Need some opinions or help. I had some deep scratches on the roof of my car caused by a cat and took it to an auto body shop to have them repair the damage. The dealer quoted me $600.00 to fix Long story short, the auto body shop touched up the spots, which were not that noticeable, but whatever he did, exposed the silver paint under the black paint, which left a far more noticeable problem then which I originally brought to him (along with some clear coat scratches) My question is: could the spot be fixed without respraying the whole roof? If so, is there any place in New Jersey anyone could recommend or is qualified to do this job? Thank You.

 

Wow, it took me about 30 seconds to figure out what i was looking at. I just had my dealer fix my door after it was keyed, but Gieco was footing the bill so price wasn't really an issue.

 

hope this clears the confusion

 

If you paid somebody $600 to repair damage and you arent happy with the repair, did you express your dissatisfaction with the work? I would only be happy if the work was redone to acceptable standards or if I received a refund of the amount of money I paid since clearly they have not done what they said they would.

 

You paid? Have them make good. $600 is a lot for such a minor repair. On the Mini I've only dealt with Prestige Mini through insurance, they did a great job.

 

I’m going back to him tomorrow for a refund. Would not trust him to fix-it again.
The dealer quoted me $600.00 to fix, that was for the whole roof repainted, the scratches were small, so instead I had the auto body shop just touch up the scratches for $50.00. I would assume an easy fix for most body shops, The thing that gets me mad is when you bring your car to a professional auto body shop it should look better then when you dropped it off, Sorry just venting! Will give Prestige Mini a call Thanks...

 

If you're lucky it will be less than $600. Dan Del Rio is the body shop manager, he's usually very busy but is a good guy and will get it done right.

 

Thanks, hopefully they can just fix the spot without repainting the whole roof. I will give Dan a call tomorrow, Thanks again

 

That ain't gonna happen. The roof is basecoat/clearcoat. If you have so much as a dime sized spot, you need to basecoat the damaged area and clearcoat the entire roof. (that is the correct way)

You could burn in the clearcoat but that is a no-no because what you're basically doing is taking the clearcoat from 3-4 mils to zero. At some point when the car gets washed and waxed or buffed, you will "eat back" the "edge" of the clearcoat and it will leave a line. (thus the reason why they clear all the way to the edge)

Depending if you have a sunroof will determine how hard the rest of this goes.

If you have no sunroof, the edge trim can be either removed and/or masked off.

If you have a sunroof, there is no way to "mask" off the rubber seal around the sunroof. (and do it correctly)

If you have a sunroof, the headliner and sunroof cassette should be dropped. THEN, you will have to have the seals around the sunroof replaced.

That is the correct way to do it so hopefully you don't have a sunroof.

HTH's,

Mark

PS. It looks like the shop tried to "brushtouch" the scratch and then wetsanded and buffed it. By pushing too hard on the wetsanding and buffing, they ate through the clearcoat and basecoat. The underlying color is the original color.

PSS. Unless the bodyshop told you that they are wetsanding and buffing and there is a slight chance it could burn through, they should be responsible for repairing correctly now. In both my bodyshops, if we don't tell a customer that, chances are we'll burn through. (Murphy's Law) Point is, in 26 years, I've sprayed my share of free crap because I didn't preface that statement when I started.

 

Thanks for all that good info I guess in this case its bad that I have a sunroof. Now I could see why the dealer wanted $600.00 to fix it.

The small scratches he fixed are not that noticeable, but the way the light catches the silver makes the whole spot very noticeable Im sure he’s not going to fix it the correct way if it’s out of his pocket nor would I trust him with my car again.

He did this job about 3 weeks ago and it seems the silver spots are getting bigger maybe due to the wetsanding away of the clearcoat? With no clearcoat in that spot I’m assuming the paint would not last very long?

is there anyway of making the spot less noticeable, other then covering it with a sticker?

 

One more picture:

 

A cat did that? Didn't think a cat scratch would go that deep. Was the roof previously painted over the original paint?

 

Your dealerships $600 estimate makes sense, as I got quoted by my dealership $500 to repaint the entire roof. Sucks.

