DaGnome

Ok some idiot decided to bump my car in the parking lot last week. I'm still not sure how she managed to do it considering there were no spaces behind me, just an UP ramp in the garage, but maybe she decided to backup down it..

Anyway.. my car is due back to me today finally (about $1500 worth of dmg to the rear bumper and trunk).

I got a look at it yesterday at the shop, and noticed that the color of the bumper was a noticable different from the rest of the car.

My car is a 2005 White Pearlcoat and the bumper looks to be a bit 'whiter' than the rest. It is a new bumper, freshly painted I'm told.

Now I understand that the bumper is plastic, where the rest of the car isn't and paint might look different, but now I've got 3 colors of white on my car..

The car itself, the appearance package (which always looked a bit whiter) and now the back bumper, which is a 3rd shade of white, somewhere between the appearance package and the rest of the car.

Perhaps I'm being a bit too picky about things but the car is less than 4 months old, and HER insurance is paying for this 100%.

The body shop told me that this color fades to 'yellow' when it does fade and that I should wait a few months to see how the bumper turns out before panicing.

The problem I see with that, is I garage the car at home, and while at work. So the only sunshine it's going to see will be driving and in a few parking lots.

Will the fresh bumper ever look like the rest of the car? If not is there anything the bodyshop can do to match it better to the existing paint?

BTW: for any in SFla this is the Leahman Collision shop on 441. So far an OK job, I had to point out a few mistakes before I'd accept the car back (such as impropper placement of the rear appearance package, missing RX-8 logo and a few fitting issues with the bumper) but overall seem to have done a good job. Will know soon as I pick it up today.

Brice-RX8

If you are not happy with the results make it known, it is your car that someone caused damage to. They make a computerized machine that sits on a body panel and gives them the exact mixture to get the same shade of paint did they use one of these machines? If they didn't I would demand that they find one. If you take the car and 6 months down the road it still doesn't match you are going to be SOL I have a feeling.

WaterLogged

This is my exact fear right now. I just got hit while at lunch in a Best Buy parking lot. I have a velocity red and I've heard in the past that red is one of the hardest shades to match, and with the velocity red having the gold mica flake in it I'm paranoid about how it's going to look when I get it fixed.

UGH!

The only think I can think of to help you and the other people who will eventually go this shop is make sure you let the insurance company know the quality of work done and whether or not they fixed it properly. You need to be 100% satisfied with the job before you accept it. If you're unsure but you drive the car off the lot anyway, make sure you get them to sign something that if you have any issues within a reasonable amount of time later that they will make it right. Cars' paint can do funny things in different light and lack thereof.

Good luck.

DaGnome

Thanks guys..

But it seems my car isn't going to be ready today after all

One of the things I pointed out that they did wrong yesterday was the appearance package back 'fins'. They were attached incorrectly and were following the bumper's contour rather than the bottom black valance contour. The result is that they were angled up at about a 30 degree angle up the back bumper rather than be parallel with the bottom of the car.

They claim that the way they had it was to spec (wish i took a picture of it wrong). But I've checked a few other RX8s and either the specs they have are wrong.. or Mazda never updated thier attachment instructions.

Either way they needed to repaint the bumper since they had to drill a different hole I guess.

As for being satisifed.. one of the reasons I chose this shop is that the insurance company said this was a 100% guaranteed shop, meaning that they guarantee the work for so long as I own the car. If i went to my own body shop they couldn't guarantee that.

Oh well.. crossing my fingers. Worse case.. I get a new one when the lease is up :P

derwankel

Matching paint is a known science, not an art. Being that your car is so new the factory paint should be easy to match, as long as they are using the correct materials. Pearls are a little tougher ... but in the end it is all computer driven.

Now what is not computer driven is the primer.

The color of the primer has a direct impact on the base, mid and topcoats. Particularly with lighter colors that don't cover as easily.

There are many primer colors used today ... the question is did they use the correct one. IMHO, the bottom line is, if it is not done to your satisfaction then it is not done.

