Detailing ruined my Cybertruck

[jameslook]

I don’t know how this stuff happens to me. I’m reaching out to the community before I try to talk to Out Of Spec detailing.
I took my Cybertruck to my detailing shop for iron removal and then clear PPF installed. Should be simple right?
My Autobody guys down the street polished out a scratch in the front using the certified Tesla method and it was perfect. So I told the detail crew, if you see any areas that need a polish do it as I’m confident in the abilities of my autobody guys. Long story short, the front and the rear tailgate had some weird marks.
o thought, okay we just need to polish it out. So I’m going to focus on the tailgate because the front is done and it looks good.
So the first photo is how I got it back from the detailers. It looked not to bad and honestly the front looked worse so I said can you fix it. They said sure.
so today I picked it up and it’s worse.
the autobody guy said he couldn’t get the marks out and it’s in the metal. But it looks completely different now.
I’m going to email him tomorrow and say I am really not satisfied. He’s already said there is nothing he can do so I’m wondering about a second opinion. I am thinking this might need barkeepers friend? I wanted to stay away from that but now I don’t know what this is so if you don’t know what it is, how can you fix?
In my mind you sand the panel down using the Tesla method, how can it come out looking like this?!
This is a weird one. I’m just taking a shot in the dark asking if anyone has any ideas how this happened or what to do.
He also said under their light when they were sanding you don’t see these marks.

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[dpoll995]

Check out this video. There is a Tesla process for sanding the stainless to bring the finish back

 

[jameslook]

Check out this video. There is a Tesla process for sanding the stainless to bring the finish back

Yep and when I brought it to him before he said they had trained on it and got the sand pads from Tesla (they are a certified Tesla autobody shop). They took out a huge scratch in the front now problem. It looked great.
I don’t see how if you follow this process it would not look back to normal. Unless someone spilt some crazy acid on the panel and when they started sanding it started to appear?? It doesn’t make any sense.

 

[Tallgeese179]

Are those pictures with the PPF installed? My first thought would be that maybe it had slip solution trapped underneath the PPF in those dark areas and the metal reacted with it in some way. Perhaps the slip solution was caustic (as opposed to acidic), though it shouldn't be since most slip solutions are J&J Baby Shampoo and distilled water. Should be pretty PH neutral.

From the discoloration I've seen with bug guts (acidic), it makes the metal look lighter. Guess it makes sense, since Citrusurf 77 is a weak acid and it's used to clean, brighten, and passivate the stainless surface. Though, side tangent, the NASA article I found that evaluated passivation through citric acid showed it wasn't all that effective at room temps and needed much hotter conditions to passivate stainless properly.

I refinished the whole side of my truck, removing serious gouges and fine scratches with the Tesla refinishing materials and process. Followed it up with Citrusurf 77, keeping the surfaces wet for ~ 30 mins to achieve some level of passivation. Honestly I looks better than the factory finished side and held up to winter no worse.

 

[Tallgeese179]

NASA citation and conclusion...good luck getting up to 60°C for 1.5 hours for maximum efficacy. I sure didn't and it's been fine.

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20160012776/downloads/20160012776.pdf

 

[jameslook]

Are those pictures with the PPF installed? My first thought would be that maybe it had slip solution trapped underneath the PPF in those dark areas and the metal reacted with it in some way. Perhaps the slip solution was caustic (as opposed to acidic), though it shouldn't be since most slip solutions are J&J Baby Shampoo and distilled water. Should be pretty PH neutral.

From the discoloration I've seen with bug guts (acidic), it makes the metal look lighter. Guess it makes sense, since Citrusurf 77 is a weak acid and it's used to clean, brighten, and passivate the stainless surface. Though, side tangent, the NASA article I found that evaluated passivation through citric acid showed it wasn't all that effective at room temps and needed much hotter conditions to passivate stainless properly.

I refinished the whole side of my truck, removing serious gouges and fine scratches with the Tesla refinishing materials and process. Followed it up with Citrusurf 77, keeping the surfaces wet for ~ 30 mins to achieve some level of passivation. Honestly I looks better than the factory finished side and held up to winter no worse.

Yes. The pics are all with the PPF installed. With the first picture we thought maybe the solution used reacted some way with the metai or the PPF. So, round two we took the PPF to see what the issue was. The detailers found no issue with the PPF so sent it down the street to the Autobody so they polished it and hence the result. I’m just mad that the detailers put the PPF back on over the tailgate knowing I wouldn’t be happy. Even he said it looked worse.
I am trying to determine if it needs more Tesla polishing or some sort of barkeepers friend to take off tarnishing.
it’s just plain weird. The good news it’s the tailgate and a small section to work on.