Good luck getting this resolved, hopefully all goes well.

 

I had the Mini car cover on it over the winter thinking it would keep the car safe. I guess the cat decided stretch its claws out on my car cover!! It proceeded to destroy the car cover as well as the paint underneath it. If anybody is thinking of getting a car cover for their Mini, make sure your neighborhood is cat free!! The roof is the factory paint, I think they just paint the black over the silver.



The estimate you received for $500.00, was that for a car with a sunroof?

 

No, unfortunately, no.....

 

Wishful-thinking...just had to ask.
I would have you do the work if you were a little closer.
Just curious will a re-spray look as good as the factory job?

Thanks for all your info you been a big help!


Called Dan Del Rio at Prestige Mini today and got an over the phone quote of $750 to fix. Ouch! going to have him look at it and hopefully the price will go down a little.

 

A few thoughts....

Yes, if the prep and refinish is done correctly, NO ONE Should know it was ever painted.

Having said that... if you are as **** as I am, MAKE SURE THE BODYSHOP REPLACES THE SEALS/GASKETS AROUND THE SUNROOF. (and make sure they order them first so they're already at the bodyshop when you arrive)

The "gasket/seal" is two-sided taped on the inside edge (outside edge of the sunroof) of the roof.

The seal is SO tight against the roof, there is no way you can mask it off. If they do, there is no way they will be able to sand correctly against the edge and sooner or later, the clearcoat will start to flake.

I know that's not what you want to hear but like I said, if you're **** and want it done correctly.

Okay, having said all that. When you go there, ask them if they are removing the headliner and sunroof cassette and replacing the gasket/seals or just masking them off.

For 750.00, they should be removing the sunroof cassette.

Just double check.

Mark

 

If you go to the Mini main website, there's a video there that shows how they're built. According to video, the roof color is sprayed over the base color. In fact the video shows factory workers masking off the rest of the body by hand before re-spraying the roof, to protect the body from roof color overspray. That kinda sucks for us "uni-color" Minis, because MINI doesn't give us a price break for saving them the labor and paint of adding the contrasting roof.

I don't know, but if it were me, I would've given the shop a chance to fix the mistake, unless there other reasons that you don't trust them. Yes, the difference between a bad and good paint job is all in the preparation; if they're not spending more time getting the car prepared for painting than actually shooting the paint, then the shop isn't doing the job right.

 

Hmmm, that's interesting. I've never seen the video but what you said is true. Instead of charging more for an add'l color, they should give a discount for not having to refinish a second color.

Mark

 

The video is on the international MINI website

http://www.mini.com/com/en/manufacturing/index.jsp

Or you can use the MINIUSA.com website to navigate to the international MINI site. Then place the cursor on Planet Mini and click on Manufacturing. It's slightly dated, it's clearly Gen1 Minis being built.

 

Thanks again. He did say something about replacing the gasket, I will ask him again. He also said it would take about 4 or 5 days to complete. I just hope they do a nice job for that money and not damage something else in the process. When it comes to my car I am ****. Do you happen to have a shop in Jersey by any chance?


I would be nervous about using him again. I’m sure he noticed the mistake he made, as the owner he could have been up-front with me about it and not charged me or fixed his mistake.

It’s a sad fact that some businesses are just not honest and don’t take pride in their work, As a business owner myself I see it all the time.

 

You also need to take care of that cat.

 

Yes, that's a good point. Without seeing the shop, I shouldn't really recommend anything regarding it.

 

On non-Clubman models, at least, when you raise the hatch, if you look near the top of the opening you can see that the roof colour is painted over the body colour. Probably easier to manufacture that way.


You should see my friend's (one-month-old) Macbook Pro! After closing the lid to put it to sleep, her cat decided it was nice and warm and thus a good place to curl up and sleep. And, evidently, stretch its claws. Now the poor Macbook Pro is not as pretty as it used to be.

I'm a dog person, myself.

 

Yikes!
$750 for a roof refin? Whats the labor/refinish rates there?

Here in LA, its about $40 labor & $30 material /hour.