Is an attorney needed?

I got my Civic in 2014 from a Honda dealer. 1yr later I notice the paint starts looking dull & the hood looked like cracked paint. I happened to get a letter: certain year models had a recall for the paint. I took it in. The guy told me my car wasn't eligible. I figured I just have to deal with it.4yrs later the paint looks WORSE & I kno this isn't right. I research online, come to find out my car WAS eligible for repaint Years ago. So I called Honda Motor company & they told me to take it to my dealer to get an estimate. He takes it to the body shop & said he'll email info tomorrow. 1week later I call him to see about the info. He said he's waiting on Honda to send him a new template.A month later, nothing. I call Honda MC again. They sent my case to a manager to act as a liaison between the dealer and me. Finally took my car in. When my car was in shop they didn't give me a loaner. 2wks with no car. When they finished, a friend of mine wanted to check it out. Immediately he says "nope, it's got orange peel everywhere, he didn't cut & buff it" There's damage to my window moldings, paint, very dusty, damaged my emblem. I took itback, he says "I'm not buffing it, I can't do anything about the molding. I'll buff for $500". Then "$300, & I'm not going crazy on it I got paid to strip&paint" Then says he has a guy for molding for $35. I should've left but I wanted the top done. He left it in worse condition. On my way home a piece flew off. The molding he"fixed" flops while driving.

Take them to small claims court is all you can do. Have proof of all you say. Get and expert to wire a notarized statement to all they did wrong. Take photos of all the damage and the poor paint job.

Did you buy it brand new or not?

Who paid the shop that did the paint work? That is who is liable and that is who you need to talk to. Is a lawyer needed? Depends on what the outcome of the complaint is. If it were me, I would exhaust all other avenues before I hired a lawyer.
If you do want a lawyer remember to find one who doesn't charge for the initial conference

Since you had bad paint, then when you had it fixed, then the shop would have to remove/sand off the old paint. When a vehicle is in an accident and has to be painted, then it has to have 1 day to dry. If I understand you correctly, then Honda did the paint job, which would be in your favor. Now the shop most likely had to (wait) to make sure the Honda MC pays them for the job, before they started.

As a retired auto adjuster have not had any claims where a vehicle had to be repainted due to (bad) paint. But body shops are bad in taking their "sweet" time to get a job done, since many of them are working on numerous vehicles at the same time, so may work on each car for instance 2/3 hours a day vs more and finishing. When we calculated how (long) a vehicle should be in the shop, if I remember was about 4/5 hours? The reason for this is because (if) we were (insurance) paying for a rental car, then each day more we had to pay for it. So, if it took longer, we would be on the phone to the shop and complained (why) not done?

Now as for a loaner, then Honda might (not) owe you for that. But 2 weeks is a long time, and like most of us we work, thus need a vehicle to get to work or to the grocery store.

Who did the moulding work? Honda or this "friend" for $35? If this friend did, then Honda is not responsible, since Honda did not do.

Your "friend" is he a mechanic or works in a body shop? If not then you need an expert who does body work and painting to review and analyze if the job was done right or (not).

Forget the phone calls, you need to write letters of your list of complaints with pictures of the work done and send it to Honda corporation (certified mail), thus have proof of the letter received. I also suggest in this letter a invoice/estimate (from a expert) of the cost to fix to make it right Now, say for instance that the job (should) have been done in 5 days vs 2 weeks, then also add that you had NO car to drive while waiting for the paint job to be completed. Honda (might) reimburse you the inconvenience of no car, like $10 to $20 per day.

Call HONDA. NOT the dealer. Tell Honda about the problem. Tell Honda you want to take the car to a DIFFERENT car dealer. Do NOT go back to the old car dealer. Not sure why you ever went back to that one. Tell Honda they need to make it right and you want to go to a different shop.

Bottom line is you might end up going to small claims court against this bad car dealer. But try to get HONDA to pay for their dealers mistake and go to a DIFFERENT Honda dealer.

Honda pays any dealer you want when it comes to recalls. You do not have to go back to the dealer you bought the car from. Tell Honda you want your car repaired at a different Honda Dealer.

I would go to Small Claims Court and take a mechanic with you, someone qualified to discredit the Honda mechanic/body shop manager/painter. You will have to explain how/why you were dissatisfied but took the car back.

Unless there was a promise of a rental car, that is not the usual procedure when there's a recall.

Might be a lesson learned but I photograph my car from all angles before I leave it with any mechanic for any reason.

Honda/the repair shop will argue that you maintained the car incorrectly. I bought a MB, paint on top of car developed a crackled paint look. MB argued that I should have garaged the car (which I did about 75% of the time) instead of leaving it in the sun. They lost.