Is this evidence of respray?

dilby

Hi all - bought a relay van from an official Citroen dealership and it’s 3 years old, totally HPI clear. Totally happy with how it drives and knew that some of the black plastic parts weren’t in top condition, but it was better than any other I’d seen as the relay vans typically take a beating as they’re wide and used by builders. However looking at it fresh once home (which face it is always different) I looks to me like it’s actually got white paint on it here and there (photo of door ha DLS attached). But what’s puzzling is why the van would have been sprayed - as I said it’s not even that old and is going clear and the bodywork really shows no sign that it’s been sprayed. Is it possible that this white is something else like a white tcut that’s got onto the black? If it was sprayed it’s been badly masked and I wouldn’t say you can see a typical spray pattern but I don’t know what else it could be!

facade

Looks more like polish to me. These modern resin/polymer polishes seem attracted to plastic, and about a week after you think you made a good job of shining up the car, white patches appear where the polishing cloth touched the plastic.

And so far I've never found anything that will remove it, although smearing it with the plastic trim polish hides it for a while...

Nearlyold

I've found Autoglym bumper and trim gel works well.

caprikid1

You bought a 3 year old Van and are wondering if it's been painted ? Are there any significant bumps or scrapes on it ? If not then it's been painted.

chrisw

I would agree with polish or maybe even paint or something from its previous use.

If they had only masked the handle rather than removing it, I would have expected to see any overspray on the black rubber handle surround and maybe a paint line where it touches the bodywork.

dilby

caprikid1 said:

You bought a 3 year old Van and are wondering if it's been painted ? Are there any significant bumps or scrapes on it ? If not then it's been painted.

Not sure what you mean? Are you saying all and get painted after 3 years?

Emmia

You said the van looked nicer than most of this type - so is there the possibility of filler + respray to make it look that way? 

dilby

Emmia said:

You said the van looked nicer than most of this type - so is there the possibility of filler + respray to make it look that way? 

Possibly - I just mean it wasn’t dinged anywhere whereas most had at least some scrapes as they’re typically used as courier vehicles, but this one wasn’t and had low mileage (believe it was used as a van to sell in markets). Can’t see evidence anywhere on body and you can usually spot it under the panels at chasis level 

AdrianC

dilby said:

caprikid1 said:

You bought a 3 year old Van and are wondering if it's been painted ? Are there any significant bumps or scrapes on it ? If not then it's been painted.

Not sure what you mean? Are you saying all and get painted after 3 years?

Vans lead a hard life... So, yes, many will have some paint done before resale.

EssexExile

Does it matter if it's been sprayed?

dilby

Thanks all. Polish sounds a good suggestion; aware that car dealerships have a variety of concoctions they use. My dad reckons it’s a cleaner that’s dried white. I still suspect some spraying has happened but I suppose that can be normal; perhaps it’s part and parcel of a cleaning and prep service that some dealerships offer, I’m just hardwired to think it would be to hide something nasty but in reality I suppose it could just be hiding something as trivial as decal marks. I’ve removed decals from an entire van before and know from experience how you an tell where they’ve been no matter how hard you scrub. I t-cutted the whole thing and used and electric polisher but if I had the know how and equipment for a light spray I would have. Thanks for helping put mine at rest.