learned a hard lesson today!

[builthatch]

i am eternally anal regarding my vehicles...

the yesterday i heard a pebble hit the roof of my ms3 while on the highway. i knew it probably left a mark, and sho 'nuff, it did; a small chip with a baby chip next to it. whenever i get a new car, such as with my ms3, i always get a body shop contact of mine to mix up some matched Glasurit base so i can touch up little things that pop up. this particular problem didn't respond well to the plain 'ol touch up paint, so i figured i'd go ahead and put some clear atop it, and then wet sand.

i work with plastic scale models, have a pretty good artistic feel, etc, AND, since this was on the roof, i figured i'd have some leeway because hoods and roofs typically have the most clear on them due to gravity when painting during production. so i went ahead and did my thing. the first round of toch up clear and wet sanding of the spot (2000 grit) came out pretty good, but it needed a hair more clear to fill it up just a bit more and make it totally sealed and flush. so i went ahead and put another layer on, and left it overnight to set. i come out in the morning, it's cured as planned, and go to wet sand. after i'm done, i go and hit it with some compound by hand and notice that all around my spot, about 1" diameter, is a hair darker than the rest. turns out i freakin' broke through the factory clear with the paper!!!!!! interestingly enough, i wasn't that upset because i knew that whatever resulted at this point, would mean no more chip, so, despite the hassle and cost, it would be back to perfect. but i DEF learned a lesson about doing this type of thing on a silver car...

so i passed my favorite body shop enroute to easter b-fast, and sure enough my guy is there, on easter sunday, hanging out doing some side work. i show him the spot and he tells me the best way to handle it, to make it perfect again, is to sand it down, blend in some base, level it, etc, and then re-clear the entire roof. the design of the ms3 roof makes it a pretty easy proposition, since the roof is a pretty seperate deal on this car due to the roof side gutters, etc. he assured me it'll be mint and he's always done me good so i went ahead and scheduled for 4/2.

it was a hard lesson learned, but atleast there was a problem there that was out of my control in the first place which will be resolved properly because i made it worse haha.

 

[NOTSPCY]

umm wow . repaint and clear for a small chip . do you have pix of the damage that your going nuts about ?

 

[builthatch]

umm wow . repaint and clear for a small chip . do you have pix of the damage that your going nuts about ?

that's the thing; it would have been just a chip that i touched up and left alone, but once i broke through the factory clear while trying to fix it, that was it for me. i can't leave the base exposed, making a 1" dark circle right on the roof near the driver's side front. it is very obvious in indirect light conditions and on a brand new car, it's very bothersome. he said most shops would probably try to spot repair it, and blend out the clear, but we all know that for long term, that's not the best idea as clear blends can get funky along the edge. the original chip(s) were very small and probably would have not been noticed by most, but i wanted to make it a little bit better and i screwed up.

no pics, but it was small, trust me lol. the spot is hard to pic up on film (so to speak), but it's pretty dang evident.

 

[MS3077]

I had a 4 dr Civic si as well, fun little car.

Sorry about your luck, that sucks!

 

[blake_peanut]

The paint on our Mazda's is completely s***...if I would of knew how bad it was I probably would of thought twice about buying it. Mine is only three months old and I have a good bunch of rock chips. Touch up pen paint doesn't match at all so I have to get some made up. I am way to afraid to do this sanding, like you tried and that I have seen on a "How to". So I just went to the hobby store, got the smallest brush they had and attempted to do do it that way. But I found out (like I said above) the touch up paint doesn't match at all. Not sure what to do now....live with it? At this rate car is going to look like complete ass in a couple of years.

 

[builthatch]

The paint on our Mazda's is completely s***...if I would of knew how bad it was I probably would of thought twice about buying it. Mine is only three months old and I have a good bunch of rock chips. Touch up pen paint doesn't match at all so I have to get some made up. I am way to afraid to do this sanding, like you tried and that I have seen on a "How to". So I just went to the hobby store, got the smallest brush they had and attempted to do do it that way. But I found out (like I said above) the touch up paint doesn't match at all. Not sure what to do now....live with it? At this rate car is going to look like complete ass in a couple of years.

the how-to's are a little misleading. if it's done exactly right, there is a chance it will come out looking nice, especially on dark or solid colors, but the risk involved is not worth the consequence.

regarding the paint...believe it or not, it's actually pretty good considering what's rolling off the lots nowadays. one thing we have going for us is that the car is painted in japan, a place that has different environmental regs compared to north america. the paint and clear we get is actually more robust than the paint that is used on, say, today's hondas- cars that 10-15 years ago had somewhat robust paint, but now have weak clear coat, weak base and flaws abound. my Si's paint is crap and unfortunately, that's par for the course nowadays with Honda. it's MUCH worse than my ms3 in terms of durability.

for most chips and such, i really think the best bet at this point is to do what i've always done and should have done here- get the base mixed using a great brand (glasurit is ideal), get a magnifying glass and a TINY brush (i mean, as tiny and neat as you can find at a well-stocked hobby shop or art supply store). keep the base stored in a model paint or airbrush paint glass jar w/ metal lid. make sure they mix the base on the very thin side, so it's easy to work with. clean the spot well with alcohol and carefully apply the touch up to the best of your ability, in layers and without going over the edges. some colors are easier to work with that others, metallics, and moreover silver metallic is very hard to get to come out nicely, but you can see what the alternatives are from my story!

