1952-59 Ford Paintjob - Part Deux

Man that burnt orange is awesome. That's one of my favorite colors. Every time I see a car in that color I automatically love it. Can't wait to see more pictures when ya get her home

 

the new gl*** will really make the new paint pop. nothing much worse than seeing nice paint with old gl***. sorry to hear about the added expense. is it open season on folks who blatently lie to you (i.e. bodymen and gl*** installers to name a couple)??

 

OK, where are the pics? I'm gettin' antsy.

 

Sorry for delay she is home safe and sound. It looks awesome but i have plenty to complain about trust me. I will update when can with pics and my issues that are gonna have to be addressed.

 

Few pics while I have a minute

 

Looks mighty nice to me...!

 

My absolute major complaint is shown in this picture, can you figure out what it is? This is just one spot, but its multiple places and MUST be fixed.



that is the rear window and a pic showing the upper trim piece sticking out about 3/8". Its in all the way on the other end. The bottom trim sticks out in spots as well. The front is not completely in place either. Things I didn't notice until I got it home, but either way I was bringing the dam car home.

How the hell can this be corrected, will the window need to be removed and redone? I noticed a few trim pieces being off, and he said the stainless was all warped and didnt fit good, and said I probably did it when buffing. I paid their gl*** guy $400 to install all this gl*** and trim and its half *** at best.

 

Here is another complaint...the "lip" of the hood isnt painted. When the hood is shut, you can easily see that its not painted. Trunk is the same way. They had all doors, hood, and trunk lid off the car to fix them. But they put them all back on the car and painted it all together.

 

1st world problems. . . . hahah but thats a bummer, i could imagine how that would be annoying. they must have not taken the hood off to paint it

 

First of all I really think the car looks great, good colors and what appears to be good body work underneath.

Seems they should have spotted the lip of the hood before installing it.

Regarding the backlight moldings - been there with my '56. I damaged one or two pieces when removing them, the trouble is - you don't know you've bent them until you try reinstalling 'em. It's quite possible you or whoever removed them did same thing. Hope you can get it to fit better but I'm guessing the window may have to come back out to do so, and you might even have to get another molding if that one can't be salvaged.

 

Re: door jambs, hood jamb, etc.:

If that's a base coat/clear coat paint, don't sweat it. Some of the real heads-up shops paint the jambs AFTER the exterior. It's a technique you can do yourself.

Get some of the left-over paint (or have more mixed). Then scuff the jambs carefully and, using a detail gun, paint them the same way the exterior was done, taking care to get as little paint on the exterior as possible...but don't mask the edges off.

Huh?

Yup. Then, once both the exterior and jamb paint has cured, color-sand and buff the exterior in the normal manner. The "layering" of the color around the edges of the jambs will be your guide coat when you color sand. Remove ONLY THE OVER-SPRAY around the jambs but don't cut down into the clear that covers the exterior color.

The end result is nice, smooth jambs without the roughness that occurs when they are painted first and the exterior paint blows down into the cracks and onto the jambs. The exterior is color sanded and buffed like normal and there's no tape edge to detract from the appearance and/or trap compound and/or wax.

Neat, neat neat...and easy, easy, easy.

 

There is a barbed piece straight down from the center of the trim piece that must be secured completely into the window seal before the window is installed. You may be able to push the trim down further into the seal and have it grab and stay there by leaving the car in the sun for awhile to soften the rubber seal, and spraying a little WD40 under the trim ( top and bottom side of trim ) to help it slide further down into the seal. Push with your hand or tap it down with the heel of your hand. Hopefully the trim will grab a little more of the seal and stay put. This and a little prayer gives a better than 50/50 chance of success.

 

Thanks guys. I talked to the painter about the trim and paint issues. He said he will absolutely handle the paint problems and lips not painted. However on the stainless window trim, he said they just wouldnt fit right because they were warped and they did the best they could. They didnt want to try and force it anymore because it may crease it, and he didnt want to buy another one. So basically he says I am on my own for that, he will help, but will not address it alone and be responsible for it.

I just dont know if (other than appearance) is it an issue like it is, such as working its way out and the windshield falling out, or leaking, things like that. I have never removed the trim or installed it, so I certainly dont want to cause myself any more problems trying to correct it incorrectly.

