My shiny red A3 was assaulted a month ago by some wretched Buick, and a few weeks later I've finally got it back after about $5,000 in repairs.

My question to all the finish experts is: what should I expect from the repair work? The reason I ask is that the repairs seem slightly more orangepeely (on the hood) and I've got about a half dozen of what I can only imagine are "fish eyes". They're fairly small - and really just visible under the flourescent lights in my garage, but enough to probably make some of you freak. There's also an area where the texture is rough which would definitely need buffing out.

I'm taking it back in tomorrow after circling the fish eyes with wax. I'm guessing they'll offer to fix, but I want to know what I should expect (demand) of them. The fish eyes would certainly require some repainting; should the entire hood be redone?

This is the first time I've had to have body work done on a car (just had to be my new Audi). I pretty much expected perfection and didn't get it. Was I asking too much?

the repairs by opening panels (doors/hood/hatch) and looking for clues.

If you can spot those issues in the paint now, it will only get more pronounced in the coming months/years.

Yes, IMHO the hood should be repainted.

got rearended TWICE, hard. Each time it came back from the body shop, you couldn't tell anything had happened. That should be the standard - indistinguishable by the "average" viewer from new. A mechanic who puts it up on the lift should be able to tell, but not easily.

Did your dealership recommend this place? You might want to have a chat with them .........

They wet sanded and buffed it. It's much smoother now, and the little marks are gone to all but the closest inspection. They definitely must have taken the surface down a bit.

It's hazier now and under the flourescent lights in my garage, you can clearly see where it was buffed.

Would you folks be concerned about the haziness or buff marks? It hasn't been waxed yet because it was painted just a couple weeks ago.

I just don't know that much about paint...

is the entire panel hazier or just a portion of it? hopfully the haze is just some residual IHG or other glaze. the buffs would be annoying but if i had to take a step backwards and use something more abrasive in order to remove the buffs over a few leisurely paced hours then yeah; id do it just to avoid going back to the body shop again but i dunno its your car!

it's from bad surface prep. One of the German paint mfgs., Glasurit has a really good website on imperfections and what they are caused by....

here's a link.<ul><li><a href="http://www.glasurit.com/Service/AdviceOnPaintDefects/">http://www.glasurit.com/Service/AdviceOnPaintDefects/</a</li></ul>