Advice Needed

[m9olo]

I have  a Mk5 GTi in Candy White.  I had two small dings in the drivers door which i decided to have repaired, so booked it in at a VW approved bodyshop - and what a nightmare .

1st attempt - could still see dings and overspray everywhere.
2nd atempt - they decided to blend the job into the rear qtr panel; all dings gone but     wrong colour (had a yellow tint to the finish).
3rd attempt - right colour, but a hammered finish under the laquer (NOT orange peel)
4th attempt - they said a good mopping should bring it out, but it hasn't.

Sorry for the long post but i'm at the end of my tether - HELP.

[neg]

This is the problem with the smaller pain related issues, once you've gone down the route of adding paint there's no going back. 

I have a couple of small chips on my wing but because of the problems your having I would rather put up with it.

No help I know but you just have to keep on at them to give you a finish your happy with but you must also admit its never going to be 100%

[T88OMM]

I have  a Mk5 GTi in Candy White.  I had two small dings in the drivers door which i decided to have repaired, so booked it in at a VW approved bodyshop - and what a nightmare .

1st attempt - could still see dings and overspray everywhere.
2nd atempt - they decided to blend the job into the rear qtr panel; all dings gone but     wrong colour (had a yellow tint to the finish).
3rd attempt - right colour, but a hammered finish under the laquer (NOT orange peel)
4th attempt - they said a good mopping should bring it out, but it hasn't.

Sorry for the long post but i'm at the end of my tether - HELP.

Unfortunately you have been very unlucky here. Obviously the people repairing car have'nt got a clue. I would demand that another bodyshop sort the car out and you are compensated for your troubles!!!!!. My car had a big gouge taken out of the sideskirt and a huge scratch on the bump strip courtesy of an employee at a certain VW dealer. The car was repaired to the highest standard, the job was absolutely first class and all the work was carried out by a VW bodyshop. 

[Hurdy]

Did you check out the reputation of the bodyshop? (ie were they recommended by anyone or did you just hope that because they are approved, that they would be okay?)

I would only go to a repairer/resprayer if I had some kind of knowledge of their previous work.

All very well with hindsight you may say!

I'd be tempted to get an independant (third party) assessment of the work, to see if they believe the work to be of adequate quality. The respray should be a spot on match. I had my last car resprayed and honestly couldn't tell where the old paint ended and the new paint began. IMO you should get some kind of compensation from them if the work is so shoddy.

[Cass]

What a nightmare. Sounds like they have completely botched the job and not only mismatched the paint but also applied too much resulting in the orange peel finish. It's normal to part spray an adjoining panel to get the colour blend right, though moreso with metallic finishes.

Who referred you to the VW approved bodyshop ? - if it was the dealer take the car back to them and they should mediate in the dispute. 

Complain in writing to VW Customer Services immediately and insist on someone from their department inspecting the paintwork. This will no doubt take some time so tell the VW approved bodyshop that you want the car repaired to a satisfactory standard or you will complain to Trading Standards and sue them. You may be offered the opportunity to get the work carried out again or at another bodyshop (ensure that this is another approved VW bodshop for warranty purposes). Tell them you will pursue this matter via the small claims court if necessary. Log all contacts and conversations in writing - you may need to evidence your actions.

Personally, I'd never ask for a panel repair/respray if the paintwork wasn't broken - I would have used Dentmaster or a similar company to get the dings out from the inside.

Best of luck.

Cass

[neg]

I agree on dent removal where possible for others.  I had a slight mark on the wing of mine which I knew would cause problems if I had it painted so I just got the dent removed and it looks much better - ok not perfect but its not a month old anymore so you have to expect a few marks in todays car parks!

[No Golf Clubs at all]

I recently had 2 fairly hefty dings repaired by an independent guy. 

One large flatbed shopping trolley in a carpark and the other was a relation who visited my house for Christmas day and opened their door all too enthusiastically 

It was totally amazing to watch him repair it.

This basically involved attaching a reflecting card to the door (with parallel lines on) to examine any imperfections in the area and manipulating a series of metal rods to push out the dings from the inside.  This did not involve the removal of any trim or inside panels.

You now would never know the car had been hit, totally fantastic job... Total cost £80.  Mind you the paint was totally unbroken.

He is in Glasgow if anyone wants his number PM me and I will pass it on, if you are local its probably a good number to have anyway.

[JoeGTI]

same here.
I got a nasty ding on my driver's door, just above the door handle. Stuck out like a sore thumb! Fortunately the paint wasn't scuffed or cracked at all. A local body shop was talking in the region of hundreds to strip the door, repaint it, etc... Nightmare.
Then I chased down a local dent-magic guy and after 5 minutes and 60 euro, the dent was gone!! Excellent. All he needed to remove was the black plastic strip of trim on the leading edge of the door, which has a few holes behind it, and that gave him enough room to get behind the dent. Dent completely gone and best of all, no paint job required.

[m9olo]

Thanks for all the replies.  Am meeting with the bodyshop AGAIN tomorrow, hopefully to get things sorted out once and for all.  My problem is that they never disagree with my complaints of their work, saying they will try again to get it right - just how many times do i let them try ? Another bodyshop has said it looks like poor preperation and needs stripping right back - so this will be my line of defence tomorrow.

[MikeGTI]

I'd tell them the work required clearly surpasses their skills and that they need to pay for a 3rd party to rectify the damage they've caused.

Then find a Ferrari or Lamborghini approved bodyshop rather than a VW one and get them to rectify it.