 

Get a couple more opinions from "established" auto gl*** companies. I suspect the painters turned the job over to somebody who didn't know what they were doing instead of seeking out a "seasoned" expert.

You might not get any satisfaction from the guys who painted your car if they don't have enough integrity to offer to do it over and get it right - and it's probably not wise to try to force them to make good. They can do more harm than good if they aren't properly motivated.

Shop around. Ask questions. Get answers. If the stainless pieces are distorted slightly they may still be salvagable by a craftsman.

 

I havent posted all of my findings, but the more I dig, the more I find. This is going to be a real problem spot if not addressed. Inside the box in the pic, this is my hood and the area where they "shaved" it by adding metal and filler to eliminate the hood ornament. The paint is cracking there and I know if I tried I could get a fingernail under there and chip some paint off.

So I made a LONG list of issues, some huge, some small. The guy is supposed to come by my house saturday and go over everything with me. How should I handle this? There are several issues (like this one) that are not going to be easily touched up. I just dont know how I should approach all of this, and how he is going to respond to address it. Hopefully it wont come to it, but I do have everything do***ented and contracts we both signed and all that, so last resort would be court if he wont make it right.

I didnt pay for a 10k paint job, and didnt expect one. I wanted a nice paintjob with your typical flaws here and there considering what I paid for it. But there is a lot that needs to be fixed before I could sleep well at night and feel good about a solid paint job thats going to last me years.

 

Part of the contract and agreement in person was to treat and cleanup the inside of the doors, make sure the drain holes were clear, all that stuff.. They had the doors off the car on body stands working on them.

So I noticed my garage floor stayed wet under the p***enger side for a couple days straight. I had the doors shut letting the door seal glue dry, but finally opened the up. The p*** door has about an 1/8" of standing water in it from when they washed the car and its barely seeping out a little at a time. And here is a picture of the "cleaned and treated" door inside. WTF? The door was off, gl*** out, no better time to have cleaned this up, and was in the contract to do so anyway.

 

So let me note that our contract agreement was that HE was going to remove all gl*** for paintjob, reinstall all the gl***, seals, weatherstripping, gl*** runs, all that stuff. That was his job to do and no extra cost to me. So I bought all new gl***, which doesnt matter. he said he needed the gl*** guy to do the vents, I understood. In the end he hired the gl*** guy to do it all, and gave me a $400 bill for it. He told me ahead of time, but I agreed since I figured he would do a much better job with it all, and it would be right.

So now that I can open the doors, I notice several things. He had 2 brand new vent window handles in the parts I gave him, and was on the agreement to install. They didnt! Put the old ones back on, or never removed. Then I open the p***enger vent window, its practically falling out of the track, and I notice shards all in the bottom.

So no cost to me turned into $400, and the **** is half ***. Should I keep going here guys, or have I got yall half as fired up as me?

 

i would absolutely be upset about the shaved hood ornament area.. that is just plain poor workmanship.. he probably had moisture in there from wetsanding before painting that he didn't allow to dry before painting...
he should re-do the hood if he can't get a seemless colormatch.

the water in the doors is not good either and i would be very upset about that... sometimes, though. drain holes get plugged up... if they're small and it was the paint that plugged them, then i would say that it wasn't really for lack of a thourough job, however, they should have been inspected much sooner. if it was a bigger drain hole that was blocked by something that the painter/prepper overlooked then you have high grounds to be outright pissed.

the gl*** should be replaced where it is broken, and honestly.. if the piece of gl*** isn't being replaced where the new chrome parts are going, and you have some skils, i would just replace them myself to avoid any other headache there....

all said and done, the painter did drop the ball on a lot of things, but truly that's what happens at even the best shops, just remember that if he makes it right when you call him on it and fixes all of your concerns, you should feel good about putting it behind you....
the car is beautiful in the photographs, you chose a really great color!!!!

good luck!!!
xoxo

 

It's the shop owner/manager's responsibility to check the contract to be sure the shop has lived up to it's agreement. If not, it's his responsibility to see that the agreed-upon work has been completed prior to delivery.

Give the owner/manager a chance to make it good. If not, file a lawsuit. Judges see this kind of suit every day and as long as you've got all the contract paperwork with all the i's dotted and the t's crossed, let the court handle it.

But, winning in court does not automatically mean that you'll get satisfaction from the shop, but it does give you legal standing if further legal action is required.

