Scratches In Paintwork - Any Quick Fix Suggestions

[maplec]

Hi all

Was hoping for your advice. MY OH had a bit of a scrape this morning when he was locked into a car space by two unhelpful individuals who refused to move to allow him safe access out. A passerby offered to direct him out, so it was a bit of a shock when he scraped the building wall!! The person guiding said I was so sure you were going to clear that :( (helpful, no?)

The guy suggested to DH to use an aerasol and brushing it over the marks. But my OH wanted to put black vivid pen over them as a quick fix!!! :o which I have talked him out of until I spoke to yourselves for advice.

What would you recommend? We are soon to take the car to a snowy climate so would like to add some form of protection to the metal work that was damaged.

Here are a few pics of the said damage.

Thanks for your help.

[eddieinvader]

Have a look for a trusted garage that can flash it over for you.

You can get these done for as little as 30 - 50 pound depending on how fussy you want to be.

Some might want to do the whole bumper which will cost more, but there are some that will just cover the damaged part.

Personally I would not go down the repair it yourself route as you might regret it. I have seen some right botched jobs done this way.

[bothwell_buyer]

You need to get some satisfaction first of all -any chance of going back to the place and spotting the original offending cars/drivers? Take a brillo pad with you in case you see them - brillo pad should be strapped to your knee as you squeeze past the cars.

Its clear that your car is quite new, so I'd get it to a paintshop/bodyshop and ask for quotes...the whole bumper should be less than £100 so a patch should be what eddieinvader says.

[Cyker]

Get a soft cloth and wipe off the white powder to see how it looks. If it's not too bad, you might get away with some T-cut and a coat of wax/laquer (That stuff for filling in scratches on CDs and specs (NB: not polishing out!) is pretty good, but relatively expensive).

Won't look as good as a professional job tho'.

My poor Yaris has been scratched so many times in the past two months (Luckily no really deep ones, but seriously, do people just have particularly poor spacial awareness these days or what??)

[eddieinvader]

Get a soft cloth and wipe off the white powder to see how it looks. If it's not too bad, you might get away with some T-cut and a coat of wax/laquer (That stuff for filling in scratches on CDs and specs (NB: not polishing out!) is pretty good, but relatively expensive).

Won't look as good as a professional job tho'.

My poor Yaris has been scratched so many times in the past two months (Luckily no really deep ones, but seriously, do people just have particularly poor spacial awareness these days or what??)

Looks a bit to deep for that, especially if it's rubbed along a wall.

I totaly agree with the awareness issue though.

[maplec]

Hi guys, thank you for your responses, that's brilliant and I agree with you 100% to avoid a DIY.

Actually the prices we should expect to pay is really helpful info so we have a benchmark figure and don't get screwed over, thanks for that.

Yes brillo pads, as my OH said it was lucky I wasn't there as I am rather precious about our car

Thank you for the sound advice, have passed this over to DH and he has promised not to do a DIY!

Result :)

[three5]

Hi guys, thank you for your responses, that's brilliant and I agree with you 100% to avoid a DIY.

Actually the prices we should expect to pay is really helpful info so we have a benchmark figure and don't get screwed over, thanks for that.

Yes brillo pads, as my OH said it was lucky I wasn't there as I am rather precious about our car

Thank you for the sound advice, have passed this over to DH and he has promised not to do a DIY!

Result :)

Hi Maplec,

I'm not absolutely sure where the scratches are on the car, but it looks like the "bumper". If it is, don't get too worried about repairing it immediately as it's plastic underneath and won't degrade to any degree if left like it is until you get back from your trip. It might be worth checking out one of these mobile "Paint Wizard" repairers as well as the body shop. My main point is, if it is the plastic bumper you don't have to dash into anything. Just tell me why it always happens with new cars - I had a Vitara that lasted 3 days from the showroom before some "careless rascal" managed to take a lump out of the bumper in Saninsburys car park. It's an awfully good job that I didn't have the opportunity to remonstrate with them! :ffs:

[jedi134]

Some 1200 wet and dry sand paper, then some scratch x, then finally a good polish and wax will make it 100 times better, if you mess up you`ve not really lost out as you can always take it to a garage for a professional job. You need to at least try.

I took some similar scratches out of the rear tyre cover on my rav and you can hardly see them now, I think as its plastic it rubs out better.

I was really suprised by the results, I was scared when sanding with the wet and dry but when polished looks really good.

[anchorman]

I agree with Jedi and would have a go at that. You would be amazed how much you can recover and you have absolutely nothing to lose. The lacquer shows up white so if you polish that back flat it may well disappear.