[4DoorCL]

Wife was driving the car yesterday, she was following too close on the freeway, and the car in front of her kicked up a can, which hit the bumper hard, it left a 4 inch scratch down to the black plastic.

What is the best way to fix this? Should I get some touch up paint, or will that look bad? How much do the dealers usually charge for repairs like these?

 

[autoxCLS]

Touch-up paint looks terrible most of the time, even when dutifully applied. Does the scratch hit plastic? If not, you may be able to buff it out with a light compound. Clear coats are tricky, so if you don't feel comfortable, they can do a wet sand of the area.

I'd estimate $100-200 if done by the dealer - $25 for the compound and pads if you do it yourself.

 

[Outlook]

AutoxCLS is rite, if u are @ the black plastic, it needs to be repainted. Take it to the dealer and see how much they would charge u. $150-$200

 

[Blazin TL]

Touch-up paint looks terrible most of the time, even when dutifully applied. Does the scratch hit plastic? If not, you may be able to buff it out with a light compound. Clear coats are tricky, so if you don't feel comfortable, they can do a wet sand of the area.

I'd estimate $100-200 if done by the dealer - $25 for the compound and pads if you do it yourself.

using compound is hard work, i tried some to remove some scratches and i was advised to buff gently but even with 10+ tries, i saw no diff. i heard that if you rub too hard that the paint would come off, but i'm so pissed i wish the paint would come off, atleast the scratch would come off too , and i did stir the compound for 5 min before i started...

~$200 for the repair, i rather paint my whole car for $500, but for 500 bucks, is that a good paint job?

 

[Outlook]

sup blazin? how r things in apopka?

500 bucks for whole car? :thumbdow: I would not do it, too cheap. As far as the scratches u mentioned, i would first wet sand then compound then polish........

 

[autoxCLS]

Hey - _I_ live in Apopka. :sqnteek:

Small world.

sup blazin? how r things in apopka?

500 bucks for whole car? :thumbdow: I would not do it, too cheap. As far as the scratches u mentioned, i would first wet sand then compound then polish........

 

[Blazin TL]

sup blazin? how r things in apopka?

500 bucks for whole car? :thumbdow: I would not do it, too cheap. As far as the scratches u mentioned, i would first wet sand then compound then polish........

man, for real, thats what this girl was tellin me last night, she told me a was a good job but actually i really don't know about paint jobs, just that the color changing one go into the upper thousands....

wet sand, (sorry i don't know much about this) you mean get some dirt put water on it?

APK is doing alright, but Ocoee is doing better since i live there... how've you been, i want to attend a meet, their thinking of one in south FL, check a-tl.com (meets)...

 

[Outlook]

man, for real, thats what this girl was tellin me last night, she told me a was a good job but actually i really don't know about paint jobs, just that the color changing one go into the upper thousands....

wet sand, (sorry i don't know much about this) you mean get some dirt put water on it?

APK is doing alright, but Ocoee is doing better since i live there... how've you been, i want to attend a meet, their thinking of one in south FL, check a-tl.com (meets)...

My bad, i thought u lived in Apopka, oh wait, u got to school in Apopka right???

Here's the skinny on wetsanding:

When you wetsand, you use a fine grit sandpaper. I would recommend using an inexpensive rubber sanding block, (u can pick up at almost any department store like Wal-Mart - look in the automotive dept.) When looking at sand paper, just remember, that the higher the number, the finer the grit[eg.-cuts less resulting in a smoother finish]. When you wet sand you are using water like from a water hose to keep a flow of water running across the area you are sanding. This helps to lubricate the sand paper, and keeps it from clogging with sanding debris. (Hence wet sanding ) Use plenty of water, its messy but its one of the best ways to get rid of deep scratches. Now, when u r done, the deep scratch will be gone and the paint will be smooth, but it'll have a bad dull finish because u just scratched the heck out of your paint. U just created millions of fine scratches in that area. Don't worry. Now is when the Rubbing Compound comes in. Get the smoothes you can find and start rubbing. Use a polishing cloth and watch that paint come back to life. Then Polish. Sometimes u may need a swirl remover to get rid of small swirls. Hope this helps... :sombrero: (i love these smiles )

 

[Blazin TL]

wow, thanks , will this work to smooth out touch up paint finishes too...

nope i go to west orange, but they're in our district, (one of the toughest sports wise)...

