[Vegaspilot]

Thanks for the input. Doesn’t look like NC has a cooling off period and I do like the car. I’m just not willing to let them paint past the bumper. At this point I’d be happy to be able to buff off all his “touch up” and just paint pen the scratch and forget about it. I bought some compounds, but I dunno I can get it to blend.

I had a 4Runner once where the kid put the garage door down on the open hatch. Gouged the paint to metal and wrenched the hinges. I almost just painted the lower hatch black and dealt, but the hatch popped and rubbed the body. So I gave the dealer a chance. Dealer did a hack job. Second body shop did better, but still issues. Third shop replaced everything and it was as close right as it was going to get, but there were still shading issues and the interior had been pulled so many times there was damaged push pins etc. Plus the wiring cover from the body to the hatch had gotten its retainer clips broken from the removals and it would stay connected anymore. Only available with a new full wiring harness. I realized it would never be right again and cut my losses and Carmax’d it. One year old and maybe 12k on the clock. Gutted me, but I’m that picky that I couldn’t accept it after all that.

So that’s why I’m so nervous/hesitant of letting them start pulling parts and painting. Gonna end up going down the same rabbit hole again. Wife doesn’t want them to touch it again. Said Plastidip it or buy a metal bumper that you cut the factory bumper to fit. So I’m not sure still what to do at this point. It sucks that it’s not really noticeable until the sun is out. Then it jumps out at me.

 

[Vegaspilot]

When it comes to the bumper cover, I remove it myself and leave it at the paint shop. This way, there's no risk of overspray.

Not a bad idea.

 

[Vegaspilot]

Talked to the new car manager at Subaru. He’s going to talk to the body shop manager and have him call me to “try and put me at ease”. He’s said anything clips or pins broken would be replaced with brand new Subaru factory parts. It would be restored to showroom. We’ll see. While I’m not convinced I’m gonna let them touch it yet, I’ll stop by tomorrow while out and let them see it and talk more to them. I appreciate they’re willingness to make it right.

 

[Vegaspilot]

The dealer had their in house body shop repair it. Looks like new again for the most part. After getting it back I noticed the new bumper pad was too far back and there was a dimple in the paint. Took it back and they redid the bumper pad and fixed the dimple. You can still see the minor spot in the color under the clear, but it’s almost impossible to see if you don’t know where to look and do it at exactly the right angle.

Granted I may have just found a defect in the headliner. Sigh.

 

[Vegaspilot]

Took the crossbars off today to see how the road noise and mpg is without them on, being I drive 150 highway miles 4-5 days a week. Noticed this odd blemish in the paint. Thought maybe I had done it installing or removing the crossbars, but this is under the paint. You can feel the bump. Almost looks like a little worm haha. 🤷🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️

 

[Vegaspilot]

I have plenty pf paint imperfections on Impreza, worst paint job I’ve ever seen on a new car. Modern Chinese cars (BYD or Geely) have noticeably better paint quality.
I can share some pics if anyone’s interested.

Dang that sucks. I dunno why things seem to get worse the newer they are. What kind of pics do you have? If the Impreza? I’d be curious to see em. You’d think made in Japan would still mean something. Guess not.

 

[Vegaspilot]

If the paint imperfection is hidden by the crossbars Subaru probably doesn't care.

It’s on the roof. Crossbars probably help hide it. It’s nothing I’d have them mess with. I don’t need or want the roof repainted.

 

[Vegaspilot]

Go to a new car or used car dealership and ask when the touchup paint guy will be there. The touchup paint guy goes to different dealerships to repaint new and used car paint blemishes. He has to be really good so us customers never know there was a paint problem. He works for the Dealer but is known to accept cash American from us car owners. The price is reasonable. A lot less than a body shop. I have been going to the same guy for over 10 years now to fix my off road carnage.

Not a bad idea. Only problem is I tried that guy before and he mucked up the rear bumper. Totally wrong shade. I’ll just do my best to ignore it. I’m just so picky once I see stuff like that it takes a while for me to get over being ticked at it. And then I always see it.

 

[Vegaspilot]

It was difficult to focus on the clear coat because the paint is white. This is one of the clear coat blemishes on the hood. ~ 1/2" in size.
View attachment 327907

Geez. That sucks. That looks fairly similar to what I see in the roof. Although mine looks to be in the color coat and not just the clear.