Bumper Paintwork Haze

[lennshow66]

Hi All,

 

I purchased this 17 reg Skoda Octavia a few weeks ago and gave it a good clean at the weekend and have noticed the bumper paintwork doesn't seem to be spot on, it seems blurry and doesn't feel as smooth as the rest of the car. Has anyone had similar with there cars? How could I go about correcting it? I've messaged the Skoda Dealer I purchased the car from and am just waiting to hear back.

Thanks!

 

Edited 15 June, 2019 by john999boy
Photos removed at OP's request.

[pist0nbr0ke]

Looks like a (not very good, possibly 'smart') repair...

 

Would probably need repainting to rectify.

[Auric Goldfinger]

2 minutes ago, pist0nbr0ke said:

Looks like a (not very good, possibly 'smart') repair...

 

Would probably need repainting to rectify.

 

Nip into a Paint Body shop and get the thickness of the paint measured with a paint gauge, see if its the same on the other side of the car  Should give you an indication if its been repaired.

[Liambobson]

Yea my Occy is in that color and i can confirm none of the paintwork looks like that. As Pistonbroke said - Looks like a bad fix. 

[RicardoM]

What you're looking at is called "orange peel" imperfection. Your car was involved in an accident and some body shop did a poor job. It is human error. The solution is to polish the bumper with compound.

 

[ScoutCJB]

1 hour ago, RicardoM said:

What you're looking at is called "orange peel" imperfection. Your car was involved in an accident and some body shop did a poor job. It is human error. The solution is to polish the bumper with compound.

 

 

Not necessarily an accident  it looks more like a car park incident or the bumpers just been scuffed.  Thats probably a £50 repair and probably painted in a car park int he open air.

 

Flatting an machining may improve it however the pain layer will be thin and the danger is you go through it to the original defect.

 

If the car was brought a few weeks ago I'd have said they are unlikley to do anything about it.

Edited 5 July, 2018 by ScoutCJB

[penguin17]

Looks like whoever did the repair just held the paint in their mouth and then applied it by blowing out hard, through a drinking straw.    Looks cack.  

 

I'd contact the garage and see what they say, it's not unlikely that the garage did it before selling you the car.   Though the chances of them admitting any knowledge are slim to non-existent.   They likely won't do anything apart from shrug their shoulders now.  

 

Contact a local, reputable detailer and ask if they can improve the finish. 

 

 

[lennshow66]

Thanks you everyone for your help. Such as shame as other than this the car is in great condition.

Edited 5 January, 2020 by john999boy
Photo removed at OP's request

[ScoutCJB]

I wouldn't be to concerned about the poor repair as its can be rectified.  If the cars an ex-demo then they may do something about it as the chances are that they had it repaired.  If not then it will be down to you.  It looks like a nice car though - so be proud and enjoy it 

 

I brought a car years ago with a small scuff that I asked the dealer to fix as part of the deal.  It was blown in 3 times (the last time i saw them doing it in the car before from a mobile repair van) before they sent it to a proper body shop and it was done properly

[RicardoM]

 

11 hours ago, ScoutCJB said:

Not necessarily an accident  it looks more like a car park incident or the bumpers just been scuffed.

If you look closely you'll see the paint looks like orange peel on the metal body too. No way that is factory painting. So I doubt it was just a car park incident.

 

@lennshow66

Was the car on a special offer? A "bargain" price compared to the rest of the lot? If yes, the dealer 'forgot' to tell you the car was involved in an accident.

[ScoutCJB]

That paint on the metal part of the bodywork looks pretty much normal to me - slight peel but nothing that would concern me.  I've seen far worse on brand new cars in showrooms - whilst this isnt my picture I'm using as an example (picture taken from a Detailing World thread) - Look at the area to the left of the badge.

 

 

 

 

Edited 6 July, 2018 by ScoutCJB

[penguin17]

1 hour ago, ScoutCJB said:

That paint on the metal part of the bodywork looks pretty much normal to me - slight peel but nothing that would concern me.  I've seen far worse on brand new cars in showrooms - whilst this isnt my picture I'm using as an example (picture taken from a Detailing World thread) - Look at the area to the left of the badge.

