Bought my mini, person before me had some decal crap on the hood and they gave us $500 off to have it painted. We got the hood painted and it looks awesome. Except one thing, they made some fine (smaller) scratches on the bottom areas of both headlights, and whatever they used to put over the headlights (i'm guessing tape) hazed about 1/4 of each headlight and it feels rough compared to the rest of the plastics. I am meticulous about my cars and this pisses me off

our friends own the shop so I went back and talked to them and they said they will have their person who does the headlight buffing (a "very expensive headlight buffer") work on them tomorrow. should I even let them touch it with the buffer or tell them that they need to replace them? it's definitely noticeable and anytime I have seen results of those headlight cleaner/buffers it always looks way worse and super fogged and scratched up....any advice? should I just let them do their job with the buffer and if it turns out bad then ask for replacements?

 

If they are already ruined to you, no harm in letting them try to buff it out.

 

double post

 

Is it too much for me to ask for replacements if they ruin them even more? I mean I take the car in there with perfect looking headlight casings, and they come out with these issues. They won't be cheap either since they are xenon

 

I wouldn't think it's too much to ask. I don't know you or the other persons personality type (meaning, if they might take offense to it), or how close of friends you are, but I would caution against losing a good friend over it. That's certainly not worth it.

 

He is your friend, you would know best. How good a friend is he and how bad do you want your car perfect.
However, it is just a car and some day it will be rusting scrap. Just my $.02

 

If it is a 2005 I would think the headlight covers would probably need a buffing anyway. Let them go ahead and do it.

I just hope the guy don't hit the new paint while working on the headlights. That would be a crime.

I hope everything comes out OK for you. Getting upset won't help so just calm down. I'm sure you do not want to lose a good friend over this.

 

Before buffing the headlight, are you certain it's not just clearcoat overspray which has the same look? If it is, then this overspray can be easily removed with some clay bar, and you won't have to worry about anyone screwing that up.

Btw, if anyone says they have an expensive headlight buffer guy, that's just BS or they are getting ripped off.

I can buff out a yellowed and fogged headlight in 15 minutes using Prima Swirl and a 3" Orbital like a Griots or Metabo, or even a 3" pad on a PC. I know about a high school kid around here that charges $10 a headlight and restores them in office parks.

If this shop had painted the bonnet correctly, they would have removed the headlights to paint the bonnet, then wetsanded and polished it before reassembling it, so this type of problem would never have happened. Sounds like they took the shortcut way and left everything in place and shot it the Earl Shieb way.

Like when I had my 2005 MCS bonnet repainted, the body work to remove the front badge and close up the holes looked like this....


And this after painting

 

Yeah the people we know they are just family friends, we are not close to them by any means, but friendly and see eachother maybe a few times a month. I take it in tomorrow to have them buff the lights so we'll see how it turns out, hopefully good.

 

Like I said, you need to make SURE that you need to buff them. Why don't you take a picture and post it here so we can look at the actual problem?

 

I tried to get pictures, but my camera can't pick up the haze. best way i can explain it...theres a patch about 5 inches long and 3 inches wide that is just more rough than the rest of the headlight, and it is hazed and not smooth when you run your finger over it. they also put some fine scratches on the bottom of each headlight casing that are about 6 inches long. I guess I might be too picky, but it's more of a this should not happen when I take my car's hood to get painted sort of thing.

 

also if you don't mind me asking, how much is a complete paint job?

 

I'm not disagreeing with you about the end result. You came here asking about what to do about your problem, but without actual data, we can't advise you more than what you already know.

The way you focus on the haze is simple. Put your finger on the haze. Focus your camera on your finger, with the focus locked, pull your finger away and snap the picture. Or if your camera won't lock, just take a picture of the haze with your finger in the picture.

What you refer to as the "headlight casing" is just the chrome ring around the headlight and that is easily replaced at minimal cost.

I'm assuming that since they left the headlights in placed and shot the car, that there is two ways this haze got there.

Either it's a result of clear coat overspray getting past the masking which often happens during painting and can easily be cleaned up...you can often tell this if the patch you refer to has a sharp edge or line..but again without pictures we cannot tell.

The other possibility is when they sanded and compounded (polished) they carelessly sanded or buffed the headlight. A wool pad on a rotary wouldn't haze up the headlights though, however a sanding block would do that. Again, we can only guess without actual data.

Richard

 

It varies....$500 to respray the bonnet is a good price. A proper repainting here in SoCal ranges from $500-$1000 depending on what prep needs to be done.

When you say complete, are you talking about bonnet only or the entire car? A proper paint job for the entire care would start around $5,000. But I would question, what makes you think you need to repaint it all.....

Provide more data, and I can provide better answers....

 

mess

 

A good paint job lies in the prep and finishing. The actual painting process is pretty simple and the majority of the cost is in the materials..basecoat and clearcoat. These Maaco paint jobs look great for a year or two and they begin to peel around the edges where they taped it off and because to get the costs down, they don't sand and prep the surfaces enough before laying on new paint. So I consider these shops as good ways to get fast temporary paint job, but much better if you do the prep yourself, have them shoot it, then you finish it. Course if you don't have the experience or ability that's not an option, but that's how you can get a decent long lasting cheap paint job, lol.

Just make sure to keep the paint well protected and don't neglect it as the months roll by.

Richard

 

Turned the lights on tonight and was able to capture a little of the haze that is on there. It is down towards the bottom, right to the left of the H7 letters. Thanks

 

That is overspray.... like Richard says, clay it before you do anything else, it will take a pass or two with the clay but it should remove it.

 

it ended up being overspray like you guys had said. took it in and suggested that they not use the buffer but rather a clay bar, came back 2 hours later and they look better than before I took the car in for the hood to be repainted. thanks for the help

 

Great! Proper diagnosis is always key!

Richard

 

You got a great paint job and they took the overspray off of your lights. It can't get much better then that.