i took some fiberglass parts into paint and when i got them back the paints' reflection wasn't smooth like glass. all of the parts had a distored, wobbly reflection. the problem is the painter is claiming it was the fiberglass that caused this outcome. is what he says true, or is he not owning up to a chitty paint job?

 

It is because the parts weren't prepped correctly. It sounds like you either went cheap with the paint job or cheap on the body parts. When you buy replica fiberglass parts, the quality control usually is not there. Sometimes you end up paying twice as much in prep work just to get the part to look good. I would take it back and have them prep it correctly. You will probably have to pay more but wavy parts do not look good. In the end, you get what you pay for.

 

have you tried polish yet?
shouldnt have to, but some chance it might fix the problem

sounds to me like a painters problem, like racecarpete said-

 

To me, it sounds like you're describing orange peel. Which is caused when the clearcoat is uneven, there are high and low spots in it. This can be corrected by wet sanding and polishing assuming they put a thick enough coat of clear on it. This is a normal final step in the painting process. It's just labor intensive since the wetsanding has to be done by hand. I guess that's why many body shops don't seem to bother with it or if they do, they don't do enough of it. I'd try letting the bodyshop know upfront that you're expecting a mirror like finish, that way they'll put a thick enough coat of clear on it so that it can be sanded down nice and smooth without the possibilty of compromising it's duribility.

 

Ding ding ding! Tell him what he's won Bob!

The symptom you have is indeed called orange peel. This is caused by the clearcoat sitting unevenly, which means the paint is sitting unevenly, which means the actual part was NOT prepped correctly.

Fiberglass is A LOT harder to smooth than metal....to get no orange peel.

My first suggestion, and the cheapest one.....

Go back to the shop, INSIST they wet sand all the parts, and rebuff, if the problem is still there.....

1)If it really is noticable from 5 feet away, tell them to strip the part, and do it again.

2)If its very minor, leave it as is.

 

Your shop did a bad job. Fiberglass is NOT hard to smooth or paint. They didn't take their time and prep the surface or they shot a way too thick coat. They need a wet sand, re-shoot, wet sand and a polish.

 

Do you have pictures so we can see what your talking about? Otherwise we're all just guessing here. What kind of parts are they?

 

what your describing is exactly what my problem is. i'll see if i can get the painters to fix it this time.

 

It could be orange peel or it could be the texture of the fiberglass showing through the paint. I detailed a car recently where the fiberglass hood was painted before the fiberglass had 100% cured and you could see the texture of the fiberglass matt through the paint. Either way if the panel was properly prepped, sprayed, and sanded you should get a flawless finish.