If you’re going to attempt to repair the scratches yourself, here’s what I recommend an amature to use.
The only thing they omit from the video is, clean the surface first with something like isopropyl alcohol prior to touching up the scratches.
Tester
No leased, financed.
Woah, sorry, maybe the picture is not clear, but there is no dent or anything. It’s was a very small and shallow scrape only at the very edges of the wheel arch. Only 3 or 4 black specks, which I presume is the primer below the silver paint. I think it may look bent because of the glare.
Yeah, this is a very good point. I think you’re right, a lot of whitish marks are paint transferred from the column. But I think the black spots are where paint has been chipped off. I’ll try rubbing it first. Anything specific?
Wow, beautiful. That’s exactly what I was looking for. I’ll try and buy that tool.
Thanks.
Every car I get, before I leave the dealer, I get the touch up kit. Sometimes they throw it in and sometimes I have to buy it. I’ve done hobby painting and touch up for 50 years though and while it looks nice on the video, unless you sand that paint down with 2000 grit paper and polish it, you will always see the edge of the touch up paint. So depending how particular you are and what your skill level is but the folks at the body shop take cars off the delivery truck and fix the spots before they are put on the show room floor. Just saying it would be a little different if it was a four year old car but a brand new $30-50K one?
Call your dealer. New cars are sometimes damaged and used cars have bumps and scrapes. The dealer will have a mobile touch up person who comes to their lot. He can fix this quickly and nicely. That could .be much cheaper, as he may charge the rate the dealer would pay. It has worked for me.
I lease. Many leases, including mine have damage waivers of $1500 or $2500.
that’s why I don’t like nice cars. I wouldn’t worry about such minor things at all. I slipped on ice and put a big scrape along my driver’s side rear door. Put some black spray paint on it, no worries.
Get some silver spray paint or touch up paint if you’re worried, I guess. No point in spending a lot of money. It’s just plastic but it’d cost a small fortune to replace (in the hundreds of dollars) I’d guess.
If you’re going to do this yourself I totally agree with @Testers suggestion as your best bet. Avoid using a spray can. It would look horrible.
I’m sorry but obviously Ken is not a car person. Drive an old beater so you don’t have to worry about it. Take some duct tape or spray Rust-Oleum to cover the scratches. Thing is if there were no new cars sold, there wouldn’t be any old cars available a few years later. Had a neighbor once that bought a new Dodge in that ugly tannish/brown color. She said she did it so it wouldn’t show the dirt. Even at 10 years old I just shook my head. She traded in a nice 56 Ford convertible for that.
Yes bing, but there’s more to cars than that
. As I clearly said . . he ( and you ) can choose not to involve the insurance at all !
and YET he could also choose to have it body shop repaired showroom new ( he pays them ) . . or not ( leave it alone or touch up ).
See, there still are choices for him beyond insurance.
I too agree with tester’s suggestion.
Bing, just because someone isn’t a “car person” doesn’t mean he/she doesn’t have some pride. I consider myself a “car person”, yet I drive an 11 year old car with 239,000 miles that has an assortment of dings & dents, most repaired just as Tester suggested. Yet I keep it waxed, clean, and shiny. I even clean and wax the door jams. It looks great, but I’m a realist. I’ve owned cars long enough to realize that if you use them daily, they get an occasional bump or scrape. I simply don’t let that bother me. I touch them up and go on with my life. I could never put duct tape or Rustoleum on it.
Which makes me want to reverse my earlier stated comment; just because someone IS a car person doesn’t mean he/she has to have a perfect car. A touched-up scratch or ding here & there doesn’t affect my enjoyment of my car one bit. I couldn’t enjoy the car if I had to worry about that stuff. With a few rare exceptions, I don’t even care for “trailer queen” show cars. I see absolutely perfect but clearly undrivable show cars without ground clearance, noise-dampened pipes, chopped until the windshield looks like a mail slot, no windshield wipers, rearview mirrors, door handles… the things that make a car usable… and I just sigh. Why would anybody want that? I can respect good workmanship, but I’d much rather have something I can enjoy driving. I respect that others don’t feel that way, but I guess that’s just the way I feel.
I’m not sensing much pride here.
While the paper temporary plates were still on my first brand new car back in '72 someone keyed the side overnight. I guess that introduced me to the reality of new car ownership.
I wouldn’t assume that because someone repaired a scrape they have no pride. I have a number of home touchups on mine, and I’ve always had pride in how my cars look. Home touchups are definitely not an indication of lack of pride in one’s vehicle.
Who are you referring to that “repaired a scrape”?
I think you’ll get pretty good results with just touch up paint. Don’t delay doing something about it though, b/c if rust starts to form on any bare metal, it makes the job considerably more difficult. If you have to defer this for a while, one idea is paint a little clear fingernail polish over the scratch marks. That will help prevent rust from starting.
Edit: I’ll add that if I had this problem myself, I’d contact my insurance company for advice first.
Rusty plastic, sounds like a problem vehicle.
My Brother bought a new Toyota 4wd pickup around 1980. He picked the color closest to the dust from the miles of gravel roads he had to drive on.
I spent a good part of my life living in rural areas where it was a hopeless case trying to keep a vehicle all nice & shiny & ding & dent free .
It’s really tough in the snowbelt too. Which may be why I’ve developed such a pragmatic attitude about it over the years. 