Show jobs are color sanded and buffed pretty much everywhere. (Even in the engine bay areas, and the bolt holes are welded, filled and smoothed etc.)
For 4k, you are not going to get a show job.
You should get a very good quality full color change however with no tape lines, and no areas where they missed paint, even in the engine bay.
Here is the rub. If there are light areas where you can see primer, they have to skuff up the entire engine bay area again, and lay down more color, then new clear coat. Your paint will now be too thick, and could start to crack. (Craze, whatever you want to call it, but it cracks and looks like dried lake bed mud under a hot sun. Only in minature on your paint surface.)
This is why I'd have used a color tinted primer. To help hide any lack of paint with the color coat. (And you can fix errors in primer pretty easy, but it's much more work with the color or clear coats of paint.)
I'm pretty sure there is no paint under the battery tray area, and behind the steering on the drivers side (left) rail where it's indented to clear the steering shaft. There is a white patch there, and around where your battery tray is. There also might be one where the left core support baffle joins up with the left apron, but that might be a camera light trick too.
Your painter needs to use a smaller detail gun to cut into these areas.
Personally, if they are not going to strip out all the paint under the hood, I'd just have them knock 500.00 off what you owe them, with the understanding that your not getting a show job, but your also not going to pay them for shit work either.
So they have two choices. Stip and refinish with a tinted primer and full coverage/hiding color, or reduce the price, and make sure the rest of the job is done right. NOT a show job, but not Maaco either. (Maaco would charge you less for the same quality of work IMNSHO.)
Dealership shops are NOT generally the highest quality. Everyone thinks they are, but they are production shops, and they push work through like everyone else. It's been my experiance that many shops who talk the loudest about how great their work is, generally have the worst quality control of anyone. Often the best shop is some guy who's been painting for 25 years, runs the shop with just a few quality techs, and they only do a few vehicles a week. They live or die on the word of mouth advertising, and their reputation is what keeps them alive. The problem is, many of these shops have gone under with the competition of the "bigger" dealerships and consolidators who push work through, and sell off mediocre work as "industry standard."
One more thing. Most new car buyers do not notice the flaws in the vehicle they purchase. And I've seen flaws in factory paint from Lexus/Toyota/Scion, BMW, Porsche, GM, Ford, Honda/Accura, Dodge/Chrysler etc. They all use similar products, and they all have similar problems from time to time. (For example, the color on the mirrors, door trim, bumpers and other plastic painted parts does not ever match up with the panels painted at the factory.. It's because the paint is not the same, and the substrate is not the same either. Also from vehicle to vehicle, there are color varients, and there are other factors such as flake bruising that affects what your eye percieves as color even with the exact same paint, from the exact same factory, on the very same day.)
Heck, I can take the exact same cup of paint, in the same gun, on the same day, and do nothing more than change the air pressure by 2psi, and change the color on a metallic. Or move the gun away from the panel a few inches, and change the color. It's all about the solvent dome, and how the pigment and flake moves and settles in a large or small droplet of paint. It's how a good painter matches up the color when "blending" from a repair panel to a OEM finish.
Basic stuff like achieving full coverage on a panel is CHILDS PLAY. And I would not let them shove the work down your throat calling it "industry standard."
It's your money. Make them earn it.
