Z3 3.0 project

[bear2020]

With the weather being lovely yesterday we took the car out for its first real drive since owning it and straight piping the back box but leaving some of the mesh exposed has produced a great sound with absolutely no drone. Very happy with it. Noticed a sticky calliper on the near side and stuck the stone chip guards on just to hide some of the bad paint. The guy who originally sprayed it has refused to answer any calls/emails despite now trading again so I am in the process of putting a small claims court case against him for the following
New roof as it looks like he has spilt thinners on it and it has gone white
Totally respray the rear end and the side skirts he has messed up
Replace the wheel arch liners he has sprayed silver
Two new rear tyres that have over spray on
Refurb the rear 2 wheels (I had only just done them as well as fitting new tyres) as they are caked in overspray
Repaint the rear callipers that are covered in overspray
Replace the door trims and roadster trims that are also covered in over spray.
The rest of the car I managed to claybar and polish the overspray off.
But from a distance she looks nice through squinted eyes!

 

[Althulas]

I thought you could not set up another business for quite a while if you have gone bankrupt.

I hope your claim goes well and hopefully he will do the right thing when he gets his surprise letter in the post.

 

[bear2020]

I thought you could not set up another business for quite a while if you have gone bankrupt.

I hope your claim goes well and hopefully he will do the right thing when he gets his surprise letter in the post.

They never went bankrupt lost the garage allegedly so stopped trading whilst they sourced another. I have now seen that he is trading again but refuses and has now actually banned me from messaging him. I could dye the roof, take the trims off sand them down and clean them up but I have already had to do the paintwork for him and I'm now thinking why should I? I wouldn't leave my customers with a leak and expect them to fix it because I had messed up. So off to the courts and even if I don't get anything back at least I have some sort of satisfaction of doing something rather than sitting back and taking one for the team.

 

[Althulas]

Well I sincerely hope you get a result from this traders like that deserve to be name and shamed. Might be worth reporting to trading standards as well.

 

[bear2020]

A quick update after applying for a small claims court the guy who did the work refused to make any sort of contact so now going as a CCJ but doubtful I will ever get a penny from him.

 

[Althulas]

At least you will have the opportunity to put your case forward with photos and state it was a last resort as he has refused to communicate, hopefully you will get a sympathetic ear.

 

[bear2020]

At least you will have the opportunity to put your case forward with photos and state it was a last resort as he has refused to communicate, hopefully you will get a sympathetic ear.

I doubtful anything will happen but at least I tried and may have cost me an extra £450 to submit the claim on top of the spraying but I would never leave my customers like that and expect to get away with it!

 

[Althulas]

Well if he’s had to shut shop once I’ll doubt he’ll be shorting again in the near future if that’s the standard of there work and customer service.

Have you spoken to someone from citizens advice? Maybe it’s worth it before paying that extra money just to see where you stand they might also be able to give you some pointers before submitting a claim to give you the best chance.

Also might be worth getting trading standards on your side https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/get-more-help/report-to-trading-standards/

 

[bear2020]

Well if he’s had to shut shop once I’ll doubt he’ll be shorting again in the near future if that’s the standard of there work and customer service.

Have you spoken to someone from citizens advice? Maybe it’s worth it before paying that extra money just to see where you stand they might also be able to give you some pointers before submitting a claim to give you the best chance.

Also might be worth getting trading standards on your side https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/get-more-help/report-to-trading-standards/

I've already submitted the small claims court which he had 3 weeks to reply to and didn't bother so the court then asks if you want to pursue it as a CCJ which if the court finds suitable they can force him to pay. Obviously if he doesn't pay (which is likely) it will then go against him as a CCJ and hopefully prevent him from setting up shop as they can make him close the business if he doesn't pay and the CCJ may prevent him from opening up again and others getting stuck with crap work on their cars.

 

[Althulas]

That would be at least some result if the court did that.

 

[bear2020]

Finally got around to changing the front caliper that was sticking. I could not even rotate the wheel it had stuck on that badly. New caliper, new pads, fresh brake fluid and all corners bled and then the rain came in
On the court case they have ruled in my favour issued him with a CCJ and told him to pay up. If he doesn't its then an attachment of earnings and/or bailiffs which the court issues a warrant for. Seems like a load of hassle when he had the car for a further 6 weeks to rectify it but returned it even worse.

 

[Althulas]

That’s a great result, hopefully a lesson for him that you can’t just palm customers off and expect to get away with it. I hope you get your compensation sooner rather than later but at least it’s a win.

 

[bear2020]

Its been a good few months since last posted. No money from the guy whatsoever so had to put a charge against his house for when he sells it - if ever but its there.

So I'm left with a car that needs a full respray, new hood, new tyres and wheels need respraying again so just looking at my options
Option 1
Break the car for parts. After spending what I have on it I doubt I'll ever make enough to cover the cost of the car or the parts I've put into it
Option 2
Wrap the car again it will need prep work but the paint will be crap underneath a 2k wrap!
Option 3
Spray the car (been quoted to put everything "right" about 3.5k) and I just do not want to spend that money
Option 4
Clean up and dye the roof, sand down the panels and clear laquer them myself and then add some livery to it like this but not in those colours and more like the german flag colours

I don't want to do a cobra build and just looking for a bit of inspiration with it all really!
Thanks

 

[MisterP007]

We should bring back capital punishment for these buggers!

