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Just took delivery of 2024 GLS 450. Unfortunately there is about an inch long scratch on the front of hood. Dealership smuggested they ll take care of it and it should be quick. However now my understanding is they are sending it a professional body shop and their point is they want to do it righ thus engaging professional body shop.
i showed it to one the detailers who put ppf stuff for luxury cars and he suggested he can make it better but won’t fully go away.
Decision I have to make is either let dealerships get it fixed via body shop or trust the detalier (have very very good reviews). I am not sure if body shop will paint the whole hood and all that.
I'd let the dealer and their body shop take care of it. If they want to "do it right", let them and make sure you are satisfied with the result. This should also keep any related paint/rust warranty in tact (although rust warranty never gets used in this day and age).
Hard to know for sure, but with an inch long scratch, my guess is the body shop will do a spot repair on the scratched area and then re-clear the entire hood. Should look as good as new when done.
Thanks a lot. Qq: with re-clear coat etc down the road (in few years) is there a chance of color mismatch between hood and rest of the car.
Should not be a problem if it is done properly. You may feel better if you talk to the body shop or the dealer to find out exactly what they are doing, but in general this should be pretty simple. Still sucks to have on a brand new car, but you shouldn't notice.
I decided to let dealer fix it since they seemed very confident and communicated that they will make sure it is done right. I picked up car yesterday and in sun it looked ok, but I am noticing inside the garage or even outside that hood look grayish from some angles. At other angles it look ok. Not sure if am just being nitpicky here and this is how black suppose to look in different light/angles. Adding one image below. Thoughts from experts?
The problem with us looking at the photo is that the different angles reflect light differently. Additionally, the different materials (particularly the front bumper) also take the paint differently.
It the one photo it does look like the hood is not as "black" next to the fender, but it is at a totally different angle reflecting the light differently. You can see that in the second picture where the top of the hood seems to match the fender perfectly, but the slanted edge of the hood does not reflect the light the same and looks different -- though I'm sure it isn't. I strongly suspect it is just the angles and the light reflection, but no way for us to tell for sure.
I tell people any time they are going to repaint part of a car, look at it before hand, because you'll nit-pick it after even if it was the same or better as the original. Particularly a bumper or part next to one. I would head to the dealer and see if you can park next to a black GLS (or even GLE and GLC, they have similar hood lines) and see if they show the same thing in the same lighting conditions. If you aren't happy talk to the dealer -- the shop can always respray and can fix colors but they can't fix light reflections.
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