 

[Bochet]

that's cool you have the talent to do this type of touch up body work. i don't have the balls (read: knowledge) to take sandpaper to a car to try to touch up. wish i did.

 

[BOOSTR]

Unless you have years of experience and a rotary buffer, stay away from your paint with sand paper and internet how to's for paint repair. You'll never get rid of sand marks by hand applying compound.

But no doubt Mazda paint sucks as when it comes to chips, scratches and durability.

 

[builthatch]

the saga continues...i know it's long, but more or less, it's here for my records, something that is documented at this date so i can use it if need be. feel free to read and comment though, haha...

so last week, i took the car in to a guy who paints race cars for a good friend of mine. i decided to not go to my normal guy due to scheduling delays, which as you'll see was probably a mistake. the guy i ended up going to, atleast with my friend, has an outstanding reputation, owns several exotics, has multiple shops, etc, so i figured why not. this was on a monday, he said bring it tomorrow, (3/25), and he'll keep it overnight for pickup late weds. he said he'll drop the headliner and remove the antenna base. he said removing the side gutter moldings isn't necessary. they would repair the spot, blend it, then reclear the whole roof. it would look like factory, brand new.......

so i drop it off on tuesday morning, way early, arrange for a rental, and as it turned out, he claimed he had to keep the car until what turned out to be friday last week. i wasn't enthused about that, but hey, as long as it came out right, what do i care. the rental bill came out to like 130 bucks. the bill for the shop was 550 cash. expensive, but i was warned about that, and i didn't care, as long as it was done right.

at first, the job looks great, but new clear will do that to a paint job. i get the car home, and instantly notice a dent on the passenger side of the roof, toward the front that WASN'T there before. yes, i know these cars have some waves near the edges toward the middle-rear of the roof, on both sides, but this was up front, right inline with the b pillar, and 1000% was not present before i gave the car to him. so i call him, and he from the get-go resists the notion that they could have done it. he says things like 'it was probably there, but now that there is new clear on it, it's more 'glamorous' and you notice it more'. the car is not even 3 months old, i keep it in pristine shape, and furthermore my head was on that roof from all angles for two days when i was tending to the original chip. so i take it to him to see this dent and also knock down a slight high spot in the clear. he gets the high spot and then he tells me that he can work out a deal with me for the dent, still not admitting that it could have happened there, and that when they take that out, they will take out the factory waves, all for $750!!! i told him many times already to disregard in these conversations because i don't CARE about them, since they are on all of these cars and i wanted to focus on the lone dent that mysteriously showed up. so i decide to leave for the time being, and consult a PDR guy; i figure, yes, i can battle this guy, however, if i can get a good PDR guy to take it out, then fine, lesson learned with this body shop, and my car is back to normal.

it bothers me all weekend, how i just paid all this money and the damn roof is still ****** up, but, again, i wanted to make this as easy as possible instead of as hard as possible. i get a hold of my PDR guy, and on Monday this week he removes the ding about 95%; he did a great job and i was very pleased. I pay him $100, despite the $85 dollar charge since he's his own business. i was still bitter about the fact that this guy got over on me with this dent, but atleast it's gone. so while i am cleaning the spot where the dent guy was (it's a dreary day), i notice in the gutter there are two spots where the mask lines for the clear are white, and prominently raised, and angle up toward the edge of the roof panel. this sticks out like a sore thumb, and i'm sure turned that color as a result of the curing process completing, so i call the body shop guy again, and tell him about it. he says if i get a new gutter molding/clips/etc for that side, which is like 55 bucks, and he'll get that line stuff outta there and make it match the rest of the gutter areas.

so i go to the dealer, order the piece, and come back the next day to pick it up. in the parking lot of the dealer, i notice all these white spots and lines have appeared on my roof, under the clear! they are blotches, stripes, smears, etc etc. these are very noticeable and i am almost sick, literally, when i notice them. i take the car down to him again, and am livid, but civil. i tell him that this is a disgrace, and it's to the point where it's making me physically ill. he says to me, despite still having an air of arrogance and disdain, that he'll take care of it for me by repainting the entire roof. he said to bring it in next tuesday morning, he'll stop whatever he is doing, and take care of this so i can have it for the following afternoon (sounds familiar, eh?). he tells me that i might as well go get the other molding for the other side too, while they are at it with this. so i go AGAIN to the dealer, today, and order the other molding. i have to go back tomorrow and pick it up. that's another $55 i spent.

so, as it stands, tolls and gas and time aside, i have spent $890 CASH so far for this bulls***, and the car is 100x worse on the roof than it was when i had my original chip.

i am still set for a tuesday morning drop off, so we'll see, but i am glad i didn't push the issue with the dent in light of what has developed with this job. i hope to all that is holy that this doesn't progress and it's done satisfactorily or else i really will have to turn up the heat and at the same time lose my mind haha...

