Hi guys, I just got my Mark 2 back after having some body work done, which necessitated losing the original decal round the rear window. Garage couldn't get a decal but I sourced a repro one no problem. Not sure how to put images in, so I'll describe what happened.
When I picked up the car yesterday, I could see there were air bubbles under the decal but decided not to make a fuss there and then. But on checking the car properly at home, I found there's almost no part of the decal free of air bubbles which range from 1/4" to over an inch in length. Think of someone covered in a bad, blistering allergic rash and that's what my decal looks like.
Also, the old decal covered all the paintwork around and below the rear window, up to the angle where the metalwork drops away to form the side or the rear. You know what I mean? To be honest, on a metallic grey car I never even noticed the decal before.
But now the decal stops in a wavy, diagonal line about 1/2" above the edge of that bit of the tailgate. It fits better on one side than the other.
It's a real mess. What would you do at this point?
I talked to another body shop for advice, and they said decal work really needs to be done by a specialist, but they couldn't recommend one as they didn't seem to know a local one they were happy with. Is this right? And does anybody know a specialist in the Dorset/Hampshire/Wiltshire area that they'd recommend?
Then I called the guy who did the work and told him about the air bubbles. He said, "It wasn't like that when it left here," but it was and anyway, what could I have done to make them appear? He then said it was almost perfect when he applied it, and the air bubbles must've appeared because he left my car in the sun. He said they'd probably disappear, but couldn't tell me when, then said 2-3 weeks, then said they might not. He blamed the solvents in paint and said it was always a problem putting decals on fresh paint. I asked if it would've worked better on older paint and he said yes - but he didn't tell me that before he did the work!
I asked about removing the decal and he made it sound like I could just take it off if I wanted to, as though I could easily peel it off if I warmed it with a hairdrier. I asked him if he'd do it for me and all of a sudden it was difficult: he'd have to take the rear window out, etc - so how I was supposed to do it was a mystery. And he said the paintwork would look bad underneath.
We've left it that I'm going to take the car back in tomorrow just for him to look at.
What d'you reckon my best options are?
