When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Bclexus - thanks for all your input. I’ll do my best and see what I can work out with the collision center.
I read an article that said that the factory usually has different types of sprayers and painting machines for the bumpers and sheet metal portions. Unsure of all that lol, but might be true.
I tried to get the insurance to total it but they wouldn’t budge. Really wanted it but they just wouldn’t. Sadly!
Good luck to you, and please let us know what your insurance agent says as well as what the body shop owner says. All the best!
You should be able to raise your concerns with the shop and they should address them. The bubbles are a no brainer and that's just poor workmanship.
I do see that the shade on the bumper is a bit off, but I think the shop is right on that one. It's hard to match 100% but they can try. Sometimes they could do it, sometimes they cannot. That's not to say that its acceptable, but there are plenty of cars out on the road with bumpers being a few shades off (even new cars at the dealership!). The gap is hard to say. Is the gap any bigger than how it is on the front bumper? Can they make some adjustments? Is this an OEM/genuine lexus bumper or aftermarket?
BC - thank you! Will keep this post updated and see what happens. One way or another, it will be fixed. I’ll take the less aggressive measures first because being calm usually can help lol, sometimes!
azipod - thanks for comment. According to the shop invoice and my insurance adjustment, the bumper alongside everything that was replaced was OEM. I will confirm this. Pretty sure it is but who knows. I’m raising red flags now. They may have written down OEM, but got an aftermarket after I’m seeing how the paint was done.
let’s see what they do to fix this.
That is why a lot of people, myself included, will more than likely get rid of a vehicle if it's been wrecked, even a little. It will likely cost some extra money to get rid of it, and you'll almost certainly replace it with a newer model that is more expensive, but dealing with the aftermath of even a minor wrecked vehicle can drive you crazy...especially if you are OCD at all about your car.
That is why a lot of people, myself included, will more than likely get rid of a vehicle if it's been wrecked, even a little. It will likely cost some extra money to get rid of it, and you'll almost certainly replace it with a newer model that is more expensive, but dealing with the aftermath of even a minor wrecked vehicle can drive you crazy...especially if you are OCD at all about your car.
Originally Posted by ItzFilyO
Me!
I have to admit I thought of you as I was typing it...
As people have said, those paint bubbles and a dirty headliner are definitely a problem. If your family has given that shop a lot of business, bring that up with the owner. If they’re worth anything and value your business, he’ll take care of you. Good luck to you.
For the headliner use this product: Resolve Carpet cleaner, you can buy at wal-mart. I used it on my headliner when I bought the car, it works like magic, the stain will disappear and nothing is left on the cloth you wipe it down with. Most other products will just smear it around. I think it's the oxi in the resolve that does the trick. I tested a spot in my headliner and was shocked how perfect this worked. I cleaned up several spots in the headliner from the previous owner. I got the idea after I cleaned a wine spill on carpet, the resolve left the carpet spotless. Also this product did not stain or discolor the headliner.
There are several variations of the product, any of them will work. I found this one on amazon for $3.94 free one day shipping for prime members:
Those bubbles in the paint is debris that landed on the panel/paint and painted over . Those might be under the base coat, meaning if they tried to sand/buff it out it might eat through the clear/color coat. The only way to fix that is to sand/buff it out, but they might have to sand/repaint it. Liquid platinum is a hard color to match perfectly(3 stage paint), usually they blend it into the adjacent panels. or a really good painter will do several spay outs with tweaks to the paint/clear to find the combination that matches perfectly to the original paint. If that body shop was reputable, they would sand/buff out the bumps in the paint. Did you take it back to them and have them feel the bumps with their hands?
Yes there is no cover under the rear deck, that's how it is on my 2013, normal.
I went back to a body shop twice to fix paintwork, they did make it look much better, 94% perfect. It's likely never going to be a perfect match, you'll just have to live with it, but the bumps in the paint is unacceptable.
IMO:
1. Body panels are aligned as good as they can be, it's fairly tough to get it 100%/OEM
2. You'll never know if parts are OEM or not unless you look for some stamped serial ID's or stamped manufacturer codes
3. Paint is absolutely unacceptable. The bubbling will require extensive work to repair (as mentioned above) and the shop shouldn't disagree to this.
4. As far as the paint match, LP is difficult to match but doable...did they blend your quarter panels?
5. Can you wipe off the handprints on the headliner, or is your headliner damaged?
Thank you CottageChz - My family has given them a lot of business and the owner has always helped us out - but since he opened his car dealership, he hasn't been as involved with the collision shop ( the dealer is right next door ) but seems to be busy with all that. I am going to have a talk with him to see what he can do. If he can afford to buy and sell Rolls Royce's, Bentley's, etc, he can take care of this lol.
Peasodos - Thank you! I've used that on my carpet at home actually. Having cream-colored carpet can suck sometimes! I'll try that out and see if it removes it, but first will have the collision shop take a look. I appreciate all your feedback and comments though. I know its nearly impossible to match 100% but hey my insurance paid nearly $11,000.. I want perfection.
M3to4GS - They have a lifetime warranty on all repairs, so they will stand up to this and fix it, I'm sure of it. It is just a hassle. I barely have time as it is but what can I do? The headliner handprints are smears when they were working on the car, not damaged. They attempted to clean it once but it's still there.
The driver side rear quarter panel was all replaced so that was blended in with the rear driver side door. The paint match on the rear bumper looks off on the passenger side where they did NOT blend into the passenger quarter. I will tell them to blend into the quarter since they didn't do the job right the first time.
Thank you CottageChz - My family has given them a lot of business and the owner has always helped us out - but since he opened his car dealership, he hasn't been as involved with the collision shop ( the dealer is right next door ) but seems to be busy with all that. I am going to have a talk with him to see what he can do. If he can afford to buy and sell Rolls Royce's, Bentley's, etc, he can take care of this lol.
Peasodos - Thank you! I've used that on my carpet at home actually. Having cream-colored carpet can suck sometimes! I'll try that out and see if it removes it, but first will have the collision shop take a look. I appreciate all your feedback and comments though. I know its nearly impossible to match 100% but hey my insurance paid nearly $11,000.. I want perfection.
M3to4GS - They have a lifetime warranty on all repairs, so they will stand up to this and fix it, I'm sure of it. It is just a hassle. I barely have time as it is but what can I do? The headliner handprints are smears when they were working on the car, not damaged. They attempted to clean it once but it's still there.
The driver side rear quarter panel was all replaced so that was blended in with the rear driver side door. The paint match on the rear bumper looks off on the passenger side where they did NOT blend into the passenger quarter. I will tell them to blend into the quarter since they didn't do the job right the first time.
How much did you pay for the repairs? Did you give him the whole $11K check?
01-22-20, 05:35 PM
