BMW - Repair Centre's (Paint) Result.

[gazm3]

I had some accident damage done on my wife's convertible,
two years ago now at Benham's BMW Stockport and Iv'e never been happy with job. ( White van man reversed into it)

See below, its the panel difference in colour.
The car is Met Blue and the boot looks more purple in the sun compared to the back drivers side,
which is the panel they sprayed.



I also paid Ԛ£235 to get the drivers door resprayed to match!!!!.
And they just sprayed over the very small rust patch
which is now coming through the paint .



Is it me or something?, have any of you chaps had similar problems with BMW accident repair centres?.

I actually stipulated BMW as the repair centre, on the insurance job

Im taking it back now for inspection!!

[bryang]

Thats cr@p and they should resolve the issue over they rust/paint..Might be a bit harder to push them over the colour difference after a couple of years..

Good luck

[A1BMW325iSport]

with some colours the paint is hard to match on an older car but that just looks a poor job mate tbh.

go back to Benham`s and see what they say.

[cuk325]

i had my old 323 painted at rydale bmw bodyshop & it was zinnober red,
it faded to pink after 8months,
they claimed id used the wrong polish...

[gazm3]

They said they will get back to me!.

Basically they are not that interested in old E30,

Usual question why did I wait in bringing the car back!. What does that matter its basically a poor paint match.

They say its not that easy to match old paint with new paint,
and I should be thankfull they didn't 'write the car off'.

Its had 2 owners with 60,000 on the clock!.

Honestly they had a yard full of wrecked new BMW's with accident damage.



Im just not going to except no for the answer, its the principle.

[E30_320i]

one word gazza.......Cocks.

Lee

[stevo]

metallic colours should never be taken to the edge unless its a cheap cash job, not through the insurance. its very easy to blend the metallic into the next panel and the whole lot laqured so the differance is invisible to the naked eye. sounds like they seen an older car and rushed it out the door

[gazm3]

Here's another photo, its plain as day even to the untrained eye.

(The cars under my huge carport)

Its funny because, other lads here on the zone are having their cars whacked through no fault of there own.
You expect a certain standard from a BMW repair shop.

I finally got p*ssed off looking at it yesterday and decided it was going back.
I think I was kind of hoping over a bit of time the paint would fade.

[Simon13]

"They say its not that easy to match old paint with new paint,
and I should be thankfull they didn't 'write the car off'. "

U should of asked him politely if he had ever been strangled before? and not to be so bloody rude to a customer. ignorant tw&t

[gazm3]

Thats what I thought Simon.

I even helped them, because they asked me if the car was coming in with the Hardtop on. So they could bill the insurance company for two extra hours labour for removing and replacing the Top.

When you consider I paid Ԛ£235.00 to get the drivers door sprayed aswell they will sort this car for me. Il'l make sure of that. I told them I take the car to all the BMW shows and there work isn't a good example of a BMW repair shop!.

[Simon13]

u should say the paint f**king code is on the front turret, YOU are a BMW approved (my arse) bodyshop. metallic paint does not fade it's the lacquer which darkens and gives the variations in colours which you see now on older cars.

They mix the paint to be slightly darker surely?!

[gazm3]

Your 100% correct Simon.

That's what he's checking on now.

He has to check with his supervisor and see if there is a better way to mix the paint, what ever that means. And he's been there for years, because my dad's always had BMW's so I have seen this guy before!.

[H-M3]

Thats blatantly wrong colour mate! what they normally do is brush over the other panels to just blend in with the old paint. But that looks totally wrong. Also when i was gonna get my car resprayed due to rust the guy said that rust will eventually come back again, but they do use lead in the rust spot to keep it clean for a bit longer.
If you get no joy out of the stealers mate try the bmw GB head office make a complaint there and everywhere. Just dont let them get away with it!

[CaesarBob]

I've used Benhams for other things plenty of times and must admit i'm never that impressed with the service. Mostly it's been the Parts dept tho.

But there seems to be a new guy there whos got a Sport and he's more helpful. I can still find stuff on the etk quicker than him.

[M3RAGS]

yeah its funny how my local dealer finds it amazing how i know the part numbers of all my parts....he still doesnt believe I have ETK

[gazm3]

Update - They phoned this morning, Im taking the car in on Saturday.

The reception girl asked if I didn't mind if they have the car for a while because they want to get the job right this time.

(Very nice reception girl!.)

I said they could have the car as long as they liked.

The only problem now is Iv'e got to let the wife drive the Motorsport.

Oh Sh*t!.

[billgatese30]

do you really have to let the wife drive the motorsport...can't you demand a courtesy car becaus of the inconvinence that the whole thing is to you and seeing as it is there fault an all that. it might just be worth it mate

[gazm3]

Im to honest me Chris, I suppose you could tell that by the fact Iv'e left the body work two years without complaining. They did mention a courtesy car, but they haven't got any available!. (Dont fancy a Ford Ka anyway) But they know Iv'e 3 E30's (and Iv'e the Golf GTI) so I carn't really complain too much.

Just want a top job, that I should have got last time.

