Greetings AB101ers. My car was damaged on the lower half of the trunk and a trip to the bodyshop was in order. I elected to have just the lower half painted to preserve the factory paint on the top half. The owner agreed that it was a good approach and doable and no blending would be done.


I got my car back from the shop and the only issues are a bad mask line that needs to be addressed and some orange peel that needs to be worked out better. I don't want to take my car back to the shop for fear of making things worse. They already had to shoot three times to get the metallic flakes down right.

Here are the obligatory pix. The white is buffing compound which makes the terrible mask line even more pronounced. Can anyone provide any pointers on how to use clear touchup paint and make this look better?

I saw this video on "cutting a blend line" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX-rDv8Pv5g

but was wondering if thinning the clearcoat line down like that would lead to faster breakdown or peeling. Since the mask line on my trunk is at a line break between upper and lower halfs it's not as visible on say a door panel.

I think it would help if you stepped back about 4 to 6 feet and took a pic. so we could see the overall job.

You should never have accepted it that way.
Like I tell my customers,
"if you can tell it's been fixed, it's not fixed"

JCCLARK wrote:You should never have accepted it that way.
Like I tell my customers,
"if you can tell it's been fixed, it's not fixed"

I like the way you think and you're absolutely right but you can always tell a panel has been repainted no matter how good the 'artist'.

The other side came out clean, and like I had said I'm not about to have them do it a fourth time and possibly cause other problems considering the match was spot on and I'm not exactly a "looks good from 10 feet" kinda guy. Don't get me wrong the bad mask line bothers me so I'm looking at this as a window of opportunity to learn sanding, touchup, etc to make it as invisible as possible.

Any suggestions? I have already purchased 1500 through 5000 grit sandpapers from Meguiars and 3M Trizact, multiple foam sanding blocks, 3M platinum plus spot putty for leveling clear edge. ANY suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

You'll sand through the "good" areas long before you sand that line in a concave area away.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^And that's why I was asking for another pic. The "law of diminishing returns" can quickly bite you when you attempt to go after stuff like this....

Thanks guys, I'll get better photos for you guys soon.

Stratoflex wrote:I like the way you think and you're absolutely right but you can always tell a panel has been repainted no matter how good the 'artist'.

That is definitely not true,
it's that type of thinking that allow body shops to get away
with sub standard work.

JCCLARK wrote:

Stratoflex wrote:I like the way you think and you're absolutely right but you can always tell a panel has been repainted no matter how good the 'artist'.

That is definitely not true,
it's that type of thinking that allow body shops to get away
with sub standard work.

Sorry STRATOFLEX this is not aimed at you.
I get really irritated seeing so many people accepting
body shop work because they think it can't be perfect again.
A lot of body shops will give a customer their car back knowing it's
not really good enough but they also know that most will accept it.
So why not try it.
They are the ones fueling the idea that once damaged, it will never be
as good again.
I tell all my customers, if you can tell it's been fixed, then it's not fixed.
Most times, the first words out of my customers mouth when picking up their car
is "you can't even tell it was hit"
Then they remember what I told them and they laugh.
I still get amused at their response.
I would rather paint the entire side of a car than to have one leave
like the ones I see on the road with a door a different color than the rest of the car.
OK, I'm done ranting.