 

[Sierra117]

All this for a chip that 99.9% of people will never see? Damn, thats dome show car dedication right there.

And as far as Mazda paint goes...I challange you to find an FD that hasn't had at least a level of repaint done.

 

[builthatch]

All this for a chip that 99.9% of people will never see? Damn, thats dome show car dedication right there.

well, really it's a touch-up gone wrong, and at that point it required the professional work. i should have just touched it up with just the mixed base, and left it. the wetsanding is what made this the real mess, since these cars have just enough clear on them to protect the base and give shine. it's actually a very VERY thin coat compared to other cars i've dealt with.

to, the white marks/blotches/smears under the clear that i discussed above are not practically gone, but have turned into little bubbles in the base, like baby bubbles making up the shapes that once were easily seen and white (or dark, depending on the lighting). this i believe is called solvent pop and is a definite problem. i'm glad i was able to get the dude to see the marks before they turned into these bubbles because these little bubbles are def harder to see than the marks were.

 

[controlo]

well, really it's a touch-up gone wrong, and at that point it required the professional work. i should have just touched it up with just the mixed base, and left it. the wetsanding is what made this the real mess, since these cars have just enough clear on them to protect the base and give shine. it's actually a very VERY thin coat compared to other cars i've dealt with.

to, the white marks/blotches/smears under the clear that i discussed above are not practically gone, but have turned into little bubbles in the base, like baby bubbles making up the shapes that once were easily seen and white (or dark, depending on the lighting). this i believe is called solvent pop and is a definite problem. i'm glad i was able to get the dude to see the marks before they turned into these bubbles because these little bubbles are def harder to see than the marks were.

dang, i'm sorry to hear about that man. that's exactly why i'm afraid to take my car to a paint shop. they're just not enthusiasts. :/

 

[Silver Ecstasy]

The car's really low off the ground, so rock chips are a given already.

But I don't know if I would have gone so far as to make a big deal over the roof.

Once I get mine, I plan on waxing atleast once every couple of months and hoping for the best. Eventually, i'll just repaint the entire car anyhow, so I'm not worried about chips honestly. It's gonna happen either way on any car unless it's not your daily driver.

 

[SgtP]

Just got back from the body shop that is replacing my bumper and headlight and the damn paint didn't even match. Color was close but the texture was not. Is it that hard to match factory paint?

 

[builthatch]

Just got back from the body shop that is replacing my bumper and headlight and the damn paint didn't even match. Color was close but the texture was not. Is it that hard to match factory paint?

texture...by that do you mean the metallic flake distribution? was the actual tactile feel different or something? it should be glassy smooth. if you are taking about the metallic, i don't know enough to know why that would be different, especially if the paint system is a good one and the shop is solid. anyway, if you notice, esp on the silver, the bumpers from the factory are a bit darker than elsewhere. it's a very slight difference, but it's because they are painted seperately...

most cars are like that nowadays. unless you paint with the same batch, it'll always vary a hair, it'll never match 1000%.

 

[builthatch]

well, i got the piece back on friday. it looked flawless. they handled the stock rearward waves well, deleting them all properly and they even managed to remove and reinstall my stock gutter moldings without issue (yay i get to take the ones i bought back!)

in an interesting twist...an old friend of mine called me and i was talking to him about this issue. i knew him to be a BASF rep, but he told me that he worked for PPG now as a factory rep, and actually serviced the center where i got my car done. he called down there when the car was being done and asked the owner how it's going. i'm sure the owner was very surprised to get that call ; )

anyway-

i found two VERY small pieces of junk toward the back on the edges, probably a piece of dust in each instance, but nothing even worth mentioning really- the factory paint could easily have something like that in it. i noticed all the spots that had the solvent pop look wonderful - if i look at a bright light via the areas, i can see a few of the baby baby needle head pops still, but they are half craters instead of bubbles if that makes sense. i assume they were sanded down and handled however they handled them, rebased, cleared, etc. i am probably the only one that could find them even if i told someone where they were, and how to find them! my scale modeling background and overall anal ways are responsible for the hunt that found them in the first place.

i am very pleased with the result, FINALLY!!!!!!!!!! now i can go back to normal and enjoy having my car back.