Auto body repair & detailing: New paint, furnace flue, texture problem

Question
I just got my 1996 SS Impala back from a body shop that a pretty good job straitening the body, but the paint job itself was bad. The paint has little dimples all over, some areas are very clean. The dimples are maybe 200th of an inch big. What should I do?

Answer
If the paint has a texture problem it's really an easy fix. It just needs sanded and buffed, something that should have been done after it was painted. If it has little "divots" in the paint, these are called fisheyes. They look exactly like a dead fish that has had it's eye plucked out of it's orbit by a bird, hence the name fisheye. It's usually caused by contamination of the pant or clear during the refinish process. Or, it's a condition called solvent trapping. That happens when clear coat is over applied, or the wrong temperature thinner is used.  It may require refinishing. It's difficult to get good paint work this time of year, you may want to complain to the shop manager, and schedule a time in mid to late spring when the shop conditions are more stable. Contamination can come from a dirty furnace flue, someone using penetrating oil out in the shop when the painter was working, a Diesel engine being started in the shop- a whole host of things. When it's warm enough to open up the shop doors, most of the contamination in the air just goes outside, or becomes so light in the air that is won't cause any problems. You see, the booth draws all the air in the shop into it while it's running, so everything in the air goes through the booth. Just complain to the shop manager, and I'm sure they will fix it one way or the other. bill