Might force the wife to drive the GTI, but she doesn't like it because it has no power steering!.

She has been wanting to drive the Motorsport, since the day I bought it!

[billgatese30]

oh well, theres a first time for everything....time to book the motorsport in for an oil service pronto then isn't it......

i'm sure she'll look after it mate........i hope anyway

[android]

Can I suggest that next time you talk to them just say quietly that you've had enough of their half hearted response.

Ask for the BMW area manager's name, and complain to them in writing. Send a copy to the dealership and bodyshop. If this works the same way as Toyota, who I used to be with, the area manager is appointed by BMW, not the dealers, and hopefully they will be very nervous of a complaint going up the tree.

No response, then go to the BMW central office. If enough people complain about a franchised dealership, they could lose the franchise.

In addition, you can ask the insurance company to re-open the portfolio, if it was an insurance job, claiming the job was not satisfactory. You will have to say something like that you complained on picking the car up, but were told it would blend in with age.

The problem is, they are so complacent these dealer paintshops. All their work is insurance usually, which is high profit. They don't need our custom. We don't spend enough. It's the Brit disease.

[gazm3]

Well said mate, your spot on with your comments.

Cheers Gareth.

[android]

Incidentally,

I went into that dealership in 1986 with 15 grand in my coat pocket. I was living in Cheadle but had just come back from a contract in Holland.

Because I was in jeans and T shirt they ignored me.

So I waited patiently by a desk until the hawker deigned to ask me what I wanted, showed him the lolly, watched him go white, then walked down the road to Ford, who were very nice to me, and bought a brand new Sierra. (which was cr*p, but let's not spoil a good story)

It's taken me until this year to buy a Beemer because of that. Wish I'd got one sooner, but they really put my back up.

[johnono]

honestly gazza, they probably had that paint mixed and didnt check to see if the code was the same

that or they did it wrong (dude was recovering from a weekender) and tried to palm u off..
the rust thing though, did they say they did work on that panel honestly..i mean, if they did anything at all on the door apart from spray it?

i know its been two years, which may seem a little apathetic to the whole thing, but i wouldnԚ´t let it go , youԚ´ll feel a lot worse if u dont give it your best shot at a re-repair

[gazm3]

johnono,

Your pearls of wisdoms, on the zone are pure entertainment. You are the jedi master the famous Yoda, the wise one. The force is strong in you son.

[johnono]

r u windin me up

only jokin , luv u too

[placey]

gazza

have you considered printing this thread with the number of views it's had and taking in to show them? excellent publicity for them....

paul

[gazm3]

Car's gone in 2day. Let's hope they get it right this time.

Placey, your idea is in reserve until until I get it back.

I get the impression they well do a good job this time!

[Templ8e30]

Hi Gazza, sorry to hear about this mate.

I might expect a crap job from a back street body shop but the dealers should be able to do a spot on job.

I regularly use Benhams to he point where several of the parts guys know me by name and model but reading this makes me think twice of using their repair shop.

You go and give 'em hell mate

Cheers,

Iain T.

Ps. The 2.7 is nearly run in and is so seriously quick that I'm on the lookout for uprated brakes now !. See you soon.

[gazm3]

My fear has become reality.
As a consequence of my wife's convertible going in for the body work. She now gets the the Motorsport as her courtesy car! .

She say's now she prefer's it. Westlife CD has just gone in as well .

Even my son thinks its great.




There she goes never to be seen again.

[E30Mark]

What's the update on this,

Did you get your car re sprayed OK?

& did you ever get the motorsport back off your good lady... Junior looks very comfortable in the pics !

[gazm3]

Well Mark,

Would you believe they have still got the car.

They phoned last week and said would I mind if they had the car for a little while longer.As they want to get the job right!.

The wife is now driving my Golf as her courtesy car, as she drove the Motorsport into a curb on the second day driving it.!

Her chrome convertible is on standard factory set up. As Giles says '' It looks like its on stilts compared to the Motorsport!''.
So as a consquence she didn't realise the different ride hights of the two cabs and drove into the curb!!!

It now needs the front valance resprayed.

[E30Mark]

It now needs the front valance resprayed.

Hmmmmm know a good bodyshop?

[Jhonno]

Well Mark,

Would you believe they have still got the car.

They phoned last week and said would I mind if they had the car for a little while longer.As they want to get the job right!.

The wife is now driving my Golf as her courtesy car, as she drove the Motorsport into a curb on the second day driving it.!

Her chrome convertible is on standard factory set up. As Giles says '' It looks like its on stilts compared to the Motorsport!''.
So as a consquence she didn't realise the different ride hights of the two cabs and drove into the curb!!!

It now needs the front valance resprayed.

Doh!! I had a feeling it would be a bad idea for you to lend it to the missus!

[billgatese30]

i told you to demand a courtesy car

seruously though mate, thats a damn shame, i love that car, it is totally sweet, just don't send it to Benhams

[Simon13]

Gazza don't worry! my missus so far has scrapped my front valance all the way across the front on a few occasions. And kerbed one of my less than a year ago refurbed alpina's too. Which i might add were kerb free up till then!