 

 

 

 

Agreed, that looks very poor.  However lets face it, M-B don't have the best track record for paint finishes and general coachwork, especially around the wheel arches.  The E class can out-rust a Lancia Fulvia. 

[RicardoM]

@ScoutCJB

It may be so. But two wrongs don't make a right (or a new 'modern' acceptable standard). It is up to the buyer if they accept a s***ty paint on a new car. To me, the newer the cars the worse they look in these days compared to 15-20 years ago.

Edited 6 July, 2018 by RicardoM

[penguin17]

On 05/07/2018 at 13:13, lennshow66 said:

Thanks you everyone for your help. Such as shame as other than this the car is in great condition.

I feel for you.  The car does look good.  

I collected an ex-demo Seat Leon FR a few years ago and give it a good detail as soon as I got home.  I was gutted to find blue overspray all over the exhaust back box.  I contacted the dealer immediately and they obviously played dumb.  I then found some loose and some broken clips in the interior boot hatch trim, so naturally I thought 'rear end shunt!'  In fairness the dealer did fess up to the boot trim being broken by a salesman transporting alloys, to have refurb'd and then being a little over zealous with his braking.  It was fixed immediately.  I took the car to a local body repair centre to have it checked out, they even checked rear chassis alignment.  Their assessment was that any impact would have been local to the underside of the bumper (likely reversing into a high kerb or similar) and that the rest of the car was solid.  In fairness if I hadn't seen the overspray, I'd have been none-the-wiser. 

 

It's very hard to not let your imagination and paranoia get the best of you once you notice things like this.  I would take it to a reputable local repairer and ask them to assess the car, if they find anything dodgy then see if they can provide you with a formal inspection report (you will likely have to pay for this) then at least you have something to take back to the dealer.  If they don't then it won't harm to ask them for a quote to fix the shoddy SMART repair.   That area on the rear bumper is prime real estate for trolley scuffs, car parking dings etc so hopefully it's nothing too sinister and just the dealer cutting corners to get a car ready for the forecourt. 

Edited 5 January, 2020 by john999boy
Removed quoted photo

[durhamfisher]

My car also has slight orange peel on the bodywork, same colour grey on a 16 plate. Not as pronounced but noticeable if you look closely. 

Edited 6 July, 2018 by durhamfisher

[SC03OTT]

15 hours ago, RicardoM said:

 

If you look closely you'll see the paint looks like orange peel on the metal body too. No way that is factory painting. So I doubt it was just a car park incident.

 

@lennshow66

Was the car on a special offer? A "bargain" price compared to the rest of the lot? If yes, the dealer 'forgot' to tell you the car was involved in an accident.

 

I would challenge anyone to find a car on a dealer forecourt without some degree of orange peel. 

 

Your assumption of it being accident damage is purely speculation. 

[ScoutCJB]

14 hours ago, SC03OTT said:

 

I would challenge anyone to find a car on a dealer forecourt without some degree of orange peel. 

 

Your assumption of it being accident damage is purely speculation. 

 

Agreed, mine has orange peel on it to a degree as most cars do.  The bumper repair looks crap I agree but to say it was more than a car park incident and ask if it was cheaper than other similar models I thought was a bit unfair.  

 

The peel looks to be to be limited to a particular area, the far left of the bumper from the picture looks normal to me.  If it was anything more serious then surely it would have been a new bumper, painted in a proper shop which should have had a better finish.

 

As before, other than a poor repair, I wouldn't be concerned of anything more than a scratch or scuff being the original problem and it wouldn't have put me off the car ..... though I would have asked for it to be sorted properly.

[ScoutCJB]

20 hours ago, penguin17 said:

Agreed, that looks very poor.  However lets face it, M-B don't have the best track record for paint finishes and general coachwork, especially around the wheel arches.  The E class can out-rust a Lancia Fulvia. 

 

My dads C240 on an 02 plate has nearly dusted away ..... they went through a few bad years!