I feel horrible and sick to my stomach....

So, I went to detail my good friends car he just picked up. He is an automotive enthusiast. I drove 2.5 hrs to his place and planned on charging him 200 for the interior and exterior. The car looked to be in ok shape. Other than the few deep scratches he wanted to take out. He did say the right side had been probably resprayed.

We decided to wet sand some of the scratches. After wet sanding, most of the scratches were removed and the scratches were less noticeable.

I finished the car and was pretty proud of the work. He liked it until he still saw the scratches. He was like, Man, I thought you had the best stuff. I know you can get it out. Just wet sand it again and compound again. Imagine if it was your car. You know those spots would bother you. (It wasn't one sentence but a few statements he made through out the convo)

I responded, that I would fix it next time after he got his drop and rims. Aftr having lunch and talking with him, the perfectionist in me said go ahead and fix the spots. I took the car back to his car port and wet sanded the 2 areas and got a yellow spot compounding pad, and pg and started spreading. I kicked it up to 1200 rpm and something didn't feel right.

I check the pad and it had some paint on it. I checked it out and it looked to be strike through.

I was shocked. I tried to see if FP and wax would help, but nothing could help this. I went to the other spot and corrected with no problem.

After looking at the small area of strike through I thought of the fault tree.

1) I wanted it to be perfect for my good friend
2) I may have used too much pressure to wet sand
3) The area was in spot of respray. This area may have had an area of low clear coat.
4) I compounded to aggressively and for too long

When he came back, I showed him the area and told him to tell me how much it cost to fix it (he has paint experience and friends who paint) and I would pay for it. He said not to sweat it as that door had a few deep paint chips and one with rust on it.

I felt horrible. I tried to give him back his money, but he refused. He said it would be a cheap fix. He said I did and awesome job and just use it as a learning experience and that would need me to do his car again next year or so.

Even this morning, I still feel horrible. I keep replaying in my head each step I took and keep trying to figure out exactly what went wrong.

Needless to say, I probably wont be wet sanding any time soon and I probably will pick up a paint gauge.

Have you guys ever caused strike through? How did you all handle it?

Sorry for the long read.

Cliffs:

Went to help good friend with new car. Car came out very nice except for some RIDS. After talking to friend, I decided to wet sand and compound. I burned through the paint and feel horrible.

 

Sorry to hear that you went through the guys paint. No need to feel horrible. We all make mistakes.

I remember detailing one very nice car one day. The owner was actually walking around when I was hosing it down when the sprayhead just randomly disconnected, shot off the hose and hit the roof of the car, bounced all over the place, went down the side of the door to eventually come to rest on the ground. Let's just say that those were the most intense few seconds of my life, I thought I was going to DIE!!!

 

Well, mistakes happen & we just need to learn from them. Life is a learning curve.
The fact that you feed horrible about it proves that you have a conscience & that your intentions were all good & I'm quite sure your friend knows that.

 

thanks guys. I appreciate the kind words.

 

sorry to hear this. oh i burned the paint on the door handle on my friends evo. my heart dropped. luckily it's just a dime size. quick patch up was easily done.. so i guess we all make mistakes even no matter how careful we already are.

 

Look at the bright side, luckily it was a good friends car and not a client that you had no relationship with.

 

invest in a paint gauge my friend

 

:nod: I agree with Jayplay, when wet sanding or heavy compounding it's always important to check how much paint/clear coat you have to play with.

Sorry for your experience but remember what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. I too have gone through the clear coat but it was on my rust bucket Jeep, I wanted to see what it took to go through clear coat and found it doesn't take much so when I compound or wet sand I take extra precaution....but like I said its part of learning.

Keep your chin up :comfort:

 

Shit happens! Like Ramsus said, the fact that you feel bad shows you care. Get yourself a paint guage ( I use a Defelsko DFT) and carry on. You're not the only one who has made mistakes. Its all part of the learning curve. One time I was cleaning this guys Peterbuilt with a 53' trailer, and I hadn't clicked in the wand extension when I inserted it. Keeping in mind the pressure washer was running full out at 3500 psi and 4 gpm when I pulled the trigger. Well, that wand extension fired out of my lance like a f#$%ing rocket. If it wasn't for the fact that I was pointing the wand towards the trailer at a 45 degree angle, it would have gone straight through the side of the trailer. That would have been fun to explain. Instead it just glanced off. Since then I NEVER pull the trigger on my pwasher with it pointed at the vehicle.

 

What grade paper did you use?

 

shit i did the same thing yesterday, only this is a customers car. i was wet sanding the trunk of a white bmw and didnt notice a small dent that was sticking up. it is a small, maybe 1/4 inch burn, but i felt so bad i quit for the day and went home and went to bed. i still dont know how i am going to tell the customer monday. he might not care seeing as the car has more chips than a chips ahoy cookie. but i still feel so bad, and i just kept looking at it, like go away please. but its still there this morning. i guess like others have said, head up and march on my man. thats what i'm doing today, and tomorrow im looking into a PTG.

 

To be honest guys, one of the best investments a detailer can make is a paint gauge. You don't have to go out and spend thousands of ca$hola the DFT and others like it will get the job done. The more you spend the more features you have but in my opinion the DFT vs the PosiTector 6000 they are about the same in accuracy....it's just that the PosiTector 6000 bring more features, features that some of you may use and others may not.

advs1, sorry to hear about your experience as well but you know what they say once bitten twice shy right. I'm sure you wont make the same mistake twice

 

O man! Im sorry to here about that!

I agree with the statement "whatever doesnt kill us makes us stronger".

Think about it this way, that situation could have gone SOOOO much worse.

I have faith that you will not make that mistake again!

 

Don't worry about it man, you'll be fine. Just do what you can on your part to prevent another mishap like this happening again. Seeing that you worried about it so much, your friend noticed your good intentions and appreciates the great work you've done.

 

Well, if he didn't push it you would have walked away but it was you who did the damage. Personally, I would find a way to get him back his $200 even if he will not accept it - box of cigars, couple bottles of scotch, whatever.

 

GULP, EYES WIDE OPEN, NOOO!! as you wipe away the paste and reveal what you fear most, forehead instaglazed in sweat, shakes, feeling of helplessness. best thing to do is take a deep breath, the outcome is never nearly as bad as you think it's going to be. as ridiculous as it sounds but at your mate's slight expense, this is one of the most fantastic bits of experience you'll ever have mainly due to you,aforementioned, being the proud owner of a fine conscience.

I'm afraid i've had to endure a few scorches to get to where I am now. I've not gone through the clear coat for years. i stupidly don't have a gauge but i'm very interested in purchasing one.

 

LanceM, Sounds like If you don't say something positive stevo is going to throw you in the pond. :thumb: