So the reason I haven't posted anything lately, is simply because it turned out that the paint protection film job by Watabe-san at the introduction of Prince Fukushima's Midorikawa-san, was simply no good. Or rather and more accurately, it was extremely bad.
It started when both Dino and I noticed some weird lines in the hood.
When I complained, Watabe-san reassured me that some time in the sun would cure it. To me, that is NOT a correct answer. I was also not happy because I found that in certain areas, the film was beginning to peel off, there was some obvious dust trapped in some areas, and further Watabe-san had not completely protected the bottom of the side sills - bespoke to the Skyline Nismo - and therefore left it super exposed to rock chips as I drove.
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| Sloppy! That is a piece of dust between the black paint and the PP film |
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| Here too! |
So I went and got some PPF and did the install myself for the underside, but also took advantage of leftover material to remove the interior side sills and wrap the plastic with PPF as well (I had asked this to be done as well but the excuse was - it doesn't stick well).
Looks pretty good huh!
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| The trick is to heat up the film so it stretches, then wrap the edges around, using tape to keep it in place |
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| And just put back in place. Once in place, the fitment keeps the film in place. |
Given the lack of precision, the attitude and failure to cover areas I had requested, I was beginning to have second thoughts about the quality. Would I get super annoyed every time I got in the car, because my eye would catch some dust trapped in the film? So, I found a local shop - BlackCats Detailing - and asked the owner there, Takahashi-san, for a second opinion.
He confirmed that the work done by previously was amateurish, especially in those areas where the film was begining to lift. This is indicative of a rushed job where a quality check was not done. He ALSO found some knife marks in the paint - luckily they could be removed by some artful polishing - that indicated that Watabe-san was cutting too deep into the plastic film, another indication of amateur level work.
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| You can see the scar left behind by the razor blade about halfway between the taped areas |
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| This scar is more visible, right above my finger |
Of course, I was furious - and more so because Watabe-san - who as you remember came to Nismo Omori to show me his handiwork - either knew what he had done, and not mentioned it (from a legal perspective, indiciating a wrongful act he did knowingly) OR, he was negligent in doing so, which indicates incompetence. I could not believe that someone would be so careless (if negligent) with a brand new car, and furthermore, I could not believe that Nismo and Prince Fukushima had introduced not just me, but other owners of brand new cars (apparently an R35 GT-R Nismo as well!) to Watabe-san.
Now, working at Nissan corporate must have helped, and it also didn't hurt that I am a lawyer. Midorikawa-san was super apologetic, and in the end Prince Fukushima took care of what they could, but to be honest this should have never happened in the first place. In this case, the usual apologies did not suffice. But of course since giving me an identical brand new, unblemished car was impossible, I asked for them to not just refund my money, but to pay for all of the fees I would have to pay BlackCats to fix the problems (like removing the old film, buffing out the scratches, and then do a proper paint protection film job on my car.
Flash foward and the end result is a spectacular result - check out: BlackCats IG page
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| Small shop, but super clean and well equipped. |
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| Dark film over the taillights |
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| Smoked film on the turn signals in the mirrors to match the front smoked turn signals |
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| He even put PPF on the carbon rear spoiler! |
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| Not one spec of dust! |
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| This better photo courtesy of BlackCats |
Did I mention that I took advantage of this opportunity to have the ENTIRE CAR wrapped? Yes, this is a level of protection that not even my R33 GT-R enjoys, but after all of the angst of dealing with the first PPF job, and being pleasantly surprised at how good Takahashi-san at BlackCats is at fixing problems but also doing so efficiently, I decided to go all out. It helps that the PPF he uses is Xpel Ultimate, which is the more advanced version than that I had installed on the R33 many years ago. Note, the original film which caused the problems is a 3M product, not sure of the technical differences but I know that XPel keeps a database of the templates used to cut the film BEFORE it gets applied to the car body, thereby reducing any chance of razor blade damage.
So what is next for this car? Well now that I can finally drive it... need to enjoy breaking it in, and maybe some initial mods to bring out its full potential!
