Alfie gets paint, we get screwed

Blimey!! A heading like that is like an open invite, not? :0)

Sorry have not read the content yet..

J.

.............Wow Terry. I can't believe that anyone would pull a stunt like that. It seems that paint & body work is the refuge of more than a few scoundrels and not just out where you live. It must be tough for them to do mechanical/electrical repair work on modern cars with the electronic engine management systems of today and the paint & body business is the only option left for these jerks.

I had a friend send her corvette to a shop, the guy took it to a maaco shop in florida, brought it back and charged her his full price.

Its hard to paint over the junk paint maaco uses you might have to have it stripped if you want something that will last.

Mario

Alot of it has to do with the paint used, and if the painter cares or not about what there doing. But thats what got me painting 20 yrs ago.

Mario

having grown up in a family full of mechanics and bodymen i do see the "quality" of the painjobs(factory) today...it is bad...really....we bought the wife a new mazda last summer....the paint quality on it is good, but alot of the "other" cars we looked at looked as though a drunk painted them....sad really

------------------- Chris Perdue

"Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug!"

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Being a 'wannabe' painter and having read the articles, I being told that preparation is very important. The wrist action ( calm down) is important, the distance from the metal is important, and also the painting conditions & drying. If these large factories have lets say, perfect conditions, bare metal, robots that know how far to paint, ovens etc, why on earth can it go so badly wrong ? Is it just pure sloppy money saving ?

james

good question James....most, if not all, manufacturers electrostatically paint their vehicles now....maybe equipment, materials, etc, have changed and the finishes are just not what they used to be...maybe it all comes down to production taking priority over quality of the finished product...who knows, but i can guarantee you that as long as everyone keeps buying them they won't change a thing...

------------------- Chris Perdue

"Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug!"

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I hate to say it, but that paint job is bad even by *my* standards.

I also think most customers just don't notice. They see shiny paint and that is enough, they don't notice the peel. BTW, not sure if this is true, but a buddy of mine said that VWs originally came with some peel, too. I can't imagine that any manufacturer would take the time to color sand their cars and buff them because of the amount of time it takes would be prohibitive. Is it possible to get a really flat paint job out of the can so to speak without color sanding and buffing?

--Dan E

the single stage paints do flow out well...but you will never get the "flatness" or "depth" without colorsanding and buffing...

------------------- Chris Perdue

"Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug!"

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I've noticed that Mazda paint is pretty good (or at least it is on my parents 2003 323 Sport), but I know what you mean about modern cars. Some of the paint is HORRIBLE!

-- Howard Rose

1966 VW Beetle 1300 Deluxe 1962 Austin Mini Deluxe 1964 Austin Mini Super Deluxe (cars/email on website)

good possibility your parents car is the same as my wife's...its a 2003 mazda Protege ES..

------------------- Chris Perdue "I'm ever so thankful for the Internet; it has allowed me to keep a finger in the pie and to make some small contribution to those younger who will carry the air-cooled legend forward" Jim Mais Feb. 2004

Okay. I know everybody thinks I'm a car idiot but even *I* know that's horrible. I've seen better crap come out of a high gloss rattle can. That just hurts. I could only look at the first 6 pictures until my neck hurt from cringing. I woulda kicked the CRAP out of the idiot that sent Alfie to Maaco. I hurt for you, Terry.

Kidd What's the difference between a northern fairytale and a southern fairytale? A northern fairytale starts out "Once upon a time..." A southern fairytale starts with "Ya'll ain't gonna believe this shit..."

I'm not too sure, the US Protege seems to have a boot/trunk, whereas the UK 323 is more of a large hatchback.

Maybe another case of "badge engineering" between countries :-D

It looks like this:

-- Howard Rose

1966 VW Beetle 1300 Deluxe 1962 Austin Mini Deluxe 1964 Austin Mini Super Deluxe (cars/email on website)

Nice car.......the protege(now mazda 3) was the same only a sedan...that car was marketed as the "mazda 5" (for five door) but is just the "hatchback" version...very decent cars(for an economy car)... i don't have a pic handy of ours, but you can see what we Americans get by searching google images for "2003 mazda protege" .... you will see he protege and the mazda 5...ours is "lazer blue mica"....

------------------- Chris Perdue "I'm ever so thankful for the Internet; it has allowed me to keep a finger in the pie and to make some small contribution to those younger who will carry the air-cooled legend forward" Jim Mais Feb. 2004

Wow....I actually didn't think it looked that bad. Except for all the dents.... I guess I just don't know what to look for in a good paint job. Of course, compared to my tri-colored '73. everything looks good. What exactly is orange peel? I hear this mentioned all the time, and I have no idea what it is.

~Anthony

Like it sounds, it is paint with the appearence of an orange peel. Instead of flat the paint surface looks like it has craters in it. It is caused by the paint not being properly mixed and or atomotized. You can usually correct the problem by wet sanding and buffing. I also used to be pretty clueless about paint jobs until I started doing my own. I always thought if it was shiny it was good, but there is a big difference between a quality (read expensive paint job) and your typical factory job or aftermarket, read Maaco, job.

--Dan E