koalatm

I'm hoping for some advice from the folks here. We have a 4 1/2 month old GLK, which had clear film applied by the dealer's detailing arm.

On the day of delivery, I noted that the film was bubbling in many places, and the dealership assured us this would go away after it had a chance to dry.

Fast-forward to now, and none of the issues had gotten any better, plus the film was peeling in several places. The dealer asked me to take it to their detail shop to have it re-done, which made sense to me.

Unfortunately upon having the new clear film installed, the installer managed to hack up all of the radar sensors with a utility knife. The result is a lot of peeling white paint.

The challenge is that had I pressed them to re-do the film on the original date of delivery, and they hacked up the bumper at that time, I would have refused delivery of the vehicle.

Obviously now, it's a "used vehicle" as it's 4 1/2 months old.

Their only solution is to re-paint the bumper. My argument is that I don't want a brand new $60,000 vehicle with a bumper which has been repainted.

Any thoughts? What is reasonable in this situation?

sethro1980

Get it repainted. I had vandalism damage on my front left fender and door, and on the hood, and they did an amazing job at my dealership. I paid my $50 insurance deductible and it looks like new again.

EmsBenz

Unfortunately, many cars sitting on the lot may already have a repainted bumper or door from being damaged in transit, on test drives, and dinged up from hail storms - not to mention all of the purses, rings, watches, etc scratching the paint.

Besides repainting it, I don't think there is much they can do beyond that. I'd also check to make sure that the sensors were not damaged before agreeing to anything.

Bob338

A new bumper would come in primer, not your car color anyway. And it would have to be repainted.

Mine was damaged, by me while parking in tight European spaces. When it got to the good ole USA they repaired it. That was almost a year ago and I defy anyone to find the repair. Looks like right off the showroom floor. You just have to have a good M-B body and paint shop.

NYCGLK

Exactly...very true. I had mine resprayed after somebody hit it. The shop does work for many local dealers (he had brand new 5 series with scratch on the rear bumper being resprayed). 500 bux later looks like new. Bumpers accumulate a alot of dings and chips and are are often resprayed. That's why opted against clear bra - lots of money for good job, potential headache, you can always see it's there and preserve the look for the next owner. All you have to do is respray once or twice in 10 years.

NYCGLK

I don't think you have a choice...what do you expect them to do? Give you a new car? Let them respray it and refund for clear bra...not a big deal. I know you still have new car feeling about (I did, when I got mine)...but in a couple of years it's just gonna be a 30k used car.

I would never use dealer's anything. Find a reputable shop to do whatever job you need to be done. Dealers mark everything up for lesser quality.

LesF

Just let them take care of it. With the matching ability of the paint shop you wont be able to tell the difference. I've had more than my share of dings dents etc and they always seem to get it right.

koalatm

Thanks everyone. I wasn't expecting a new vehicle of course. I think I know how I'm going to approach this, and they seem to want to make it right so will hope for the best!

koalatm

By the way, I was going to mention - we use gravel on our roads here in the winter, as it's too cold for salt to be effective. I can assure you that without film, your front bumper looks like **** after one season. My GTI (which is a lease), has literally hundreds upon hundreds of rock chips - in that particular case I don't care as I replace my vehicles every 2-3 years.

The challenge with our GLK is that my wife doesn't care about a new vehicle all the time, so we'd like this to be in good shape for the 7-10 years we'll own it!

Eyesncars

Have them repair it and insist they throw in a free service for your aggravation. Tell them a car is never the same once it is repainted and the least they can do is a free service.

iewoals

If you do decide to get the clear bra again be aware that you'll have to wait for the paint to cure (forgot how long, but I thought it was on the order of a month or more). Otherwise if you have them apply it too soon after the repaint it will rip all the paint off if you ever decide to try and remove the clear bra.

koalatm

Yep, this is actually the point of contention with the dealer. They say 2 days for the paint to cure and I'm thinking, nope... it's 30-60.

LesF

the clear film is the best alternative for chip prevention. Any good detail/tinting firm can handle the job, and it probably would be less expensive as well. Here in Florida all the glass tinting is done after market.

I wouldn't touch the paint for at least a month after the car was produced.

mjhawkins2346

Make absolutely sure they use the correct "Cermi Clear" clear coat. Your car has this special clear coat which has a 20 micron top area of fumed silica which makes it much harder.
This is important because it polishes and waxes a bit differently. The shop won't bring it up, and if you bring it up they'll say. "Well we give you a lifetime warranty on our work, so it doesn't make a difference." Call BS on that. It's not about their wonderful warranty (you will never use) but the difficulty in polishing and waxing two different finishes on your car. When I insisted, the shop picked up some Cerami Clear and used it without any extra charges or dwell time on the finish. Mercedes has used this since 2003 and even Mercedes shops use regular clear coat because they don't want to be bothered. I made them show me the can. They laughed and then said, "OK, we'll order it." They did and it looks great. Nice people but I don't trust them much....

koalatm

Good news, they're really taking care of this in what we feel is the "right way." - The dealership is swapping our front bumper for a brand new one that they'll use as a demo '14 model and of course they'll re-do the clear film all as it should be.

Not done yet, but I think this is a great solution and at least we have a factory-painted bumper.

LesF

a good outcome!

Eyesncars

Perfect solution. That's something I would have insisted on.