D & S Body Shop of San Ramon -- SUB-standard work, skip this place guys
04-09-2004, 07:24 AM
#1
Registered User
Thread Starter
about a month back I had my S repainted due to a large gash on the hood (see here).
I decided to take my S to a local paint shop, D & S Body Shop, in San Ramon. The guy who owns the place, Ken, is really nice and soft spoken. Unfortunately, nice and soft spoken doesn't mean his people do quality work.
At first, since he knew my repair was being covered by insurance, he immediately suggested replacing the windshield because of rock chips. Well, my windshield doesn't have any rock chips that I can see (although I'm sure it has a few very minor ones). In short, not enough chipping to warrant replacing it. Bad sign #1-- trying to generate unnecessary extra work.
But I leave my S there and they repaint it. I pick it up and at first, everything looks good. The hood is once again the long, black mirror that I love. When I take it out and drive it however, I notice that a lot of the paint looks like it has some spiderweb pattern on it, as well as a bunch of small circles.
So I take it back and point it out. Ken says "Ah, yes they weren't able to do a good polish job since it's been so overcast and they couldn't see it in the sun." Bad sign #2-- a paint shop has internal lighting. I should hope they can see the work they're doing and not need the sun. What about when they paint cars in the winter months?
I leave my S there again and they do their polish thing. The spiderwebs are gone now, but when I check out the front bumper, I see what looks like a crappy repair to a new rock chip?! Basically it looked like a small crater sunken in, like it was filled with touch-up paint, then sanded smooth too soon, because when the paint dried it shrank and thus sunk down. I'm like, WTF?? I forgot to note the odometer so I have no idea if someone took my S for a lil joyride or if they just accidentally nicked it. Either way I just don't want to deal with it and leave.
Well anyway, a few days later I'm going to get my clear bra installed but I notice that I had put a new, rather large rock chip in my freshly painted front bumper. D & S offers a free touch-up deal so I go ahead and take it back. I decide to not only show them the new chip, but also the strange crater that is so obviously touch-up paint from when I picked my S up from them the last time. They touch up my paint and ask me to come back in a few days to smooth it out. I come back, and well they do a pretty good job, but unfortunately when they're smoothing some of the touched-up paint, a bit too much of it flakes off and I can see again some of the white primer underneath. It's not a big deal, just take a toothpick and touch it up again, but for some reason Ken is standing there watching, and we can all see the primer showing again and he says, "It's looking good." 
I decide to do the last bit of touch up myself with a paperclip, thank them and leave.
This morning, I'm washing my S because I'm having Jeremy from Invisiguard install my clear bra, and I notice that the paint on the flat part in the front bumper scoop on the driver's side has a very orange-peel texture to it. I compare it to the other side, and that side is smooth. Once again, D & S's paint work is showing it's true colors. It's not worth it for me to take it back to D & S, because Jeremy is driving out this morning to do the install.
D & S Body Shop does low quality work. For the $1800 they charged my insurance (Wawanesa-- which is a *FANTASTIC* insurance company), I would've expected that they could do less shoddy, and less questionable work.
That mystery new rock chip in the front bumper from when I had them remove the spiderwebbing in my paint still bugs the f*ck outta me.
D & S Body Shop, 38 Beta Ct. #A8, San Ramon, CA, 94583
I decided to take my S to a local paint shop, D & S Body Shop, in San Ramon. The guy who owns the place, Ken, is really nice and soft spoken. Unfortunately, nice and soft spoken doesn't mean his people do quality work.
At first, since he knew my repair was being covered by insurance, he immediately suggested replacing the windshield because of rock chips. Well, my windshield doesn't have any rock chips that I can see (although I'm sure it has a few very minor ones). In short, not enough chipping to warrant replacing it. Bad sign #1-- trying to generate unnecessary extra work.
But I leave my S there and they repaint it. I pick it up and at first, everything looks good. The hood is once again the long, black mirror that I love. When I take it out and drive it however, I notice that a lot of the paint looks like it has some spiderweb pattern on it, as well as a bunch of small circles.
So I take it back and point it out. Ken says "Ah, yes they weren't able to do a good polish job since it's been so overcast and they couldn't see it in the sun." Bad sign #2-- a paint shop has internal lighting. I should hope they can see the work they're doing and not need the sun. What about when they paint cars in the winter months?I leave my S there again and they do their polish thing. The spiderwebs are gone now, but when I check out the front bumper, I see what looks like a crappy repair to a new rock chip?! Basically it looked like a small crater sunken in, like it was filled with touch-up paint, then sanded smooth too soon, because when the paint dried it shrank and thus sunk down. I'm like, WTF?? I forgot to note the odometer so I have no idea if someone took my S for a lil joyride or if they just accidentally nicked it. Either way I just don't want to deal with it and leave.
Well anyway, a few days later I'm going to get my clear bra installed but I notice that I had put a new, rather large rock chip in my freshly painted front bumper.
D & S offers a free touch-up deal so I go ahead and take it back. I decide to not only show them the new chip, but also the strange crater that is so obviously touch-up paint from when I picked my S up from them the last time. They touch up my paint and ask me to come back in a few days to smooth it out. I come back, and well they do a pretty good job, but unfortunately when they're smoothing some of the touched-up paint, a bit too much of it flakes off and I can see again some of the white primer underneath. It's not a big deal, just take a toothpick and touch it up again, but for some reason Ken is standing there watching, and we can all see the primer showing again and he says, "It's looking good." I decide to do the last bit of touch up myself with a paperclip, thank them and leave.This morning, I'm washing my S because I'm having Jeremy from Invisiguard install my clear bra, and I notice that the paint on the flat part in the front bumper scoop on the driver's side has a very orange-peel texture to it. I compare it to the other side, and that side is smooth. Once again, D & S's paint work is showing it's true colors.
It's not worth it for me to take it back to D & S, because Jeremy is driving out this morning to do the install.D & S Body Shop does low quality work. For the $1800 they charged my insurance (Wawanesa-- which is a *FANTASTIC* insurance company), I would've expected that they could do less shoddy, and less questionable work.
That mystery new rock chip in the front bumper from when I had them remove the spiderwebbing in my paint still bugs the f*ck outta me.
D & S Body Shop, 38 Beta Ct. #A8, San Ramon, CA, 94583
04-09-2004, 10:45 AM
#5
Moderator
Dont put the bra on the car.... the paint need to cure first. If you seal the paint up with the bra your just asking for trouble.
Trending Topics
04-09-2004, 11:56 AM
#8
Moderator
ok cool, my whole car just got painted and i got some of the spiderwebs, and the body shop is telling me that that is normal. Im going to do some research on this...
04-09-2004, 02:25 PM
#10
Registered User
Thread Starter
[QUOTE]Originally posted by ROLLININMYS2000
ok cool, my whole car just got painted and i got some of the spiderwebs, and the body shop is telling me that that is normal.
ok cool, my whole car just got painted and i got some of the spiderwebs, and the body shop is telling me that that is normal.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post