 

[Bebber]

It'll cost you about $500 to get a good paintjob on just a bodykit. I guarantee you that a $500 entire car repaint would be of poor quality. :sqnteek:

Just fix it yourself, cause more likely than not, you'll need the practice for future bumper fixin. Just a sad fact of life in the fast lane.

 

[Blazin TL]

It'll cost you about $500 to get a good paintjob on just a bodykit. I guarantee you that a $500 entire car repaint would be of poor quality. :sqnteek:

Just fix it yourself, cause more likely than not, you'll need the practice for future bumper fixin. Just a sad fact of life in the fast lane.

i'm just worried about the outcome, i did some touch up paint for my moms car awhile back and the paint i left on the car was lifted alil, is there a secret to puttin on touch up paint, and should go to the dealer or and i got any black touch up paint?

thanks before hand

 

[Bebber]

i'm just worried about the outcome, i did some touch up paint for my moms car awhile back and the paint i left on the car was lifted alil, is there a secret to puttin on touch up paint, and should go to the dealer or and i got any black touch up paint?

thanks before hand

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by that, but yeah you can get decent results putting on touchup paint by yourself. I certainly know that Rominl did. The idea is to sand down the blemish first using fine grit wet sandpaper sheets. Wet them down and keep them wet during the sanding process, and the grit should be 1500 or 2000. Yes, that's really fine stuff. This is especially true if the scratch is on the bumper, since the bumper is plastic and may be locally partly deformed from the scratch.

Once the surface is nice, smooth, and clean (I'd use rubbing alcohol), put on just enough of well-mixed (shake for 5 minutes) touch-up paint using a fine applicator like an artist's brush or the end of a sharp toothpick. The brush that comes in touchup paint bottles is generally way too big. The scratch should now be filled in slightly above the level of the surrounding paint.

After drying, use some more wet sandpaper to sand down the paint blob. After that, use rubbing compound to take away the fine scratches. After that, use even finer polishing compound or glaze to make even the fine scratches dissappear.

You can finish it off with some clearcoat and repeat the sanding,rubbing,polishing process if you're a perfectionist.

Voila, pat yourself on the back and drink a cold, tall iced tea. :drink:

 

[Outlook]

Very good post Bebber !! :thumbsup:

 

[Blazin TL]

thanks, i still have this fine scratches though, but i only tried rubbing the compound twice, should i try again?

 

[Bebber]

if the remaining scratches are really fine, then you need a really mild compound to get rid of the scratches. use a polishing compound or a glaze, it is finer than a rubbing compound.

3M makes some very good quality glaze compounds for removing these fine scratches. I think it's called 3M Imperial Glaze or something like that. The Meguiar's professional series Glaze is pretty good too.

 

[AcuraTL]

If the scratch is down to the black pastic on the bumper, then the only way to fix it is either touch-up paint or repaint the whole bumper. If you are going to have the body shop repaint the whole bumper, make sure they add flex-additive to the paint or else your bumper is going to crack within a few months. It shouldn't take a competent body shop more than 2 hours to paint the whole bumper.

 

[Blazin TL]

If the scratch is down to the black pastic on the bumper, then the only way to fix it is either touch-up paint or repaint the whole bumper. If you are going to have the body shop repaint the whole bumper, make sure they add flex-additive to the paint or else your bumper is going to crack within a few months. It shouldn't take a competent body shop more than 2 hours to paint the whole bumper.

how much would that go for? how bout the whole car in NHB my original color?