If the owner tries to blow you off, make it clear to him IN A QUIET AND RESERVED WAY that you'll follow up legally. If that doesn't cause him to reconsider...do it!

Good luck!

 

That is some sub-par work and I would be fuming (although I have a pretty short fuse). If the guy quoted the price ahead of time, and that included him doing the gl*** work, then he should have eaten the cost of having to bring in a gl*** guy. That should not be on you. Why in the Sam hell didn't they use the new vent windows?

Like Eric said, be calm but ***ertive. Give him a chance to fix it with the understanding that if it is not done to your standards there will be legal action.

 

Thanks for the insight guys.

skoh, they did put the new vents in, they just did not put the new vent handles on that i gave him, they put the old ones back on, that or never removed the handles at all, not sure.

Well, I had a good friend come over last night. He is like many of you, been building cars since a kid, now in his 50's. I have seen his work finished and in progress, and I dont know anyone that could do any better, but I couldnt talk him into doing mine. Anyway, to the point.

I asked him to come look at the car and tell me what he thinks the biggest problems are and what he thinks I should do. I didnt tell him anything, I just let him look it over first. As suspected, he found all the problems I listed, and more.

Within 5 minutes of looking it over he basically said your in a bad spot. He aint going to fix this stuff, at least not right, because to do it right its going to be more paint, more clear, and a lot of labor, and he already is upside down on it.

I kept saying I didnt understand why he didnt buff the roof, but did the rest of the car. The roof is full of trash and orange peel and real rough to the touch. The painter told me "i never buff the roof until you bring it back for the final touchup and buffing". I knew that was BS but didnt argue it then.

Anyway, he kept looking it over and said, this roof has no clear on it. We did a razor blade test on the roof, light scuff with a new blade showed all paint coming off, no clear. He said I hate to tell you but this top is enamel, thats why its nice and shiny with no clear on it. The top was supposed to be base/clear (Chrysler cool vanilla). I thought it looked way to white, but didnt question it. I now recall the painter months ago saying just paint the top GM white, I have some here and can show you what it looks like. I bet that is what he used.

He found many places on the car around the bottom mostly that has no clear on it. I dont have the eye for that, he does. he found a nasty spot on the fender well where the paint is bubbling up and said you likely have rust under that spot and it will get worse. Where the fender patch patch was welded id and filler applied, the paint is cracking there that I didnt notice. He got under the car and said this is not right, will get worse, and to be right needs to be removed and re-done correctly.

He looked over all the gl*** and just couldnt believe it. He said he didnt think the stainless was warped, but the gl*** and rubber was not installed correctly. he was furious that the gl*** guy left tape residue all over the gl*** to, after paying to have it done professionally. His opinion was that the gl*** will leak in certain areas, and to be right it needs to come out and be re installed. My professionally installed door gl*** comes out of the gl*** run when about 2/3 down, you have to push the gl*** back in place to roll it up. The window frame is not on, but I dont think it will correct this, it needs adjusting.

The front valance piece right behind the bumper was painted the same color. We nudged it a bit loading on the trailer and it scratched some paint off it. Clearly see no prep work done on it, its rusty metal where it chipped off. Now you can sit there and pick paint off all you want, just flakes off. They obviously just sprayed it as it was.

We kind of just quit digging at this point. He said if its mine, i am at the courthouse. If you want to give him a shot, thats your call, but are you going to give the car back to him again and hope he fixes this stuff on his dime, and will it even be right then.

The paint guy/owner is supposed to come over saturday to go over the car with me. I have not stressed half of this stuff to him, so he has no idea of my findings yet. My friend bet me $50 he wont show this weekend, or next weekend. He said he knows what shape things are and he is not coming here. Which if he dont, it makes my decision easier. My buddy gladly said he will be there whenever he comes, period. Said he cant BS me with this **** he is telling you. He knows I am new to much of this paint/body stuff and the shop owner knows that to, which is why he can BS me and I dont always know its BS.

The one remaining issue is that he has ALL of my interior trim, dash, window frames, etc that he is supposed to have painted and bring to me saturday. He also has my headlight rings and gas tank door. Things he forgot to paint when the car got painted, and now probably wont match anyway.

So it will be wise for me not to lose my cool until I have all parts back in hand.

 

Damn, dude. That is horrible.

