Paintwork inspection advice.

[Lloyd]

I'm due to pick my car up tomorrow. It's been into a (supposedly) top notch local bodyshop for a rear bumper and rear offside wing/door respray. They've also renewed the lower door rubbers at the same time.

What I wanted to ask was - on inspection can anyone offer me pointers on what to look for to help me check the job before accepting the work. Would appreciate any and all suggestions!

How close a colour match should they be able to obtain? I guess the 15 year old paint would have faded from new - is this something they can factor in when getting the new paint mixed up?

Furthermore, can anyone send me any 'proof' photos of the rear bumper alignment for the RS2? Many thanks.

[Fat Audi 80]

Hmmm. Good question.

I would look for general panel alignment, are the joint / shut lines parallel and do they match others on the car.

For paint matching, inspect the car in day light and if possible also under halogens or flourescent lighting too. Depending on the colour, I would expect the match to be very good or almost undetectable. (Metallics and pear are harder to match than a solid colour). This will depend on the way the car has been prepared after the paint (and Lacquer) has been applied.

I would not expect the car to have been "detailed" as such, but do look out for swirl marks and hologramming in the new paint where they will have had to machine polish the surface.

Swirls will look like very fine scratches all over the surface in circles or arcs. Fairly easy and obvious if they are present.

Holograms are harder to pick out, but are most visible under direct torch or halogen lighting or even better sunlight. Holograms will appear to "dance" across or above the surface as you move your head relative to the car.

A good bodyshop should be able to finish down with very little or even none of the above. (However, an almost flawless finish could take a detailer up to a day to achieve).

In short, if the repair area does not look different to the other areas of the car and looks "new" you have probably got as good as you can expect... (Difficult to gauge exactly as I don't know how much you paid for the work)

HTH

Cheers,

Steve.

[Lloyd]

Thanks Steve. Helpful answer.

[tigg]

have a close look at the inner edge off the bumper the part that forms the arch.often after painting the fitter will rest the bumper on the floor scuffing the edges.also make sure the top off the bumper has an even gap to the rear panel;if the painter has not suported the bumper correctly then it will destort when the paint is baked in the oven.for best result you would not bake the paint but thats a hole new story but makes for the perfect finish. the match should be spot on as would be blendid into adjasent panels.get close look along panels so your happy its strait. o and look close at paint the clearcoat may have a nice shine but more often then not there are marks in the base coat hair scratches or sinc marks ore an uneven patern to the metallic.this is all down to poor and lazy preporation when it is the most important part off the job.
allot to take in sory

[T2Andy]

Check for overspray on the rest of the panels even the opposite side ,i find this on about 90% of the cars i valet after paintwork ,feel the paint for smoothness and even the glass ,a good few hours work to smarten things up again

[Lloyd]

Thanks for the additional advice! Am really looking forward to seeing the car and hope that they're as good as they think they are........

[Fat Audi 80]

Check for overspray on the rest of the panels even the opposite side ,i find this on about 90% of the cars i valet after paintwork ,feel the paint for smoothness and even the glass ,a good few hours work to smarten things up again

Good call Andy...