Well, to my utter dismay, the damn car-wash guys put two 2 inch scratches (from some guys watch) on my rear deck.

I took it back, bitched and the guy offered to have his buddy at a bodyshop fix it.

My question is this. These guys were a largely non-english speaking sort. I shouldnt have taken the car top the jersey city car wash (ghetto wash), but it was a brushless wash. the guys normally do a good job, but all you need is one drunk dude with a sharp watch-band to mess it all up.

Either way, should I let this guys friend fix the scratch? Is there any way he can MAKE IT WORSE? If so, I'd rather eat the cost and take care of it myself.

Damn the gheeto wash!!!

 

take it to a paint shop, get a quote and tell them this is how much you need to get it repaired to your satisfaction. or you can bring this to small claims

there is a chance they do not want to take this to court do to other possible legal standings... such as citizenship. then you know your getting it fixed properly.

next time Im sure youll wash your own car, and youll take your watch off first as well.

 

Obviously this has to be finally your decision - one that will make you happy in the end.

I am sorry this happened to you. I am sure you feel terrible.

I, personally, would be leary of the "my buddy can fix this right up" approach. It might be a good deal, but I would be fearful that this would be a cheapo fix up to get rid of you.

Can you go back to the wash and ask the owner to have your car fixed? You can offer a legitimate, honest way of doing business, which is: you will get at least 3 estimates for repair, and he can decide which one he will pay for. If you do this, make sure you would be happy with ANY of the estimates. They will most likely offer the lowest of the estimates.

Good luck,
Todd

 

Where in Jersey. I might have heard of the car wash and or place he's referred you to and can give you and opinion. You also might want to suggest that you want your dealer to do it and tell him to pay the bill!

 

Im so sick and tired of those stupid car washes...always screwin **** up...forget it. IM gonna hand wash now!

 

Thankfully, it didn't take an incident to make me hand wash my car, it took 3 weeks of rain and cancelling detail appointments. I did it myself one Saturday, actually enjoyed it, now I wont even consider letting someone else wash it.

Josh

 

the Z is nice to wash. small size, nice large panels well defined, and you can reach everything easily. I can wash it in about 20-30minutes. starting with the room, hood, trunk deck doors, front fascia, rear bumper, front wheel area, and finally behind and around the rear wheels. I ussually swap towels before doing the doors, and swap back to the first towel for the front and rear areas, and then back to the door towel again for the wheel areas.

I guess some might consider me wierd or ****, but my cars black and swirl marks are unacceptable.

 

Ouch! That sux. I know that it doesn't help one bit for me to say it now but I'll say it anyway- Never let anyone wash your car! There is way too many opportunities for stuff like this to go wrong. As for fixing it, I would follow the suggestion of getting a couple estimates. A good way to go is to call around to a few of the high line dealers (Audi, BMW, Porsche) that may not have their own body shop and find out which specialty shop they farm their work out to. They'll typically be able to refer you to someone that does top notch work. And, ofcourse, you could just check with your Nissan dealer.

 

hahahaha... I spend about 2 1/2 hours cleaning my car.. not including the vacuuming... I have tons of towels.. diferent sizes...

I start with my rims.. spray cleaner on to get brake dust off... wipe down inside and out and light spray rinse... then I light spray the whole car down and use one lambs wool glove starting with the roof and rear window then front window then hood, side windows, upper part of fenders, door and rear upper fender... then lower door panels and lower fender panels front and rear.. then below the doors and bottom of rear above exausts and front grille area.. last but not least is the inside edge of the wheelwells. all done with a rinse between sections and many soaks and rinses of the cleaning mit. I use a soft bath towel to do first dry following the same areas of washing... then I use smaller soft towels to wipe up all other drips and drizzles.. I even open the hood and trunk and wipe every possible spot of water wheere ever I find them. Last but not least I dry the rims inside and out and then the interior wipe down with a damp cloth. Whew!!

I still find tiny surface scratches.... the Daytona Blue just shows them from certian angles.

Then theres the waxing!!!!

You know the drip inside of the door onto the step panel... you always get it after you dry everything.... it comes from the weep holes in the door.. I waxed that plate area and now I can use alittle hand cloth to make them dissapear!

See.. massive **** retent!

But damn if she aint a fine ride!

EZ

 

NEVER take your car to an automated wash. Regardless of their claims, they WILL scratch or damage your car in one way or another.

I usually take my car to one of those self service washes that provide a bay for you to clean the car yourself. They provide a spray nossle that you can switch between soap, rinse and a few other settings that I never use. I bring my own (clean; used once or twice) sponges, cloths, shammy's & stuff with me... the (relatively) high pressure spray works great, you don't have to fuss with the hose & stuff at home (there are home) car washing restrictions in Jersey anyway...) and it's cheap (maybe 5-6 bucks in quarters for an average wash). I've washed my car about 3 or 4 times since September- no problems whatsoever. Takes me about 20 minutes, including drying.

I'll admit, one concern I have is whether or not the soap at these places is really safe for my paint. It doesn't really matter though -I wax the car so often (paint feels like glass at this point) I'm pretty sure I'm protected...

The one I go to is right near the Menlo Park mall in Edison (corner of Route 1S and Parsonage Road). There is another one on Route 18S in East Brunswick that is open late (never been there though...)

by the way - those self service places often have auto-foam brushes that you can use- I would stay clear of those, I think they would scratch the sh*t out of your car/wheels...

Ethan

 

well...I took it by the guys buddies bodyshop....the guy was nice enough to trell me that a repaint of the entire deck was needed - but that then he couldnt gaurantee the paint matching...grrrrrr.

He also said that touch up was Bs and would look ***.

anyhow, i'm gonna take it to the dealer ands see what they suggest.


The gall of it! He offered me 20 free washes and 2 complete details....

I cant wait for 6 months then I move to san diego and can wash my OWN car ANYTIME I want!!

 

well hed have to do the whole panel... but I assume thats what he meant, the deck is like 90% of the panel, so why stop there.

definitly bring it to nissan, get it done right, and if you have to sue the guy for the expenses. you may want to just get it done if you have the cash, and look for money later. tho, you can tell when a panel has been repainted, which will hurt resale value... nothing you can do there.

 

If you can prove they did it then you can get it paid for. A buddy of mine had some damage done to his rig by the car wash, but they refused to help out at all. They were ****** about it as well. It does sound like you got some nice folk to deal with. Hope it works out well!!

Thanks,
Drew

 

This is why I never, ever take my car to carwash places. I rather spend two hours and wash it myself. I can do a better job myself anyway, cause I actually care about my car. How bad is that scratch? is it something you absolutely cannot live with? Repainting your car should be the last resort, because unless you are planning to spend 1000+ on the paint job, it's not going to turn out right. You can't simply repaint the one panel and expect it to turn out right. you have to repaint the adjacent panels to blend the paint job, or else it will stand out like a sore thumb. What color is your car? If it's a pearl color (bits of metallic paint), a cheap-o place will NEVER get it right.