My front bumper repair is turning into a nightmare.
 

Joeaksa and I took a used US-spec, turbo front bumper cover to a newish, indy paint shop a few weeks ago. Owner is the former paint guy for Patrick Motorsports and comes highly recommended. The bumper already had the bumperette holes filled in, but was arena red with some minor cracks and scrapes. Owner says $500 for everything - repair, prep, paint and install. I think this is good. A week later I bring him the car, once some parts are delivered at my house. I told him to go ahead do a serious paint detail of the car when he's all done and he said $150. Ok fine. A few days later he calls and says there are still spider web cracks in the clear coat and the only way to really get rid of them is to sand the whole car. $500 more. I hem and haw and tell him to go ahead, since I made out like a bandit from the insurance company and want the car to look new.

He goes on vacation, but tells me the car will be done a few days later. He calls from vacation (obviously after his crew called him) to tell me the paint cracked while they were installing the bumper. He said this was due to the filler where the bumperette holes were previously covered up, says he's going to redo it all and not charge me anything extra for it. Fine. No rush.

Yesterday he called and said there's just no way it's going to not crack again in the next two years because the previous filler job was subpar and he needs to redo it all from scratch. $350 more. So now we're up to $1500. The only extra work I asked him to do was the $150 paint detail. I grudgingly agreed to the resand, but still think he should have known if that was going to be necessary before quoting me $150. And I really think he should have redone/refilled the bumper cover before starting a repaint. Now he has my car and the bumper and I'm not getting out of this for under $1500. He's pissed, I'm pissed and it's not going to end well.

You brought him a used, previously repaired bumper.

The 2 of you agreed that he would fix the minor visible problems with it, he would repaint it and reinstall on your car, for $500. A very reasonable amount, and a very reasonable attempt to have the bumper repainted and installed on your car "on the cheap."

But, after working on the bumper, taking paint off of it, seeing what's underneath and trying to mount it, etc., it is discovered that the previous repairs are subpar.

It seems perfectly reasonable for him to charge you more. If you wanted him to, from the beginning, strip the bumper down completely and redo all the previous work on it, you should have told him that. He would have charged you more than $500, right from the start. But, that may well have been unnecessary and money wasted.

I guess if I were him, I would have made clear "Look, I'll try to do the minimum amt of work to repair the visible damage and repaint/mount it, but obviously I can't guarantee the quality of the previous repairs, or problems that we may uncover as we start to work on this used bumper." But that would seem to be reasonably presumed. At least I would presume that if I were in your position.

Sometimes a deal isn't a deal.

This is one reason I tend to buy new stuff from a vendor who stands behind their product instead of searching for the lowest price. Maybe I've just had bad luck, but seems like when I try to cheap out it ends up more expensive in the end.

A new one of these bumpers is almost 3x what I paid for this one and there was only one left in the US when I checked, which was weeks before. Since it was to be resprayed, I didn't think it mattered if it was new or not and the bumperette hole fill job is very common on US-spec 993's. I've heard of them going bad after a few years, but plenty of DIY'ers have had great success with them. So I figured a pro would know what he was looking at. He knew they had been filled when he first saw the bumper. That would have been the time to say, "Hey, it might only be $500 here, but if I have to redo this fill, I should do it before starting on the painwork and that's gonna be another $150." That would have been cheaper than what's happening now. I really don't understand paint detailing, but I also thought a pro would be able to take one look at a car in the sun and know if it needed buffed or sanded too.

Really? As an experienced car guy, you don't already know that?

Of course no one can guarantee the quality of previously done work that is hidden under paint, by just looking at it.

Maybe he saw your thread on how you're making out like a bandit on this deal. ;-)

I'm pretty sure he's at best breaking even on this and he wants my car outta there. I only have my bike now and got caught in the rain yesterday for the first time in about a year. I need a cage.

bah! Heretic!!!

Or al least a bike with a cow catcher ;)
don't think there's such a thing as a coyote catcher.



Durn city boys are sittin there right now saying, what the heck is he talkin about?

Why don't you show him your gun?

Seriously, You tried to go cheap and you got bit.

You're welcome.

Why don't you eat sheet and die?

Rick, I seem to remember you weren't going to settle for a used part. Probably for the reasons you are posting.

I wasn't going to settle for the insurance company insisting on a used part and supplied by the body shop of their choice, which is what the adjuster told me might happen. Actually, I wasn't even against a used part. The issue was that my bumper was stock and I wanted to go with Euro turbo, which they obviously would never have authorized if they were insisting on supplying the parts and repair shop. They really hooked me up, so I have no complaints at all with them.

My issue is with the shop owner, who came very highly recommended and who (IMHO) should have known these issues were a real possibility. From my research, I've never heard of this stuff happening with such a simple and routine job.

I'm glad you're not my customer Rick. Your last three long posts have made it seem like you are turning into one of those bitter cheapskate entitled old white men. I'll get off your lawn now.

I'm not bitter at all. I'm upset that this it costing close to 3x the quote when a guy with a solid rep. didn't tell me what this might become when he first looked at it. I also suspect it's his crew doing the work and he's totally hands off. But I don't know for sure. When I dropped the car off, they had the bumper on a sawhorse, filled, primed and sanded. He had redone the bumpette holes already. He had just left for vacation hours earlier, so I handed my keys to one of his guys. I know the boss did not paint it or personally see it crack when they went to install it because he called me from Florida to tell me about it. He's not charging me for that, so I have no complaint and am not at all in a rush to get the car back.

But maybe some of you body/paint guys can set me straight on this clear coat issue. I really know nothing about it. I just hit it with Zaino's and an orbital buffer after a wash once or twice a year and that always took the spider web cracks out of it. How could a pro not get at least those results without having to sand the whole thing? I'm honestly asking. I have no idea how this stuff works. $500 doesn't seem too out of line for the labor involved, but I would have thought he'd have known what would be required as soon as he saw the car. Any chance his guys messed it up before he inspected it?

Yes.

I will die someday, but I will always have a special place in my heart for little deputy dog ricky who went cheap and now has to deal with his self inflicted shyte pile.

You really made out on this deal!

Actually, I'm still ahead about $500 and I haven't even started selling off my front splitters, US-spec. clear corners or other stuff. So I'll be looking for you to sheet on that thread once I know how much I end up with.

Keep in mind that the detail and paint correction (wetsand, etc) is a 'plus'.... not to be counted against your accident repair. Whatever your used bumper cost, plus the initial $500 paint/r&r, plus the unforeseen $350 re-do filler is what you're in (so far).

Yes, I agree and I wanted to spend some money on paint detail. And I'm well enough ahead that I don't have a problem paying what it costs. My concern is that these phone calls feel like when a lawyer calls - the bill just keeps climbing. And since I haven't seen the finished product, I still don't have a whole lot of confidence in this guy. That he was "surprised" by the recurring spider web cracks sort of surprises me. I just thought body guys know everything about this stuff.