# The phantom car park scraper



## Guest (Jul 12, 2014)

...has struck and left me with this.

Some of the scratches are deep - through to the primer. Is it repairable by hand/DA myself or is it a bodyshop job? 

Would you tackle each scratch individually or bite the bullet and do the whole area in one hit. I've done a few stone chips before so I know how difficult it is to get these fixes exactly right but I suspect this one may be a lost cause. It's BMW paint on plastic with a hint of white van man thrown in free.

Thanks for any tips/advice.


----------



## Vossman (Aug 5, 2010)

There are some ******s about, some people just don't care about other peoples property, I hope whoever did this to your car gets something of theirs that is valuable to them wrecked.
Looking at the pics I think they may be too deep for polishing out, however it is always worth trying first.


----------



## Kash-Jnr (Mar 24, 2013)

Ah unlucky mate.. looks too far gone to be buffed out.


----------



## Guest (Jul 12, 2014)

Thanks, I know it's too far gone to just buff out. I was wondering whether or not it was worth treating each scratch like a stone chip repair or just look at the whole area as one spray repair.


----------



## suspal (Dec 29, 2011)

Get a smart repair done otherwise it'll stick out like a sore thumb.:thumb:


----------



## Graeme1 (Dec 9, 2006)

If you came into my bodyshop we would charge around £90 inclusive to paint half the bumper and around £200 to take it all off and paint the whole bumper to be like new. 

It won't stand out like a sore thumb but will obviously be fresh paint so whilst the wings can be polished up won't 100% be the same.


----------



## Naranto (Apr 5, 2007)

I would say you could do it yourself. You will be surprised at what you can achieve. If it does not work then at least you gave it a go.

If it helps, here is instructions for my 'scuff':

http://gwsforum.proboards.com/thread/1964/scuff-repairs


----------



## MagpieRH (May 27, 2014)

If you're thinking about getting it painted anyway, don't see the harm in trying to fix it yourself. As long as you don't damage the panel, a paintshop would surely sand it all back anyway and start afresh?


----------



## Guest (Jul 12, 2014)

MagpieRH said:


> If you're thinking about getting it painted anyway, don't see the harm in trying to fix it yourself. As long as you don't damage the panel, a paintshop would surely sand it all back anyway and start afresh?


Yeah, you're right, now I've calmed down and thought about it, there's no point in not having a go myself. I've got all the stuff so if I don't get it right, I've only wasted my own time.

Thanks for all the feedback.


----------



## jamie_s (Jul 10, 2009)

Graeme1 said:


> If you came into my bodyshop we would charge around £90 inclusive to paint half the bumper and around £200 to take it all off and paint the whole bumper to be like new.
> 
> It won't stand out like a sore thumb but will obviously be fresh paint so whilst the wings can be polished up won't 100% be the same.


Why's that then? You mean the colour won't match? Not just because it's new paint surely?
Obviously there may be a colour match issue when not blending into the wing but the difference wouldn't come from new vs old paint especially with this being a detailing forum and most old paint is better than new :lol:


----------



## Guest (Jul 16, 2014)

HERE'S HOW NOT TO DO IT.
Well, inspired by Naranto, I thought I'd give it a go and see what a rank amateur can do and I took a few pics along the way.
Rub down with 1500 wet and dry for about 10 mins. The scratches are still deep so 5 mins. with a DA, mf pad and cutting compound and this is the result:








[/URL]1 by High Zak, on Flickr[/IMG]

The scratches still fail the finger nail test, so time for some primer:
Wait 30 mins. Rub the primer with 1500 paper and another 5 mins. with the DA. The scratches are less deep but still fail the finger nail test. Apply more primer and the car ends up looking exactly like it did before.








[/URL]2 by High Zak, on Flickr[/IMG]

Wait another 30 mins and rub down and DA again. Parts of the scratches still fail the finger nail test but I wanted a bit of depth to apply the paint but before applying I gave the whole area a quick rub down with 2500 paper.








[/URL]3 by High Zak, on Flickr[/IMG]

I've got some Chipex touch up paint (not a fan) and smeared the top and bottom scratches to see how it went - not great, the scratches weren't smooth enough so rub it all off, apply more primer and we're back to picture 2. Rub down again with 1500 and 2500 paper to get a smooth surface but still leaving a key.

Reapply paint by smearing top and bottom scratches, again it wasn't great so rubbed down again. The more observant of you see that I've now rubbed through the paint along the curve of the wheel arch at right angles to the scratches and just above the bottom scratch following the bumper contour.








[/URL]4 by High Zak, on Flickr[/IMG]

I've struggled to get the depth of the primer right, being on a vertical surface, it doesn't settle evenly so when I remove a "bump" I'm creating a "hollow" elsewhere - it won't go uniformly smooth and the paint looks a mess when applied.
However, I'm not giving up I think I'll do a part 2 when it stops raining and go the whole hog with a spray can. So far, all it's cost me is time.


----------



## DMH-01 (Mar 29, 2011)

Images not showing for me.


----------



## Guest (Jul 16, 2014)

...nor for me either. I've uploaded them to flickr and made them public. Can't readily see why they're not displaying.


----------



## Honda (Aug 27, 2012)

Working ok for me!!


----------



## VW STEVE. (Mar 18, 2012)

Some w**ker did the same to my son's Scirocco a couple of months back. Needed painting but my mate has his own body shop so did it on the cheap for him as a cash job. Still a pain tho.


----------



## Graeme1 (Dec 9, 2006)

jamie_s said:


> Why's that then? You mean the colour won't match? Not just because it's new paint surely?
> Obviously there may be a colour match issue when not blending into the wing but the difference wouldn't come from new vs old paint especially with this being a detailing forum and most old paint is better than new :lol:


Fresh paint will never be the same as old paint no matter how much it's polished etc.


----------



## squiggs (Oct 19, 2009)

I'm looking forward to OPs results.
Smart would have been the way :thumb:


----------



## Guest (Jul 18, 2014)

squiggs said:


> I'm looking forward to OPs results.
> Smart would have been the way :thumb:


Well, I haven't had time to progress this. I did get what I thought was an over the top estimate from a body shop - £160 for the corner or £250 for the whole bumper.

I also had a quote for a smart repair of £100, which I thought was very reasonable, perhaps too reasonable? I don't have time over the weekend to do anything myself so, if I can find out a bit about the smart repairer's work, I may just go that way.


----------



## Guest (Aug 22, 2014)

Well it took a while but it's finally sorted. I had another go at it myself, wasn't happy with the result so called in the professionals.

Even up close I can't see the join. Really pleased with this very smart repair.

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=38408&stc=1&d=1408720857


----------



## Guest (Nov 18, 2014)

Would you believe it, 4 months on and it's happened again! Same ****** corner and, of course, not a "sorry" note in sight.

Fortunately (?), not as bad as last time, so I've managed to polish about 90% out and get some spray paint on before the light went.

...will see how it looks in the morning.


----------



## Scoobycarl (Aug 13, 2011)

Its bad luck is that mate !


----------

