Finally Got A New Toy To Replace The RX7

[wickedrx7]

IMO, this would be a tough legal battle.  Did you agree to him painting it black to at least have a completed job?  If you didn't want black and the orange didn't work, what color would you have preferred?  How well did he communicate throughout the entire process?

[sciff5]

IMO, this would be a tough legal battle.  Did you agree to him painting it black to at least have a completed job?  If you didn't want black and the orange didn't work, what color would you have preferred?  How well did he communicate throughout the entire process?

It's not even painted black really, it's just clear coat over the black base. It's like clearing over black primer.
The car was pretty cool looking in just flat black base coat like i posted before, and I asked him if we should just leave it that way because I knew I wouldn't like clear over it.

But his response was that it would be hard as fuck to peel without the added clear.

Almost everything was communicated through texts... I'm a millenial technically, but it seems like younger millenials don't ever pick up the phone any more, and in this case it's good beause everything is in writing. For something like small claims court, that helps

[wickedrx7]

IMO, this would be a tough legal battle.  Did you agree to him painting it black to at least have a completed job?  If you didn't want black and the orange didn't work, what color would you have preferred?  How well did he communicate throughout the entire process?

It's not even painted black really, it's just clear coat over the black base. It's like clearing over black primer.
The car was pretty cool looking in just flat black base coat like i posted before, and I asked him if we should just leave it that way because I knew I wouldn't like clear over it.

But his response was that it would be hard as fuck to peel without the added clear.

Almost everything was communicated through texts... I'm a millenial technically, but it seems like younger millenials don't ever pick up the phone any more, and in this case it's good beause everything is in writing. For something like small claims court, that helps

At the point when the Orange didn't work out, what options did he give you?  It seems like he just wanted it out of his shop and did the easiest thing.  I would TALK to him and see if you can come up with a better solution.  I know texting is nice but sometimes talking through things together can get better resolutions.  I would try that before threatening or not paying. 

[wickedrx7]

And I agree, the primer color looks cool.... I am really surprised he couldn't so a satin clear on it to keep in the same...

[sciff5]

And I agree, the primer color looks cool.... I am really surprised he couldn't so a satin clear on it to keep in the same...

He didn't have satin/flat top coat available.

But I just got off the phone with dipyourcar and here's where he might have pulled a fast one on me. He said I can't peel it the way it is (when it was just black basecoat), like it would be hard as hell to peel. We really need to put clear on it to make it peelable.
This was one of the only phone conversations we had, and he said the car needs to be out of the shop by 6am the next day when his boss gets in.

So the plan was to clear it so if we decided to peel it, it would be more manegable.

Today I just called Dipyourcar.com to see what they would say. Told them about the fact that the pearls weren't mixing right, and they said they've never had a problem with pearls mixing (but that's  also what you'd expect them to say so that was no surprise, and they weren't aware of the type of pearl we were using). But what surprised me is that they said we could have just as easily peeled it when it was just base coat (with no clear) and it would have left our options open, we could have sprayed any color right over it, and maybe figured out another color or option that would have worked with minimal extra effort.
Now that we cleared it, we can't put anything over it, and if we have trouble with removing it, the dip disolver won't work on it any longer because that clear is obviously very chemically resistant.

[wickedrx7]

And I agree, the primer color looks cool.... I am really surprised he couldn't so a satin clear on it to keep in the same...

He didn't have satin/flat top coat available.

But I just got off the phone with dipyourcar and here's where he might have pulled a fast one on me. He said I can't peel it the way it is (when it was just black basecoat), like it would be hard as hell to peel. We really need to put clear on it to make it peelable.
This was one of the only phone conversations we had, and he said the car needs to be out of the shop by 6am the next day when his boss gets in.

So the plan was to clear it so if we decided to peel it, it would be more manegable.

Today I just called Dipyourcar.com to see what they would say. Told them about the fact that the pearls weren't mixing right, and they said they've never had a problem with pearls mixing (but that's  also what you'd expect them to say so that was no surprise, and they weren't aware of the type of pearl we were using). But what surprised me is that they said we could have just as easily peeled it when it was just base coat (with no clear) and it would have left our options open, we could have sprayed any color right over it, and maybe figured out another color or option that would have worked with minimal extra effort.
Now that we cleared it, we can't put anything over it, and if we have trouble with removing it, the dip disolver won't work on it any longer because that clear is obviously very chemically resistant.

Well... This changes things a ton....  He didn't handle the entire situation well and made snap decisions based on the fact that he needed the car out.  And now you are left with a color that you didn't want and he is going to wipe his hand of it.  It sound like you might be able to leverage the fact that he did this "after-hours" to get him to peel and re-spray it. 

[sciff5]

Called my buddy who owns an autobody shop, he said because this guy is someone doing work on the side getting money out of him will be basically impossible, which I figured anyway, even if he had his own shop.

Here's the photos of the car when the pearl went down, you can see it's a bit blotchy:







He sent me this photo highlighting the largest problem area:


And then when he put the candy down,
Like I said the color wasn't right, and he sent a video showing the red sharpie coming through the candy:


Vid of the sharpie showing



When the car was in black base coat it looked best and I confirmed with the manufacturer that I could technically put matte top coat over the gloss, but no guarantees it'll go back to how it looked.

Given that from these photos the black looks as good or better than factory paint... I don't think I'll touch it.
Also he finally agreed to wipe out the second half of payment. So I got a black autoflex job for 1k or the cost of the materials only. Picking up the car tonight, and you could tell he sent me some photos of the car to help make me feel a bit better:

[freeskier7791]

Car looks awesome despite it being the wrong color.  Glad your painter refunded some money, but I would have told him to not spray clear if you wanted flat black.  I dont think I would use someone doing stuff on the side unless I personally knew them and they were painting at their house or own shop

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

[kinger]

OMG I think I like it WAY better then orange anyway!  That thing is awesome!!!!

[sciff5]

They were good pics, but this autoflex looks like a maaco paint job, and he sprayed EVERYTHING. So this crap is going to need to be pulled from everywhere.
If this turns out to be a nightmare to pull off I'm going to shoot myself in the face

[kinger]

So I missed the Autoflex part, I have never heard of that, its removable like plasti-dip?  For 1K it looks awesome but what are your plans to remove it and re-do with another painter? 

[sciff5]

So I went to go start peeling it and the worst case scenario happened. This is exactly why you get it professionally installed, which is what I supposedly did, yet....



So I had a bit of a meltdown honestly. And after a couple days I decided to see what a shop would charge to remove it. Only $3,000-$5,000. Thats when the thought of a lawsuit really came to mind, and I let the guy know that I was looking at big bills and luckily before I could make the threat, he offered to remove it.

So now I need to pull the car apart again, and we'll be removing it in a week or two. I would wait until winter to remove it because it looks good from 10 feet but I don't want him to dissapear.

[sciff5]

Forgot that I posted this BTW, vid of priming the car. The finish on my primer was equal or better to the Autoflex professionally sprayed:



I'm thinking I've come this far, I might as well paint the car myself at this point. And if I wasn't looking for a pearl/candy paintjob I would deff do it myself.

[sciff5]

And here's a timelapse video I did of the final area that needed to be repaired. Fixing cracked fiberglass is super easy, reshaping, even small areas is much tougher. This represents about 6 hours

[digitalsolo]

"Video Category: Comedy"

Did they not have a "tragedy" option?

What a mess.   You going to just spray it yourself with paint, or try another shop/option?