What the hell is THAT? Argh, you morons!

The BBQ Pit
#1

I am very anal about keeping my car clean. Every spring, once I’m sure the snow is gone for good, I set aside a day on a weekend to wash, clay, polish and wax it, and then do my best to keep it squeaky clean until winter (when everything goes to hell again).

I got off to a bit of a late start this year, and only managed to clean it up this past weekend. I ordered some new microfiber towels from a well-regarded website that many professional detailers use, because my old ones were starting to get ratty. I’ve ordered lots of stuff from them before, with no complaints.

At 8:00 PM last Sunday, it was starting to get dark out, and I was finishing up the whole process, using one of the new towels to buff off the excess from the second coat of wax. Suddenly, I heard a strange squeaking noise. “That’s odd,” I thought, “Maybe there’s too much residue on this part of the towel.” I looked at it and saw nothing abnormal, so I refolded it and continued buffing. A few minutes later, I hear another, much louder squeak, and I look at the towel more closely. Something in it glints in the light of the setting sun. It looks metallic. I brush away the pile to get a better look.

There was a fucking STAPLE stuck in it! And the loud squeaking noises were from it leaving some very noticeable scratches on my trunk lid.

At first I thought the staple came from the packaging that the towel came in (it was a cardboard label stapled to a plastic bag), but none of the staples there were missing. And it was embedded very deep in the towel - it didn’t look like it simply got snagged recently, it looked like it was woven in during the manufacturing process.

I managed to remove the scratches, after some time and effort, using my machine polisher, and then finished up with the last coat of wax, so no permanent damage was done, but for Christ’s sake, that really was inexcusably poor quality control. It was pure luck that I had the towel folded in a such a way that I wasn’t applying pressure directly to the staple, otherwise I would have scratched the paint right through to the primer (or metal!)

I sent them an email but haven’t gotten a response yet.

Yeah, it’s just a car, but I’m very attached to it, and I would be very pissed off if it was damaged because these people can’t figure out how to freaking manufacture their “premium” towels properly. If I wanted to deal with crap like this I’d buy my stuff at Wal-Mart.

#2

Could’ve been worse; could’ve been a rat fang.

#3

Well, if you are that anal, as you said, it was poor quality control on your part for not meticulously inspecting the towel before you applied it to your car. :smiley:

BTW, I understand wash, polish and wax, but what is “clay”?

#4

You take photos of your CAR? And have them posted on the interweb?

Wow.

Apart from that, what Klaatu said.

Sorry, ain’t getting with the venomous vibe of the OP. Something seems to be missing…

:stuck_out_tongue:

#5

I look over any kind of towel like object very carefully now before using it. This is due to encountering a staple, while I was drying off some tender bits. :eek: Such things tend to make one justifiably paranoid, so now I look over any new washclothes and towels to be sure there are not pins or staples in them.

#6

http://www.autopia-carcare.com/inf-clay.html

It sounds ridiculous, but it works amazingly well.

#7

Absolute, my chances of coming across your car are reasonably good. I’ll be very, very careful, I promise.

#8

I just bought the newest car I’ve ever had. It is a 2005 Grand Caravan. It is beautiful. It’s paint is flawless and I have absolutely no clue how to take care of it. That link gives me all kinds of info. I’m thinking my old rust-bucket days of using Dawn dish detergent are long gone… :slight_smile:
Oh yeah, screw the staples man, that stinks. There are so many other methods of attaching things together, to use a metal staple on something like that is just silly. Even a plastic hang taggy thing would be less catastrophic.

#9

My Yaris has seen the pics and is now lurking in the corner of the garage, throwing baleful looks my way…

#10

My husband would have come fucking unglued. You have every right to be pissed off. I hope they compensate you. But something tells me they will fight you every step of the way.

#11

I know it’s “just a car” but it’s your car, and you obviously take a lot of pride in it.

You spend the money (and I’ll assume it was not cheap) on special stuff to care for it, and that stuff fails the basic warranty of usability - new microfiber cloths are not supposed to cause scratches.

It’s good that you were able to buff out the scratches, but you shouldn’t have had to do that.

Screw waiting for an email. I’d be all over them on the phone if I spent good money on something that wound up damaging my car. How would you feel if the clay turned out to be a mis-labled bar of pumice? Or if some numb-nuts put “wax” labels on bottles of paint stripper?

#12

I have a POS so it wouldn’t bother me - now. However, if I got my dream car (I don’t even LIKE sports cars, but the 2005 Mitsubishi Spider is sexy beyond belief to me) I’d be pretty pissed. Incredibly pissed. Angry beyond belief that something damaged my baby.

My car now, I don’t even wash. It’s not worth the effort and the soap water leaks into my car.

~Tasha

#13

Absolute, three years ago I would have called you a basket case. With two teenagers driving my cars, I was happy with keeping them running. Then my dad (who was much like you about taking car of his car) died and willed me his ten year old Buick. It was beautiful, pristine and had every reciept for every oil change, a log of every tank of gas, it was cherry. The night I drove it home 150 miles I stopped at the local supermarket to get some soda, and parked out in “New car land” away from everyone. Upon arriving home I discovered the car had been keyed. I was beyond irate, I was on the phone to the police demanding they call the CIA to see if there were any spy sattelites overhead at the time to spot the idiots that did this. I think my wife slipped some sedatives into the soda because I gave it up before they arrested me. I now understand your rage and frustration. You have something special to you and try to take care of it. Welcome to modern society. No respect, anything for a buck. You paid a premium price for a premium product and only half the equation was met. I hate it and loathe it, but sometimes we can do no more that scream at the tops of our lungs, and hope we feel better, because very little else seems to change. Glad you were able to get your scratches out. I can’t, but decided not have it repainted because it just wouldn’t be dad’s car any more. I keep a good coat of wax on to protect it, and consider them scars of the battle against evil.

#14

Wow. And imagine having to remove the scratches to your tender bits with a machine polisher, and then finishing up with a last coat of wax. :eek:

#15

Heh… :smiley: Nah, a bit of generic triple antibiotic ointment was all it needed. I was saying I sympathized with the OP, that I too, had found a staple at an inopportune time, while trying to get the word out that it isn’t just microfiber towels that have staples in them, it is towels and wash clothes in general. I have found both staples and pins in bath linens. (I figure you already watch out to be sure there are no pins in your bedding when you are opening it, right?)