Paint Job gone horribly wrong!

[mikecentola]

Check out this thread of a guy who's 350z got real messed up.

HORRIBLE body shop experience - details inside. 350z ruined. - MY350Z.COM Forums

[GranMassaX]

wow... that's terrible.

[ckivic4dr]

wow.. i'm speechless

[mikecentola]

Could you imagine if that happened to your car? I don't even know what I'd do...

[Kicklow]

thats some best of show paint right thurr!!

[Captain Moai]

$250 for paint, prep and fitment? Come on. That's like falling for one of the Nigerian cash scams. You can't seriously expect labor and materials to come out to $250 and ANY sort of quality work to be involved. Even the $750 he ended up paying is still on the light side, given what's involved.
I want to feel bad for the guy and say "yeah, he's an enthusiast who got screwed by a scam artist", but that wouldn't be true. He's an enthusiast who was looking for a cheap way out and got bitten. Choosing a bodyshop is like hiring an employee. You check references, you look at their resume of work they've done, you evalutate each one as you meet them. He obviously didn't look too far into this one, even admitting that there were bad things he'd heard about this particular shop. Looking at how poorly the idiot shop worker's AIM grammar is, I can't feel sorry for the owner at all.

Years ago, our hobby used to have a clearly defined line between quality products and cheap knockoffs. The price disparities were huge, the reputations were clear as day and outsourcing products to chinese bulk manufacturers wasn't as common a practice. The people were fairly well known because work ethos and quality results were the only advertisement a shop had. Now, here we are with eCatalogs full of discount chinese knockoff coilovers, ebay bodykits made in someone's living room and internet forums where vendors can advertise LOW LOW PRICES and rely on a few trusted buddies to "recommend" their services. It's just like fishing, except you're trying to hook sucker enthusiasts and people with low expectations and shallow wallets. These days, it's too expensive to have to do something twice. When you're shopping for a car, most of the time price isn't the only deciding factor. Quality, service and reputation are important reasons why you'd buy from someone. Because of that, it suprises me that when it comes to items you can buy online or people you meet on a messageboard, most enthusiasts these days only have their wallets in mind.

[Kicklow]

lol....he got what he paid for. he has no right to bitch IMO. its unfortunate yes, but come on now

[nysulli]

I'd agree if the paint quality was crap, and the fitment was crap and that was the end of it.

however with the dents, wood screws, etc. its just unacceptable at any price, his car, not just his new parts are screwed

[MikeyB.]

im with ^^^.

[Captain Moai]

Originally Posted by nysulli

I'd agree if the paint quality was crap, and the fitment was crap and that was the end of it.

however with the dents, wood screws, etc. its just unacceptable at any price, his car, not just his new parts are screwed

I'ts definitely unacceptable. The problem is, how did someone who does this quality of work EVER generate any business? I highly doubt the last few cars they did were extremely awesome, with this 350Z being an oddball mistake. Somewhere there has to be some sort of example of their craftsmanship and if the owner didn't look into it enough to confirm the quality of work being done, then that's his fault. Even in his analysis, he makes valid points regarding the shoddy details of the overall job. He obviously had an eye for body lines, he knew what flex additive is and what orange peel looks like and represents. With that sort of knowledge, the onus was on him to find a shop that exhibited quality that met his standards. He chose the cheap route, didn't investigate fully where his money was going and got fucked for it in the end.