Need opinions on paint

Hi all. This is my first post here, although I've been reading for awhile. I've got a silver 2005 Legacy GT wagon. Late last fall, someone backed into me while I was stopped in a driveway (yeah, I know). I had the bumper replaced by a local shop, Carstar, who boast a lifetime warranty on the work. Hopping out of the car today, I noticed that behind one of the wheels the paint is flaking off as per the pic below.

 

This could be explained by rocks being flung up from the wheel, OR by a crappy paint job (or both). Do any of you have this going on? I checked the other side of the car and the paint is fine, so this strikes me as a bit weird.

 

I'm hesitant to bring it back as this would be the third time they've done the work (lesson learned w/ this shop) to my satisfaction, but if it's just going to get worse across the entire piece I'll definitely take it in and take my chances.

 

 

http://i42.tinypic.com/zkomld.jpg

I would venture a guess that the inner fender wasen't prepped as well as some of the more odvious places and thus the lack of paint adhesion...also, it may be flexing a bit and causing that to happen as well.

 

Sucks that they've screwed it up three times... I'd probably just take it in and demand that they pay for another shop to fix it...but I'm a jerk that way. It comes from years of dealing with a$$hat vendors...

 

My .02...

Yup, Customer service as a whole sucks, no matter wear you go. The only thing that seems to work is being extremely loud and obnoxious. Nice guys dont get shit. If you start letting customers that maybe walking in to there shop know that your not happy with there work. When the shop starts losing money because of you then, they are more likely to help you out. It sucks because I hate being an ass, but thats all that works. Let them know that your coming back until its fixed right.

 

Thats what I dont understand about people in business. its so much easier to do it right the first time and get good word of mouth going on. For example Fredbeans sent me a avo fuel pump that was broke. When I called them, no questions asked They sent a new pump and paid for the return shipping on the bad pump. 1st class customer service and great prices. RARE!!!

Brand new bumpers are the hardest to prep for correct paint adhesion. There is a whole process that is involved and expensive for bare plastic that needs to be followed for ultimate preparation. I really do not think many shops/techs follow this procedure. That part is most likely chipping due to rocks/debris hitting it. You can take it back and see what they say, but I highly doubt it is going to be done any better than the first time by the same shop.

 

Cut your losses and apply some touch up paint I say. If it gets worse, then take action.

 

X

The good news is that it is on a plastic part and in a place that is prominent.

That sucks...

 

OEM splashguards will cover that up nicely if you're looking to just make it go away visually. Not like it's going to rust in that area.

Thanks for the feedback all. The first time I got the car back, I was absolutely shocked at how bad a job it was. I'm pretty sure it was either given to a new guy, or someone had been huffing the paint - I could see where it had been masked off, it wasn't even put on straight. They blamed the bumper (though insisted it was an OEM bumper).

 

Second time was much better, but I still am pretty sure that the paint match is not 100%, but I'm starting to think they're just as likely to botch the job again.

 

Anyway, I'll probably just touch it up; it gives me a good excuse to order some UR flaps from rally armor.

That sucks when they just do a bad job. FWIW silver is sometimes hard to match on plastic parts. If you notice even fro Subaru the plastic parts look a little off.

 

GL

 

X