How does one fix a "dull" spot in the paint/clear coat?

[WilliamG]

So I noticed now - a couple of weeks after getting my P3D, that there's a little dull circular spot in the paint on the rear quarter. Looking closely, it's a perfect circle - and right bang/smack in the middle of it there's what remains of an insignificant paint nib, which tells me they (factory?) tried to buff a larger paint nib out with a circular buffer of some sort - and dulled the finish a little.

What does one do about that? It's maybe 2-2.5" diameter circle. Interestingly, it's visible when I took a picture day one in the parking lot on the way home from the showroom pickup, but I didn't notice it personally till now. Again, it's on the rear quarter.

First pic is day 1 before I even noticed it, about 15 mins after picking up the car. Second pic is when I actually noticed it. It's really generally hard to notice, but if it's something that's simple to fix, I'd like to fix it! I won't lose sleep over it if it's not easily fixable, though. (PS ignore my smudgy fingerprint goobers in the middle).

Thoughts?

Thanks, all!

 

[PhotonicCannon]

My April 2019 Model 3 was terrible. It was delivered with at least 5 very noticeable dull spots, bubbles in the clear coat, dirt trapped in the paint, "holograms" all over the front bumper from sloppy compounding and complementary scratches courtesy of the young man that "detailed" it.

If Tesla couldn't get it right the first time, why should I expect that they would get it right the second time? I made an appointment with paint/body expert and paid out of pocket to fix the absolutely horrible paintwork.

Still to be fixed:
Wildly misaligned trunk that is rubbing on the trim.
Driver door must be slammed to close properly.

If this was a Corrolla I would have refused delivery, but since it's a Tesla, my expectations where low. Still, not cool when your dropping 60k for a car.

 

[HELI0S]

Did you ever figure this out. I just took delivery on my M# and noticed 2 of the same type of spots on my hood. It took me a week to notice until I had it in my garage and the right lights were on. Now I always notice it and it drives me crazy.

 

[TMThree]

I had the same thing on my rear fender. I didn't want the service center messing with my paint, so I decided to just wash, wax, and ceramic coat it and see how it comes out. If that failed, the area would need to be buffed out again anyway. Needless to say, the dull mark came out shiny with ceramic coating, so I am glad nothing had to be done.

BTW my car was delivered to service center and they had instructions not to touch the car. It had a bunch of crap on the interior from the manufacturing process, on the doors, dash, etc. Car wasn't washed and was still dirty from the truck drive across country.

So I think the dull mark was from the factory.

 

[03DSG]

I had the same thing on my rear fender. I didn't want the service center messing with my paint, so I decided to just wash, wax, and ceramic coat it and see how it comes out. If that failed, the area would need to be buffed out again anyway. Needless to say, the dull mark came out shiny with ceramic coating, so I am glad nothing had to be done.

BTW my car was delivered to service center and they had instructions not to touch the car. It had a bunch of crap on the interior from the manufacturing process, on the doors, dash, etc. Car wasn't washed and was still dirty from the truck drive across country.

So I think the dull mark was from the factory.

If not from the factory than likely by Tesla SC prior to delivery. A poor attempt at buffing out a minor imperfection. Any good detailer should be able to fix that.

 

[TMThree]

If not from the factory than likely by Tesla SC prior to delivery. A poor attempt at buffing out a minor imperfection. Any good detailer should be able to fix that.

You missed the part where my car was delivered from the factory (custom order) and scheduled for delivery the next day, but since I asked them not to touch the vehicle, including washing it, they said I could pick it up the day they got it. They didn't even charge the car.

No chance it was buffed at the service center. The dull spot wasn't even visible at delivery because the car was dirty off the truck.

 

[DaLurker]

If not from the factory than likely by Tesla SC prior to delivery. A poor attempt at buffing out a minor imperfection. Any good detailer should be able to fix that.

I had 3 spots like this where Tesla had tried to buff out high spots and water spots.

I took an orbital polisher with Meguiars compound and removed the haze in a couple of minutes. The high spot is still there but prefer that over a broad hazy spot.

My car was waxed by the SC before delivery so I wasn’t able to see these spots until I did some hand washing and their wax was washed off.