Well, after getting the front half of my car totally dusted by rocks and pebbles from an uncovered dumptruck traveling at 80 mph down the highway...I submitted a claim to my insurance company for repainting the front half of my Z. I had about 75-80 chips, probably about 50-60 of them from this single incident.

I know the paint on our rides suxx, but I figured an aftermarket job would be better. I did goto a Nissan dealer and since they were a directbill option from my insuracne company and since they offered a complete customer satisfaction guarantee, I decided to go with them for the work...BIG mistake.

Now that the work has been done, I have more orange peel than before, and its much more obvious. To make matters worse, they painted part of my front grill Chrome Silver, and screwed up another area on the front left that I doubt will ever be right again. I had plans to wait the recommended 2 weeks for proper paint curing, where my Z was going to hang out in the garage the entire time, then I was going to schedule the installation of a clearbra, Xpel or 3m or Stongard. Needless to day this whole plan is screwed now.

I complained about the horrible job today, and they are going to wet sand/buff until it looks right... IS THIS WHAT THEY DO TO FIX ORANGE PEEL ??? I thought that once the paint was dried and orange peel was cured into the paint, it was not fixable without repainting the car... I need to do some research, but obviously, me or the paint shop manager is wrong. He tried to tell me that he could fix most of it, but unless I paid for htem to wet sand the entire car, the doors and rear would not match the portion they painted--WHAT A MESS. As far as the grill goes, they offered to apint it...I don't want a black painted grill-yuck. Its supposed to be black, and plastic from the factory, not black painted, and something else to chip or crack...

I am really having doubts about what I should do...between the crappy paint and tiure feathering issues, I am half tempted to tell Nissan to stick this car up you know where...but if I sold it back, I would lose my first born.

Any thoughts on this topic would be appreciated and I am open to any opinions on how I should handle the poor paint job.

Thanks.

 

Wet sanding and buffing is a way to reduce orange peel but when painters plan to do this, I'm told that they first apply extra coats of clear so that there is still a good bit left after the sanding. If your paint shop only shot one coat of clear, it might not be a good thing to do in terms of the paint's longevity. My shop shot 3 coats of clear prior to finishing the car with a wet sand and buff, but they painted the entire car.

 

onecoolee, two words for you: clear bra. it'll be the best investment on your car. i have it through out my Z, especially on the hood and front bumper, it is barely noticeable.

go to se-ex.com, he's out of Queens and Brooklyn, NY, call him (Thomas). if he's too far for you, perhaps he knows someone by you..Thomas is great, i highly recommend him.

good luck,

Gerardo