 

[UberNoob]

It looks like just the spots was done vs doing the whole panel plane.

 

[jameslook]

Are those pictures with the PPF installed? My first thought would be that maybe it had slip solution trapped underneath the PPF in those dark areas and the metal reacted with it in some way. Perhaps the slip solution was caustic (as opposed to acidic), though it shouldn't be since most slip solutions are J&J Baby Shampoo and distilled water. Should be pretty PH neutral.

From the discoloration I've seen with bug guts (acidic), it makes the metal look lighter. Guess it makes sense, since Citrusurf 77 is a weak acid and it's used to clean, brighten, and passivate the stainless surface. Though, side tangent, the NASA article I found that evaluated passivation through citric acid showed it wasn't all that effective at room temps and needed much hotter conditions to passivate stainless properly.

I refinished the whole side of my truck, removing serious gouges and fine scratches with the Tesla refinishing materials and process. Followed it up with Citrusurf 77, keeping the surfaces wet for ~ 30 mins to achieve some level of passivation. Honestly I looks better than the factory finished side and held up to winter no worse.

So you think I should try some Citrisurf 77 on it?
I actually have some but was scared to try it.

 

[Tallgeese179]

It looks like just the spots was done vs doing the whole panel plane.

I was going to suggest that, but hoped that a certified body shop wouldn't be that dumb. Ultimately, the reason I ended up doing it myself instead of going through a "certified body shop". $1K in materials and I can refinishing my truck for many years to come, and since I'm not hourly I can take the time to get it perfect.

 

[jameslook]

It looks like just the spots was done vs doing the whole panel plane.

I thought so too. I just can’t believe he would do that but stranger things have happened. He has worked on my Gwagens, my Ferrari… I asked him the first time before working on the Cybertruck if he knew the Tesla method… that you have to do the entire panel. He probably didn’t do the actual work but would oversee whoever was doing it.

Another question for my piece of mind. Do you think this is unacceptable appearance wise? Sometimes I think I’m too picky and now it’s worse!
It cost me 6k CDN for the detail, polishing and PPF.
I really thought I could trust them to get it right.

 

[UberNoob]

I was going to suggest that, but hoped that a certified body shop wouldn't be that dumb. Ultimately, the reason I ended up doing it myself instead of going through a "certified body shop". $1K in materials and I can refinishing my truck for many years to come, and since I'm not hourly I can take the time to get it perfect.

yea I’ll be doing my own when it needs it, I’m just cheap like that.

 

[Tallgeese179]

So you think I should try some Citrisurf 77 on it?
I actually have some but was scared to try it.

I did a post winter wash of my truck last weekend with CarPro Reset followed by, I shit you not, a sprayer of CS77 just spraying the panels down and then using a bug scrub pad to rub/foam the CS77 on the panel. Didn't cover the plastic trim, didn't do anything, let it sit for 10-15 mins and then power washed it off.

I was a little worried about discoloring the plastic trim, but I couldn't find any signs of discoloration.

If you want to do it more cleanly/safely, I previously used a microfiber applicator dipped in CS77. Applied thin wet sheets to the surface and just kept reapplying, avoiding drips. This kept the surface wet and was much more selective. Both ways worked so I'll probably add a CS77 spray down to the end of my car washes, similar to a spray on rinse off ceramic product for painted vehicles.

 

[Tallgeese179]

My pH test strips are showing CS77 at around a 2, so on par with lemon juice

 

[Tallgeese179]

Another question for my piece of mind. Do you think this is unacceptable appearance wise? Sometimes I think I’m too picky and now it’s worse!
It cost me 6k CDN for the detail, polishing and PPF.
I really thought I could trust them to get it right.

I certainly wouldn't be happy with it, you paid for for professional work. It SHOULD look uniform at the least. Now if you're calling out the occasional hard to spot pigtail that a DA sander will make in the stainless, that would be nit picky.

 

[J.Graham]

Another question for my piece of mind. Do you think this is unacceptable appearance wise? Sometimes I think I’m too picky and now it’s worse!
It cost me 6k CDN for the detail, polishing and PPF.
I really thought I could trust them to get it right.

Unacceptable!

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