What to do..?

[Primus1]

As some of you may be aware I stupidly drove too far into my garage and caused a scratch on the front panel near the bonnet, I got a quote from chips away of £200, another chip repair company said they couldn’t do it as they thought it wouldn’t polish out and they don’t do painting, I’m debating whether to order a repair kit from chipex, I’ve used before and, whilst not totally giving an invisible repair, it did lessen the scratch , do I try and see how much a body shop would quote, or go the diy route

[Tomv]

I would leave it as it is. If I’m looking right, it’s on the plastic part, so it won’t rust. I know it sucks to have scratches on new car, but I bet one year from now you will not remember that scratch is there.

[Bper]

Hi Alan, pain in the rear when this happens, if it was me I would do the repair with chipex repair kit or another make. If you take your time with the repair it should look OK. £200 is to much in my opinion for this small repair 👍

[G L J]

Hi Alan.

I used revive to repair a small scratch on my yaris.

It was about two years ago and cost £35. You could always ask them for a quote as well.

https://revive-uk.com

[MikeSh]

I feel trying to fix something that small is bound to invoke one of the corollaries to Murphy's Law. Ie, not long after you've fixed it you'll get another ding, and obviously that means it'll then become a trio of dings.

So as long as it won't rust I'd class it as not broken so don't fix it. (When you come to sell you might decide it's worth getting all the chips, etc, fixed in one go, but that's a choice for then.)

[TonyHSD]

Just leave it. There are markers that can make it disappear and only cost 3-5£. You can apply after car wash and it will last for few weeks and then can apply again. Or whenever trading in for another car. 
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334780964018?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=LUv5QTRmQrC&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=p34UK1z2T4m&var=543936431784&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

[Max_Headroom]

Try 

 

[Primus1]

8 hours ago, G L J said:

Hi Alan.

I used revive to repair a small scratch on my yaris.

It was about two years ago and cost £35. You could always ask them for a quote as well.

https://revive-uk.com

This is the other company that wouldn’t even quote me 

[Primus1]

I’m leaning towards fixing it myself, it’s one of those things that will always bug me, it’s had the paint protection too, so I guess that little bit won’t have after I’ve finished, ( if you get my drift) ..

[Bob66]

Get your pride and joy professionally repaired.

[Roy124]

I had a longer scratch on my wing within weeks of the new car.  I think the quote was £240.

They came and managed to polish out about 80% but the scrape was slightly too deep.  You could feel it with a finger nail.   Had polishing worked it would have been far less expensive. 

Their repair is completely invisible and 15 months on remains so.  The car had had smart guard applied but the repair shows no difference. 

[anchorman]

If it shouts at you now, a home repair won’t do it and you’ll need it painting.  The best painter in the north of England is just over the Yorkshire border in Derbyshire round the corner from me.  I’ll take your photo to him if you want and get a price.  
 

I’ve heard reports of invisible smart repairs but the ones I’ve looked at I can see so I’m of the opinion they don’t exist and the owner wouldn’t know if it was good or not and they definitely show up with age unless it’s in a really inconspicuous place.  

[Primus1]

9 hours ago, anchorman said:

If it shouts at you now, a home repair won’t do it and you’ll need it painting.  The best painter in the north of England is just over the Yorkshire border in Derbyshire round the corner from me.  I’ll take your photo to him if you want and get a price.  
 

I’ve heard reports of invisible smart repairs but the ones I’ve looked at I can see so I’m of the opinion they don’t exist and the owner wouldn’t know if it was good or not and they definitely show up with age unless it’s in a really inconspicuous place.  

Thanks, I think Derbyshire might just be a bit too far, but you could ask , and it would give me a ball park figure as I’m thinking of visiting a couple of body shops in my area.. I have had a smart repair in the past and it was invisible but it was on a white car if that makes a difference..

[Cyker]

Ack, my sympathies - I had a similar thing caused by my 'friend's keychain.

Luckily my Mk4 had the 3 year Smart Repair cover and the guy from Shine! did an amazing job.

I thought he'd be able to polish it out, but he sprayed some liquid over and showed it was too deep, so he spent most of the day cutting it back and then repainting it, with multiple layers and an array of heat lamps to cure it between layers! Matched the colour perfectly, put the lacquer on seamlessly, and even re-applied the Supergard on the affected area - I think even the most eagle-eyed person would have trouble spotting where the scratch was!

I think I'd like to renew it but not sure how!

[Chas G]

Patina 

[inteli7]

If you run your nail over the scratch, does it catch? If it does then the scratch I too deep for it to be fixed. 

If it doesn't catch, try whipping it with a wet cloth and see if it disappears for a few seconds. That means it is just the clear coat affected, and you can polish it.

I would be careful with the DIY kits available as you can make it look worse. (talking from personal experience) If you get a DIY kit, don't use the whole brush. You need something with a fine tip. I attached a picture so you know what to look at. There are plenty of tutorials on how to use a fluid writer pen to fix a chip/scratch. 

 

Alternatively, you can use car paint touch-up tips, which work too but are not as fine as the fluid writer paint pen. (overall, the car paint touch-up tips are much better than the brushed ones that you get with the paint kits)

[Primus1]

I have used paint repair kits that come with the very fine paint applicators so don’t intend to use a touch up with a brush, I’m still debating whether to visit a body shop and get a quote, and what’s all this about whipping with a wet cloth…did you go to eton?🤭

[Roy124]

I once had a water based touch up pen, metal knib like a tippex knib.   It worked well.

[Primus1]

The annoying thing is, I have a part used chipex touch up kit from my last car, but I doubt fords magnetic grey is the same as Toyota’s dacuma grey, 

[Tyfan]

On 2/19/2024 at 9:35 PM, Primus1 said:

As some of you may be aware I stupidly drove too far into my garage and caused a scratch on the front panel near the bonnet, I got a quote from chips away of £200, another chip repair company said they couldn’t do it as they thought it wouldn’t polish out and they don’t do painting, I’m debating whether to order a repair kit from chipex, I’ve used before and, whilst not totally giving an invisible repair, it did lessen the scratch , do I try and see how much a body shop would quote, or go the diy route

Hi, I can't fix your "Scratch" but a tip to prevent it happening again. Hang a tennis ball from he garage roof so it just touches the screen when you have gone the required distance. After many years it has never failed for me.

[Primus1]

3 hours ago, Tyfan said:

Hi, I can't fix your "Scratch" but a tip to prevent it happening again. Hang a tennis ball from he garage roof so it just touches the screen when you have gone the required distance. After many years it has never failed for me.

The daft thing is I already have a Battery operated parking device it uses the traffic light system so when it’s red I’m close enough, I guess I’m up for a Darwin Award..