Question about a scratch

[chris15]

So, long story short, I go to school in Tampa, Florida, paid extra to park in a parking garage, parked next to people I didn't know all year. One night, we had a party, decided to park next to a friend of mine. He leaves in the morning to bring his cousin back to his apartment, who is still drunk, swings his door open, and scrapes/dents my car.

It's on my driver's side rear quarter panel, about half an inch long, and it's relatively deep but not very deep. (Will take pics, sorry, it's night time)

So, I picked up one of these:


Comes with:
Spot putty
Filler Primer
Clear Coat
Contoured sanding disc
Ultra Finishing Compound
Self-Adhesive Sanding Sheets
and
Instruction Booklet

I also picked up the 'matching' Duplicolor paint for my car. I've already repaired a rust spot on the front, which came out great, but I didn't have any clear, so it's a bit rough now.

My thing is-- I'd like to use an airbrush. I did it with the front, I bought a model (Testors) airbrush with a can of propellant and did it myself. I brought the car to a couple bodyshops and had quotes ranging from $500-$900 to repair it. Not gonna happen.

So, does anyone have any advice for repairing rear quarter panel utilizing a kit such as this? I know Candyman's got extensive experience behind an airbrush, so I guess (like the majority of other people in this section of the forum) I'm pretty much targeting him on this one..

Thanks in advance, and like I said, I'll be taking/posting some pics later today.

[808]

I'm also curious on this one. Partially similar story, but mostly a small dent.

[chris15]

Glad to see I'm not alone on this one.
My problem is simply that I'm working with bondo/filler here, and I don't want to mess anything up, you know?
With some paints it's easier to match/blend in, but I don't know how it's gonna turn out with Silver. :P

[YoungCruiserrr]

Originally Posted by chris15

Glad to see I'm not alone on this one.
My problem is simply that I'm working with bondo/filler here, and I don't want to mess anything up, you know?
With some paints it's easier to match/blend in, but I don't know how it's gonna turn out with Silver. :P

did you try to buff it out with a automatic buffer?

[chris15]

Are you referring to the previous job I did or the current scratch? If it's the second, it's not the type of scratch that rubs out.. it's fairly deep and goes through the clear and the base coat of the paint. It's also developing a very very small amount of rust which leads me to believe it's down to bare metal at some point.

[Candyman]

Hey their chris15,

Sorry to hear about your paint problem, and I would be more than happy to try to get you hooked up with a good detailed rundown on how to fix her up good as new.

I do have 2 question for ya of which one of them you are already working on which would be the need to see pictures of the damage. The other is, where exactly are you located in Florida? The reason I ask is this, by far the fastest, easiest, and most cost effective way to fix it would be to have it professionally done. Not at a Body Shop where you are about right on the money with the cost being around $800 - $900 for the job, but rather having a mobile service come out and professionally air brush all the nicks out of your entire car for close to what you have in materials!

Car Dealerships use these Mobile Services on a daily basis to come to wherever they are, and clean up all the little door dings, and paint nicks by air brush and/or paintless dent removal on both used cars prior to being put on the lot, and new cars whenever they may come in with damage caused by shipping, or Lot Damage caused by a New Car Porter who maneuvers the new cars around all day and might run a chance of scuffing a bumper, and so on. These guys have computerized Paint Matching software to match your paint exactly irregardless if its slightly faded, or the OEM Paint is not consistent, or any other situation ten times better than any touch up paint you will find on the open market. Then they use only Automotive Grade PPG or Dupont Paint, and will apply clear coat over, color sand, buff, glaze, and wax the repaired area to perfection to where it is next to impossible to ever tell where the damage was! Best part is they usually charge around $100 - $150 for the whole car, so if you have any other area's that need touching up, it all gets fixed at one time to better than new! By the time you invest like you have their with your kit, add sandpaper, buffing compound, glaze, and wax to the table, your easily talking about close to, if not over the cost of materials to get it done professionally and at best you still won't be able to match the quality you can get from having a Service do it for you! So, depending on where your located, this would be your best bet. If you want, I can refer you to a good guy in your area that specializes in this type of work. If you still would like to do it yourself, please be sure to post some good pic's of the damage, and let me know and I would be more than happy to do a step by step write up walking you through the process to fix and air brush the damage out.

Go easy, and let me know, and I will do a thorough write up for you.

Candyman

[chris15]

I saw you mention something about that in another post and have considered it, but at the moment, I don't really have $150 to go tossing around. I'm moving into my apartment at the end of the month and have an assload of security deposits (yay to not having any credit cards/credit!). Though I guess that's better than being in debt. :P

Anyway, here are some pics:

This is an overall of the area.



Close-up to show depth of the scratch/dent.



Quite proud of myself on this pic. Used the light to show the dent.



And this is the job I did on the front of the car. It doesn't necessarily look BAD, but never clearcoated it, so it's a bit rough to the touch and at times stands out. To the 'untrained' eye, it's not noticeable, but upon looking closely you can definitely tell where the clearcoat isn't. The work ran all along the edge, and then the entire section from there to about 3-4 inches above.

[chris15]

Candyman must be on vacation :P

[Pteazer]

Hey Chris, thats not that big of a dent ,so since youve allready picked up the kit Im thinking give it a go mate. I would say you will never get it as nice as if you had the pros do it but thats only because you havnt had enough practise. Looks like you did not too bad on your first atempt. But the repair needs to stay as small as possible and as far back from the door as possible. keep that in mind the whole time your working on the spot as the smaller the beter in this case .if you remove the tail light and sand the rest of the panel with 1000 grit ,you should be able to go from the resess line down. Try keeping the primmer patch two or three inches if possible then go slow with the color letting it dry if nessesary and lightly sanding with the super fine paper.when the patch is coverd blend it out dusting it further than the previous coat each pass. You will have to clear the entire panel from the resess line down to the top of the rocker panel.Try to get at least three coats on it so that it lasts longer and you might have to polish it later.My old teacher back in 72 would say color matching is like a good cup of tea the secrets in the blend.good luck and if you hadnt allready picked up the kit i would say find a paintless dent guy and sand the rusty bit then brush touch it and polish it . but practise makes perfect and it feels so good to say you did it yourself.Cheers Ray Newton PTEAZER.

[Candyman]

Hey their chris15,

Sorry bout the delayed response. I am tied up on another project and am playing catch up once again. Thank you for the pic's, and I will work on putting together a good step by step write up later on today on it.

Go easy, and I will talk to you after bit.
Candyman