Stratford upon avon dealership ruined my paintwork

[brenna_n]

My Obsidian black ML270 went to the Stratford upon Avon dealership and had its first service yesterday.The post service valet person has cleaned the car with an abrasive of some sort. The polyurethane top-coat is badly abraded and in sunshine the car now appears two-tone. The Dealer Manager, Neil Tonks denies liability, "because I don't know what it looked like when it came in for service". He did give me some advice, " never buy black because it shows up all the marks", Very helpful.
Does anybody know a good surface coating/paint technologist, I need some independent expert advice, which I may use in litigation.

 

[Barnie]

paintwork

Hi Brenan
When I worked as a Consultant these are the sort of cases I would enjoy, retired now though.
As I see it the Manager of the offending Dealership has a duty of care, to both his customer & their car.
In order to comply with this duty, He must ensure that the car is examined inside & out, by a competant member of staff, who must take note of any discrep'ancy in the vehicles visual appearance,( this not only safeguards the customer but also the dealership).
In your case the Management failed to take this precaution & in my opinion is liable for the consequences.
I would advise you seek the help of a rep'utable Law'yer, Who would write to both the dealerships manager & their Head Office, claiming compensation, & costs in rectifying the damage done to your car's painwork.
Best of luck
Regards , Barnie

 

[Arnie]

With regards to fixing the damage...

The clear top-coat is Acylic, just like the base-coat.

First wash and dry the car.

Then, usea very mild polishing compound such as Autogym Paint Renovator (there are others by 3M etc). Use a soft cotton cloth, with an open weave (Halfords Polishing Cloth is good) and polish with reasonable pressure, but gradually reduce the force to near nothing as you finish off. Work in small areas of about 2ft diameter and spend about 3-4 minutes in each area.

This polishing compound has a very light, gentle action and so take your time and check the results every so often.

A body shop can do this with an electric polisher, but there is more room for further disaster if not done by a very skilled person, as the machine can leave swirl marks or remove too much paint, especially over high-spot, folds or creases in the bodywork.

The safest way is with elbow-grease, time and patience.

Then apply a good wax.

 

[OlafMaxwell]

Dont bother going back to dealer, see lawyer instead and play hardball. Only lawyers will settle it.

 

[Jixes]

I also have the Obsidian black (Designo) colour on my SL, which is very prone to scratches and cob webs/swirls in the paintwork.

As Arnie said 'The clear top-coat is Acrylic' which contains all the light scratches etc.

You can remove these by hand using a range of products. The best advice I can give it to look through the threads or place a post on one of these two forums;

http://shop.meguiars.co.uk/phpBB2/

http://www.autopia.org

There are many professional products out there and consumer products (Meguiars Scratch X) available in the UK to remove the damage. Be sure to purchase a product that removes the paint defect/scratch (e.g. carefully cuts the clear coat) rather than just filling it with a ?glaze? so that it temporarily appears to have removed the paint defects. Always start with the least abrasive product to remove the defect, working your way up the abrasive ladder and concentrate one area/panel at a time.

If you think that it will take too much time, then consider getting a professional body shop /valet to mop the car with a rotary polisher or dual action polisher.


I spent ages removing all of the paint defects from my SL and then it went into Mercedes for a service. They cleaned it and put loads more scratches back onto the paintwork.

They probably use the same cleaning materials for hundreds of cars and I dread to think how many times they drop the sponge/washer! Now I am the only person who cleans my car.

Good Luck