SAFD1450

Ok im just going to add my .02 First off having grown up and/or worked in body shops for more then 21 years I have never seen this machine that Brice-rx8 talks about. (I'm not saying it dosnt exist, just that I have never seen one in Michigan anyways) Paint is usually matched by cards that the body shop has. Each company that makes paints puts out cards with a small section of the actual paint on it. You have to compare the paint on the card to the car. This is made harder by the addiction of pearls and metallics into the paint. As derwankel said there are many types of primer, but this shouldnt make a huge difference because the paint is applied in layers that cover the primer. Unless of coarse the used black on a white paint job, but they would have to be idiots. Not only is it hard to match the paint from the card to the car, but then you have to figure in the human error of mixing the paint with the catalysts. This could also slightly change the paints color. To make a long story short the shop screwed up. You should never have to wait 6 months or any time period for the paint to fade. As the paint on the whole car will fade and it still will not match. If you are un-happy I suggest you let them know and they will have to fix it. As for the insurance telling you to take it to a certain shop that is a load of crap insurances try to pull that stuff all the time. Almost ANY shop will offer to warranty there work, with the exception of rust. Insurances usually get kick backs from certain shops that they send clients to. Or the shop is known to undercharge the insurances. If you have any questions you can IM me anytime at SAFD1450 or email me at SAFD1450@Yahoo.com

Rx7Roadster

The machine does exist. When I had some body work done on my 88 RX7 they were able to match the faded red factory paint by taking the reading with the machine and it giving them a code to mix the paint. My body shop acutally sent me to a place that had it so that they could mix up the exact paint. I suggest you ask the shop about it and see what they can do to fix it.

KYRX8

You shouldnt have to "settle" for 2nd rate, half *** work. If they cant match the color and blend the bumper with the hood and fenders, they dont know how to paint. Any painter of any kind of quality and/or experience should be able to take a closely matching paint and then blend it when he shoots the car. Normally the hardest thing to blend on newer cars is the clear coat, and thats because most manufactureres bake it on so well from the factory. As we all know, this is not the case with Mazda clear coat, so blending should be a non-issue.
Keeping the attitude that you can live with inferior work until the lease is up is not the way you should feel. You didnt wreck your car, you didnt mismatch the paint. Someone is getting paid damn well to make your car look new again and if they cant paint, i would take it somewhere else.
At the very least, i would raise 20 kinds of hell until they got the bumper painted to match exactly.

Brice-RX8

Yes the machines do exist, I have seen one, and from what I have been told they are very expensive to purchase. I would definantly ask them if they have one, or to let someone who has one take a reading of your paint for them to see how far off they are. You have already had a minor amount of fading take place from the car being in the sun, this machine will take that into account.

DaGnome

Well good news and bad news..

I picked up the car today.. Finally!

The paint looked much better.. perhaps it simply had a cure a few days, I don't think I can even tell the difference now.

However after driving home and re-inspecting it (I did so at the shop).. it seems when they fixed the appearance package they did a half-a$$ job and it's popping off the bumper! I guess they used glue

I also noticed the rear bumper is not aligned correctly because one sides seam is perfectly flush with the quarter panel, the other side of the car is about a quarter inch off and pops 'out' a bit from the rest of the car. One of the rear black corners of the bumper (the part that goes around the exhaust) still has broken clips and is hanging on by a thread, I even pointed this out from the original drop off

Called and left a message with the original insurance guy... he's not going to be too happy with me, but at this point I don't care. The car was 4 months old, in perfect condition, I expect it to be that way when I get it back.

KYRX8

Take it back as many times as you have to, if he gets pissed, let him get pissed at the body shop, if they did it right the first time, you wouldnt have to take it back to them

DaGnome

Finally fished with this whole mess..

Brought it back to the body shop...
The mechanic swore they put it on the best they could.. even gave me some song and dance about how at the factory they trim each bumper exactly to the car.. etc.. he even started getting quite angry with the insurance guy saying "How the hell am I supposed to fix that... It's rubber, it's just the way it is".

I pointed out every little detail this time.. which of course got him a bit angrier, but the insurance adjuster was on my side the entire time saying if I wasn't happy, they'd fix it.

Well the mechanic said he'd try to see what he can do with the bumper but he'd wetsand the parts they missed (I'd found a few spots on the bumper that were't smooth that they had spot-touched and forgot to sand down again).

After about an hour .. my car was back in my hands.. and amazingly enough, both the rear appearance flares were on again and appear to be on for good this time.. the bumper is flush on both sides of the car and the rough patches of the bumper are all smooth.

So after 3 visits, 2 attempted pickups and an angry mechanic.. All is well with the world once again

derwankel

Good for you!!! Chalk one up for the customer!!!

Congrats!

SAFD1450

Dont think bad of all shops because this shot cant get its **** straight. Most shops are not like this. The shop I worked for was only about the customer. Some people go to work to get paid and others go to work because they love their job. I guess we know where they fall in.