GT500 Paint Repair Advice

Flusher

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Sorry in advance for the long rant.

Transportation issues and a new job forced me to start driving my '08 GT500 again.

My coworker had a crackhead moment while leaving for lunch. He neglected to check to see if anyone was parked next to him when he pulled his dually out. He just hooked the corner, right from his parking space. The dually fender took out the driver side fender and front bumper.

My coworker said that he would take care of it and make it right. The company I work for builds $100K sand cars. The guy they use for custom paint touch-ups was called in to do the repair work on my car. This guy was presented to me as super badass and does amazing things with touch-up repairs. He was doing a repair at our facility about a week before he was to do mine, so I introduced myself. He is a swaggerer and acted every bit as badass as as his reputation implied.

When he brought me out to look at the repair work on my car, my initial reaction was, "You got to be F'n kidding me!" I did my best to give him the benefit of the doubt and maybe, after it was color sanded and buffed, it would look acceptable.

At the end of the day, I had time to fully inspect the finished results:
1.) There is a lot of dirt, from being sprayed in the parking lot. No effort was made to even wet down the area beforehand.
2.) The body filler shrunk and all the sand scratches are clearly visible.
3.) He killed the body lines around the headlight and wheel opening.
4.) There are pinholes/fisheyes where filler was applied. Paint was globbed on in heavy coats, in attempt to cover, resulting in runs and big fisheyes.
5.) Paint is dry coats on the rest of the fender. I don't believe that there is sufficient coverage to facilitate color sanding and buff. If there is, I don't believe it will tolerate a second buffing without burning through the paint.
6.) He painted right up to the stripes, which were undermasked, now the stripes need to be replaced.

In general, the whole repair is of first semester high school auto body quality.

When I called him out on his workmanship, his response was, "I'm just a poh mobile guy. I don't got nice tools. I ain't got a nice spray gun. I don't got a spray booth." He said the best he could do is return 40% of my coworker's money, because he doesn't want to go out of pocket on this job.

It appears that everywhere he touched needs to be stripped, to remove his poor quality work. Is there a way to just strip down to the original paint, trying to preserve the original paint?

AAA, my insurance company, is always less-than helpful when it comes to protecting their insured (me).

Had I been able to sell the car, before this happened, I could have lived with taking a $20K loss, selling it for just what I owe still. Any guesses on how much this car would be devalued with the previously mentioned hack job?

I have been detached from paint and body work for a good 25 years now, so I don't know what the current technology is. Is it as bad as it sounds, or am I missing something?

I'd really appreciate some input from the industry professionals. Does the whole car have to be repainted for black to look right?

Are there any financial avenues available or do I just have to eat this?

Thank you for any thoughts or ideas. I apologize for my tone, I'm really struggling with this. Also, I can't seem to be able to post any pictures, not that I want to, I just don't want the damage to be the only thing I see when I look at my car.
 

golkhl

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Buy a new oem fomoco fender and bumper cover, have them professionally paint matched and sprayed in a booth. Have a the body shop that sprays them do the install to ensure proper panel alignment. Make your dipshit co-worker pay for everything.
 

Forty61

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Insurance sucks but if you want it fixed right you may have to go that route. Tell your coworker that you need to use insurance because you want your stuff fixed properly, end of story.
 

Iceman62

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Any pics of this bad-a's work on your car? Curious minds want to know...also, another vote f/ insurance to handle your issue. Let this guy know you're not at all pleased & get it fixed right. You let him control the fix which probably cost him...zilch.
 

tabstang

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ditto. The fomoco sheet metal parts are critical, I've tried the generic chinese ones and they just don't fit as well. They can be "massaged" to look good but it's trick and time consuming. Got a (used but perfect) fomoco fender and it dropped right on like it had come off the car to start with, no adjustments needed.
 

Dino Dino Bambino

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Buy a new oem fomoco fender and bumper cover, have them professionally paint matched and sprayed in a booth. Have a the body shop that sprays them do the install to ensure proper panel alignment. Make your dipshit co-worker pay for everything.

What he said, and change your insurance company if it's only as useful as tits on a bull. There's no point in staying with AAA if they merit a FFF.
 
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You coworker is 100% responsible for this and needs to make this right...this shouldn't cost you anything I would have thought that your insurance company would go after him and/or work with his insurance company.
 

Flusher

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Thank you all for the replies. Sorry for the late reply.

Funny how my insurance company won't take my calls.

More good news, took it for emissions testing. Had a pre test performed to make sure that there were absolutely no issues with passing. According to the guy, everything looked right and there should be no reason it shouldn't pass, that's exactly why I bought this car in first place. As soon as the official test started, it failed and got flagged to go to the smog referee.

Funny how my wife's car passed seconds before. The guy said it is probably because it is a GT500.

