Expert: William Forster - 12/11/2007

Question
I just bought a 98' grey cadi that has had the 2 side doors and the rear qtr repainted. The paint is a very rough texture (maybe called alligatored). Some of the rough texture was sprayed onto the rear light housing also. There is a bright Grey spot in the middle of the rear door where someone tried to smoothe things over, but stopped. Whats the best way for me to handle this?

Answer
The texture is called orange peel. Sometimes this can be wet sanded and buffed out, the overspray on the tail lamp can also be removed with some elbow grease. If you complain to whoever you bought it from, they might have their body shop straighten it out for you. As far as any liability or anything like that, it falls under caveat emptor- may the buyer beware. Next time you buy a car, take it to an off site shop for an evaluation. It's worth 75  bucks to not get a made over lemon- not that I think you got a lemon. The car just has some shoddy paint work, and it sounds totally repairable. Bill