I rarely comment on forums but your paint saga is so messed up that I feel compelled to try and help you out. This episode with the new painter is becoming eerily similar to the last guy - bad workmanship, still has your parts, won't or at least seems unlikely to meet you in person - and I'm sure you don't want to head down that ugly path again.

I'm also betting that you don't want to let this guy try to fix everything. Maybe if it was just one or two blemishes, but not gl***, bodywork, rust, clearcoat, etc. etc. He had a chance and he blew it. If I was the painter and I cared about my reputation I'd have already brought your car back into my shop and fixed it before any other projects got finished. This guy doesn't seem likely to do that. You may want to consider getting some of your money back rather than letting this guy continue to half-*** a paint job.

I agree with others on this board that small claims court is your best option. I don't often recommend suing someone (and I'm a lawyer!) if things can be worked out in other ways, but sometimes a lawsuit or even the THREAT of a lawsuit will get things moving. I just helped my best friend with a small claims suit under very similar cir***stances - it took almost a year and was very stressful and frustrating at times, but when the case settled he got back everything he was owed.

If the painter doesn't show up this weekend and/or doesn't give you the impression that he cares about making things right, I'd say you start gathering up your evidence (contract, receipts, transcribed conversations with the painter) and google small claims court rules where you live.

 

I can imagine how upset you are. If it was me I would not do nothing until I had everything back. A complete car with a half***ed paint job is better than a rolling shell with a half ***ed paint job.
It is for this reason that forums like this have sprung up. We are all sick of being jerked off by so called professionals who want to charge exorbitant prices for a job that should be half what they charge. It is my experience that any tradesman that is any good doesn't need to showcase his work. People will be lined up on the street trying to get them to do work for them.
This is also why more and more of us do the job ourselves or get outside help as a last resort and only when you can be there to oversee.
It doesn't take much more effort to do a good job but these clowns don't care. Half of them are either stoned or pissed.
Get your gear back and then sue the p...k!
Regards

 

Follow your painter friend's lead, and hopefully this smegma will pony up what he owes you for ****ing around with your car. Sheesh, doesn't anyone care about the quality of their work anymore? When will they learn that reputation i everything?!?!

 

If yall are bored and like to read, here is my paint saga on the main board, with the latest info.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=7883101

 

Wish me luck, or maybe him luck, I am leaving now to go get the car...again. Said its done, looks great, matches perfect, etc...Will see.

 

Got my fingers crossed for you, hoping that good things are waiting for you...

 

I finally got her home and unloaded. Its dark so I cant get any pictures until tomorrow that will be worth a flip.

Initial impression so far is I am pretty pleased all things considered. Its not perfect for sure. The gl*** was removed and reinstalled correctly and fits nicely now. The top was stripped, seam sealed and painted the correct milkshake color and looks MUCH better than that white looked.

The unpainted parts were painted and in the sun I couldnt tell any color difference they match very well. The major paint issues were fixed and repainted and appear so far to match very well. They could however have spent some time doing some bodywork to them, they have flaws in them, obviously just sanded and painted and thats it.

The hood repair where it was cracked looks awesome and the paint matches perfect from every angle I looked at.

P***enger door doesnt rub and body line is much better there and all that paint repair looks good. Since the windshield and stainless was installed correctly this time the door isnt rubbing the stainless trim now.

Oh yeah, and all the dam tape and glue is gone from the windshields like it shoulda been

There are little things here and there, but they are things I would have let go the first time for what I paid for the job. I wasnt expecting perfection. Some noticable things are those dam white pinholes are still there, they didnt touch that area. I pointed it out and he kinda BS'ed around it and said its just some buffing compound in there and it will go away when I wash it and be unnoticeable. Right. There are 2 or 3 (so far) decent chips out of the paint that got overlooked, but I think I can make them presentable.

I havent fine toothed it yet, but at this point I think the major issues I had problems with are good enough for me to have a nice looking car to drive around and turn some heads, which is what I wanted. I can see unbuffed spots but that is something I can do.

I have to give the guy some credit, considering the amount of work that had to be done, the labor cost, material cost and 2 pints of PPG deltron paint at $90/pint (2 different colors) he used to fix everything and blend it. Again I could nitpick at it all night but I had expectations going in and we are much much closer to them now and unless I find major things tomorrow I will likely finish putting it together and drive like I stole it. Appreciate all yall's support and hopefully this has helped others to be more cautious with sending there car off.