This is just killing all my motivation. If anyone told me, when I turned 16 and got my driver's license, that I would still be riding my skateboard to work when I was 52, I would have laughed in their faces. Only $49,600 left to pay on this car and insurance.

I miss my V6!
 

Flusher

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Any pics of this bad-a's work on your car? Curious minds want to know...also, another vote f/ insurance to handle your issue. Let this guy know you're not at all pleased & get it fixed right. You let him control the fix which probably cost him...zilch.

When I try to upload pictures, it looks like it goes, then posts the text without the picture.

I did immediately let him know that I am not at all pleased with his work, first when I first saw it, and twice on the phone since. Clearly now, my two options are either to frak off or to go frak myself.

What he said, and change your insurance company if it's only as useful as tits on a bull. There's no point in staying with AAA if they merit a FFF.

ditto. The fomoco sheet metal parts are critical, I've tried the generic chinese ones and they just don't fit as well. They can be "massaged" to look good but it's trick and time consuming. Got a (used but perfect) fomoco fender and it dropped right on like it had come off the car to start with, no adjustments needed.

Fortunately, when I first bought my GT500, Dino said to keep the fenders etc. for just such an occasion, and I listened. Thank you Dino I have a perfect factory fender from my "05 V6.

^^^ or his insurance company...

Insurance sucks but if you want it fixed right you may have to go that route. Tell your coworker that you need to use insurance because you want your stuff fixed properly, end of story.

You coworker is 100% responsible for this and needs to make this right...this shouldn't cost you anything I would have thought that your insurance company would go after him and/or work with his insurance company.

My coworker did pay the repair guy, however, he is judging the quality of work based on his beater Toyota, saying, "Well, it looks okay to me."

The problem is, now, how do I get the insurance companies to take action after a repair has already been attempted?
 

Dino Dino Bambino

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Fortunately, when I first bought my GT500, Dino said to keep the fenders etc. for just such an occasion, and I listened. Thank you Dino I have a perfect factory fender from my "05 V6.

The problem is, now, how do I get the insurance companies to take action after a repair has already been attempted?

Glad you kept those fenders. You never know when that rainy day might come. :)

You'll have a hard time convincing the insurance company to take on someone else's botched repair job. I suggest you call them and ask if one of their appraisers can inspect the car to make a proper assessment. They might agree to meet either the original repair cost or the repair cost of the botch job, whichever is the lesser of the two. Talking to the insurers person to person might just achieve the best result.
 

Flusher

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It just wouldn't feel right if I didn't have backup parts. Sadly, the V6 bumper cover was destroyed by a delivery truck, at my previous job.

I've come to the realization that I'm going to eat this. It just kills me that I have to pay so that my dream car will be abused, so that I can work a shitty abusive job while so many others get paid to not work.

This combined with the new 'can't register the car because it won't pass emissions testing' problem added to the preexisting 'dealership, I bought the car from, didn't do a great job installing/breaking in a Spec Stage 2 clutch' which got progressively worse and now needs to be changed before I take it to the smog referee. This car has officially become a hardship. It is damaging my calm.
 

Mustang Terlingua

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As far as your ins, if you have to pay the deductible, beat the fender & bumper cover & what ever else with a hammer. Take the Shelby to the shop Y'all want & get it fixed right. Y'all pay for full coverage tell em it was like that when Y'all got outa Walmart. I had a lady put a dent in my tailgate on my F250 In a work parking lot, & I knew the Ins would repair the panel. I took a hammer to the lettering "Super Duty" & I got a new Genuine Ford Tailgate painted at the shop I wanted it done at. How much have Y'all payed for ins for how many years without a claim ?
 

Flusher

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As far as your ins, if you have to pay the deductible, beat the fender & bumper cover & what ever else with a hammer. Take the Shelby to the shop Y'all want & get it fixed right. Y'all pay for full coverage tell em it was like that when Y'all got outa Walmart. I had a lady put a dent in my tailgate on my F250 In a work parking lot, & I knew the Ins would repair the panel. I took a hammer to the lettering "Super Duty" & I got a new Genuine Ford Tailgate painted at the shop I wanted it done at. How much have Y'all payed for ins for how many years without a claim ?

I have been with AAA for 25 years in May. Been like 7 years since either my wife or I had a claim.

I have concerns that when the car is inspected, it is very obvious that there is new paint.
 

JJDAG

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Buy a new oem fomoco fender and bumper cover, have them professionally paint matched and sprayed in a booth. Have a the body shop that sprays them do the install to ensure proper panel alignment. Make your dipshit co-worker pay for everything.
Exactly what GOLKHL said ! Don’t let the use aftermarket parts especially the bumper cover they never fit right. Black isn’t hard to match but it’s a bitch to blend so do the whole fender and cover, it’s not like it’s a Focus it’s a GT 500 so it must be right.
Good luck man…
 

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