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Cadillac paint job

21 years ago

Just my luck. I hit a new Cadillac Seville while backing, gently, into a gas pump area at a gas station. I took a chip of paint off the very tip of the pointy front of the car. It is about 1/4 by 1/4 inch. I am going to pay for the repair and apparently have to repaint some of the car which means removing the bumper. Anybody have any experience with this or have a ballpark figure on the cost? Why can't they just come over with a little vial of paint and a teeny brush and save me a lot of money?

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Comments (6)

earthworm
21 years ago
Todays age, you just tap a car and you pay dearly - all for some silly bumper-less styling ..

And no one seems to want to save money, much less someone else's..
The rant aside, seek out an auto-body man willing to work, but it could still cost $$.
There are kits on the market that are far better than the PepBoys/Autozone junk... But these require some work, patience, and expertise..
john_g
21 years ago
"Why can't they just come over with a little vial of paint and a teeny brush and save me a lot of money?"

Pretty simple rue4wo, in the past when this was attempted, many of the people it was tried for weren't happy with the end result. In some extreme cases they would threaten to sue, or did successfully sue the shop and then got the repair done for basically nothing, and worse yet, the shop paid legal fee's on top of fixing someone's car for free. So the only logical response to that was to discontinue the entire process. You could purchase touch up paint yourself, and brush it on if you like. Check with your dealer.
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Hi. If it’s really a bother, I’d paint the rest yourself or hire him to do the rest. Once I painted part of a white ceiling to cover repairs… oh my! Even though it was the same color, I had to paint the whole giant room in the end… twice! I mistakenly used one we had on hand from the other room… noticed it didn’t match up. So then bought another same color…brand…painted the rest… ugh.. it didn’t match so had to continue painting the part I started with… and a second coat as well. So Now I just accept that that’s the case with every project just incase. It’s an easy room to hone your own paint skills if you are physically able( painting can be quite fatiguing)since it’s a family only area.
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Whether it's a mistake or a feature of the different paint types, it sounds to me like you'll want it redone (and I agree - I couldn't abide that visual). I'd go reorder a pint of the trim paint (perhaps from a different store) and check it for a match to what's now on your trim. If it is indeed just a difference in how the paint materials present, you're on the hook for the change and finding a color that actually works. If the paint was actually mixed incorrectly, then you can probably negotiate with the painters to redo the work at their cost (if they sourced the paint), or go to the paint store for any damages/reimbursement (if you procured and supplied the paint). Either way, sorry you were disappointed with the results and no you're not overly picky!
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I've done airless cabinet and trim painting myself as I also do hobby woodworking, and that finish looks identical to when I was experimenting on my first attempt. If the pressure and the tip angle aren't setup correctly for the paint, then you get a spitting effect instead of the paint being atomized. It can possibly be corrected through a series of sandings, but this assumes they did thick enough layers with enough time between them to cure correctly. As the others said though to expect a factory style finish you'd be looking at over 4x that price from a cabinet professional and they'd have to use a really high quality paint like BM Advance. Even then it's true that a factory finish will usually be more durable than site-applied, but paints like Advance are pretty tough if they aren't abused and applied correctly.
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gary__
21 years ago
**Why can't they just come over with a little vial of paint and a teeny brush and save me a lot of money?**

When you're the one who just shelled out $50,000 for a brand new car and someone smacks it in the parking lot with an '81 dodge omni. And that person then offers to touch it up for you with the fingernail polish out of his wife's purse for the fix because that's a better than good enough fix for his car, you're free to accept that as good enough for yours too if you want. Anymore a scratch costs $500 to fix properly.
westranch
21 years ago
And, that's another reason why I'll never spend over $5k on ANY car I drive everyday!
I've got a neighbor with a mint 1955 Lincoln Premiere. He won't even get it on the interstate because the paint might get chipped. But, that pays off at the car shows.
earthworm
21 years ago
At least that Lincoln had real bumpers, more than I can say for today's sorry excuses..

And is it any wonder that a scratch costs $500, but with people doing the wrong thing and suing at the drop of the hat...??
rue4wo
Original Author
21 years ago
I do have a better perception now of why it will cost $$ to fix this little chip off the point on the cadillac. I would think a professional could spray just the area around the chip, and buff it out and make it work. I certainly am going to pay a professional to make the cadillac "like new" and not try to do it on the cheap, but I was concerned that I was being taken for a ride.

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