and gloss/shine can be better than the factory finish if the body shop is sincere. The trick is to get their best man to work on your car. I learned it the hard way. My suggestions:

1. Make a list of problems you found and make sure you can show the same problems to the body shop fellow when you take the car there. Mostly you have to park the car in such way that the amount of light on that panel highlights the defects.

2. Take the car and show the problems to the body shop fellow. He has to be convinced of your problems, otherwise they wont be sincere in their rework. Make sure they are paying attention to your problems. Do not fight - but try to talk to senior staff till you get their attention and commitment to solve your problem. Try to strike a deal with the top manager and not the painter.

3. Insist that their best person is assigned to your car. The most important thing! Since the service offered is of poor quality, they must do everything possible to satisfy you. Do not compromise on this one. Meet their 'best man' and explain him all the problems again and if he explains why these problems occurred and assures you a perfect finish, you are making good progress. At the minimum they should be doing multiple thin layers of clear coat on your car with sufficient drying/curing time in between.

4. Make sure they use a paint booth for the job. When the load increases, most shops start painting the panels in dusty corners of the garage (some even on the road side)

5. Ask them to mask/cover the rest of the car as much as possible while they are doing the rework.

7. I even complained to the Dupont Bangalore people (their paints are being used) for the poor color match and finish. They actually sent their specialist to oversee the work carried out by the body shop.

6. Do not leave your car there unless you are convinced that they are going to do it right this time.

Refinish is all about skill and material (Standox paints by Dupont are good) and less about 'technology' so don't believe anyone that says factory finish can not be matched. Color match is hard, but finish and gloss can be matched, can even be bettered.

Disclaimer: I am not an expert in this area. I just had a similar experience as yours and these are my learnings from getting that mess cleared up.

[mayurpalav]

Originally Posted by moralfibre

Guys, does anyone have the updated website address for tpc3 care? The one listed above has gone down.

No website, Although Tpc3 is now "Car Spa".
Location - Inorbit Mall Basement.

[nirmalts]

Hello,

Whats the diference between rubbing compound and normal wax polish?

Nirmal

[snb77]

I have a few questions?

1. If the car is exposed to sunlight and parked outside without cover, will it cause any damage? as i think most of the paints are designed to withstand the heat!!!

2. My car is parked outside the home and i use it only once in a week. Should I put a cover for it? Usually i was the car once in a week.

[hrsraghav]

I have a scratch on the headlight plastics. Its not a scratch rather the headlihgt was rubbed against the rear bumper of another car, so the upper plastic layer has been rubbed off. A freind of mine told me that using thinner will help somewhat to regain the transparency of headlight.
Guys this is the only sratch on my car, and its really paining me.
Is there any method by which such scratches can be removed or reduced.
Rudra Ji, please share your knowledge in this regard

[androdev]

Originally Posted by hrsraghav

I have a scratch on the headlight plastics. Its not a scratch rather the headlihgt was rubbed against the rear bumper of another car, so the upper plastic layer has been rubbed off. A freind of mine told me that using thinner will help somewhat to regain the transparency of headlight.
Guys this is the only sratch on my car, and its really paining me.
Is there any method by which such scratches can be removed or reduced.
Rudra Ji, please share your knowledge in this regard

This might help.
headlight polishing

[hrsraghav]

Originally Posted by androdev

This might help.
headlight polishing

Thanks Androdev, quite knowledgable information.
I will try to implement this.
Is there anywhere in Inida from where we can can get 3M car rubbing and car polishing compunds?

[PatienceWins]

Originally Posted by snb77

I have a few questions?

1. If the car is exposed to sunlight and parked outside without cover, will it cause any damage? as i think most of the paints are designed to withstand the heat!!!

2. My car is parked outside the home and i use it only once in a week. Should I put a cover for it? Usually i was the car once in a week.

I have the same problem. Please advice.

[Jaggu]

Its advisable to use car cover to protect the car interior/exterior from the elements, esp the UV rays which will eventually take a toll.

[theMAG]

Car covers(the good ones) have a tendency to develop micro-scratches on the car paint - use with caution if your car is black.