1. You will not get the money back by breaking for parts and it is a PITA selling them (ask me how I know).
2. Don't wrap it £2k to paper over the cracks does not seem right to me.
3. £3.5k to re-spray/put right may be the best option if you want a stock car and an appreciating classic.
4. Maybe an idea unless you go through the base coat whilst sanding in which case you are back to 3.
5. Cobra - Nope - Do a 250 California instead. An immaculate conversion on a 3.0 went for £77000 here:

2001 California SWB Replica by DNA Automotive For Sale By...

*Vendor supplied images*Unique Z3-based replica3-litre straight-sixManual transmissionJust 2,150 milesThe AppealThe 250 California SWB is...

www.carandclassic.com

Good luck whichever way you go and plaster the dodgy guy all over social media!

 

[bear2020]

We should bring back capital punishment for these buggers!

1. You will not get the money back by breaking for parts and it is a PITA selling them (ask me how I know).
2. Don't wrap it £2k to paper over the cracks does not seem right to me.
3. £3.5k to re-spray/put right may be the best option if you want a stock car and an appreciating classic.
4. Maybe an idea unless you go through the base coat whilst sanding in which case you are back to 3.
5. Cobra - Nope - Do a 250 California instead. An immaculate conversion on a 3.0 went for £77000 here:

2001 California SWB Replica by DNA Automotive For Sale By...

*Vendor supplied images*Unique Z3-based replica3-litre straight-sixManual transmissionJust 2,150 milesThe AppealThe 250 California SWB is...

www.carandclassic.com

Good luck whichever way you go and plaster the dodgy guy all over social media!

1 I've broken cars before and nope I do not want to go down that route again if I can help it
2 My thoughts exactly if you are going to do it do it right
3 The thought of throwing another 3.5k at a 4/5k car after already spending around 6k makes me want to cry
4 It can't possibly look any worse then it does as it looks like someone has farted grit at it
5 Looks lovely until the bonnet opens...just don't see the appeal bit like stick M badges all over a non M car. (I wouldn't say no if I was given it!)

I could just buy a panel of every colour BMW produced for the Z and throw them on lol

 

[Jam03]

What about the do nothing but drive it option?

 

[bear2020]

What about the do nothing but drive it option?

That's a great option and a nice cheap option...the only problem is the embarrassment knowing people look at it and thinking that "I may have did it"
Maybe a sticker with the idiots name on it who did spray it and the CCJ number against his business over the worst bit would stop me worrying about people thinking I did it!
My mate has the idea of sanding it the paint off letting it rust this winter and then clear lacquering it for a patina look. But he does have a tangerine porsche 911

 

[Zephyr]

was in a similar situation some years ago.
a friend recommended a paint shop and by what I have seen his car was done nicely (but not perfect).
visited and was quoted 1.200€ for a full exterior respray that (for Greece) is on the low to medium money for a single stage.
they kept the car for five days and called me on a Friday night to tell me that I had to rish to get the car as the owners mother passed away and he will be leaving the next day for Albania so the shop would be closed for quite sometime.
realised that the paint job was horrible immediately and asked for a redo or money back.
he promised to fix it first thing when he returned, and as an act of kindness due to the circumstances I left.
outcome: the shop closed for good, he never came back and the car was a real mess.
did not want to spend more money on the car, so decided to try and fix it myself.
marked all bad spots, sanded them, then sanded the whole car with a finer grit and bought a rotary polisher. Started with 3M hard paste, then 3M fine cut, then 3M polish and finally with some extra fine paste.
took me a lot of courage and three weeks to finish, but finally the car was better than acceptable. (Surely way better from what it was before). Still much orange peel and quite dull in low light, but a thousand times better than before (with tiger stripe oversprays, paint runs and sand feel to the touch).
sold it with a little profit to a young man who had no idea of what a good paint job is and was very pleased that I reduced my asking price by 300€ due to old tyres and a broken cassette player.
imho, you are not satisfied so why not try to correct it yourself.

 

[Althulas]

A shame you couldn’t send bailiffs into his home to remove stuff to pay for it.

As for your remaining problem if the car was a keeper I would be sending it to SeanD for a pucker respray but if it’s not maybe as said just drive it with the name of the cowboy who did it as a warning to others hopefully the toerag is never going to get back in business again.

 

[bear2020]

was in a similar situation some years ago.
a friend recommended a paint shop and by what I have seen his car was done nicely (but not perfect).
visited and was quoted 1.200€ for a full exterior respray that (for Greece) is on the low to medium money for a single stage.
they kept the car for five days and called me on a Friday night to tell me that I had to rish to get the car as the owners mother passed away and he will be leaving the next day for Albania so the shop would be closed for quite sometime.
realised that the paint job was horrible immediately and asked for a redo or money back.
he promised to fix it first thing when he returned, and as an act of kindness due to the circumstances I left.
outcome: the shop closed for good, he never came back and the car was a real mess.
did not want to spend more money on the car, so decided to try and fix it myself.
marked all bad spots, sanded them, then sanded the whole car with a finer grit and bought a rotary polisher. Started with 3M hard paste, then 3M fine cut, then 3M polish and finally with some extra fine paste.
took me a lot of courage and three weeks to finish, but finally the car was better than acceptable. (Surely way better from what it was before). Still much orange peel and quite dull in low light, but a thousand times better than before (with tiger stripe oversprays, paint runs and sand feel to the touch).
sold it with a little profit to a young man who had no idea of what a good paint job is and was very pleased that I reduced my asking price by 300€ due to old tyres and a broken cassette player.
imho, you are not satisfied so why not try to correct it yourself.

If you look through this post you will see how the car was returned and how it stands now and I have spent a fair while on it using a rotary polisher and that was just to get the overspray off the ENTIRE car before you could see how poor the paint was. The only option now is to wet & dry it back, clearcoat it and try to tidy it up. Your story sounds very much like mine!