well i think i should chime in on this one, im a custom paint and bodyman by trade, i worked for a porsche dealer ship for years, now a custom paint and resto shop that does ferraris, porsches, and complete restos. Ive worked for many bodyshops over the years and ill tell you this, Ive NEVER worked with a body shop that didnt have a hack or too in it, your first mistake is dealing with a collision center, NOT a resto or custom paint shop. A collision shop has one goal in mind, to get the car in, and out, asap, thats it, volume, not quality. Out of the 6 body shops ive worked at, there is always a hack, and i dont care how good you think your eye is or what ever, properly repaired sheetmetal, and heavily bonded sheetmetal all look the same with paint on it fellas. The shop im at now is the only good group of people ive ever worked with, in the 2+ years ive worked here, ive never seen one hack job leave, and we have had maybe 2 comebacks for people that say color matching was a problem. The hacks our out there guys, as a guy in the trade i hate to say it, but i couldnt name 5 good body shops in my area if i tried, and we literally have abou 30 around me. As im sure you people have known, prep is key, like somebody said if they didnt even take the bumper off to paint it, thats yoru first clue right there, and i dont know what kind of insurance you have, but let me tell you NOTHING scares collision shops more then being on probation with insurance, the insurance companies keep the collision shops on a tight leash, and if your going through insurance, you got them by the *****.

The key here guys is doing your homework, check out the shop, see what kind of work they are doing there, make sure they have a booth, see how clean the shop/ booth/ mixing station is. See if they have their own paint system or if they buy premixed from others, stay away from the premixed stuff, because if they need to tint it, their screwed. Try to get a shop with spies, glasurit, sikkens paint lines, they are among the best, im not truely a fan of ppg, dupount and if they dont have even those, stay away. Try looking for a resto or custom paint shop that doesnt do as much insurance work, so they have time to do the job right, and bottom line, DO NOT PICK UP YOUR CAR IF IT LOOKS LIKE GARBAGE!! guys, its a business, the WORST thing you can do is pick up your car if you dont like it, then they can say you looked at it and took it, and you have nothing. ALWAYS look at the car outside, in the sun, and in the shade, as the sun will hide swirles and other slight imprefections. Inside lights give off diffrent colors and throw everything off. Always look closely at painted areas for fish eyes, dirt, non buffed areas, and feel the ajoining panels for overspray, you can feel the speckles of paint, and you can hear the roughneess as your hands glide over it. Paint is a scary and expensive thing, and i have seen hackjobs that would make you guys cry. I hope this helps somebody, btw, here are a few cars i have painted

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I agree.

Over spay is 100% there fault and they need to correct there mistakes. They obviously don't know how to tape off the sections that they are not painting. I say post the name of this shop all over the internet on all the forums your on and file a complaint with the BBB.

This is exactly why I took my car to a good shop, it a small shop that pretty much runs off word of mouth but they guys do top notch work and the owner has owned several f-bodies and still owns two both with custom paint jobs. People have given me **** for how long its taking but I am confident that I will be satisfied with the work unlike some other shops that just want it in and out.