[mrc9045]

Hello all:

New to the forums here. I scraped against a cement pole recently and did some ugly scratching to my passenger door. Images below.

I am a complete novice when it comes to repairs and I am looking for some advice on how to fix this.

Option A: I got a quote of $1400 from a BMW certified shop to repaint the entire door and rear panel

Option B: I got a quote of $800 from a local repair shop with no BMW specialization for the same work. I'm worried about the color not being right - but then again - even the BMW certified shop won't be able to get it exactly right due to sun fading on the rest of the car, am I right?

Option C: Is there any hope of fixing this myself with a repair kit of some sort?

Thanks so much for your help!

[AdamN52]

Damn that sucks!

Some people will swear only a dealer/BMW specific shop can do it... but I got bodywork done at a local shop last winter when I was in an accident, and it turned out great. Couldn't be happier with it. I can't see any difference in the panel colors, and the rest of the car has 7yr old paint.

If you want to save a bit of money just go to a reputable local shop - check references/reviews first. It looks like it's down to the metal, so I'd be pretty weary of trying to fix it myself. Good luck!

[mrc9045]

Thanks Adam! That puts my mind at ease. It's a local shop my dad trusts, and they've worked on a lot of his classic cars.

And yes, I'm kicking myself for this one. I always tried to park really close to this pole in my work garage to avoid door dings from the cars parking on the other side. All that careful parking and I end up doing the damage to myself!

[cpie168]

Love the color. Good luck with the fix bud.

[iDriveanXi]

Ouch that sucks man. I think the local shop should probably be ok. It sounds like they do good work as your dad has used them a few times. There is a little orange peel effect on our paint but it can be replicated.

[Detailed Image]

Sucks to see that! You can't do a "fix" yourself per say, only thing you can do to avoid spending all that money is improve it to some level. It seems like it's through the paint completely in a few areas and through the clearcoat in others. By doing some wetsanding, paint touchup and polishing, you can bring that up to be a "5 or 10 foot defect" type thing, whereas now it's noticeable from far away. It may be something you want to try out because $100 may get you results that you will be very happy with and skip the painting at least for a while.

The only thing is, if you do it on your own, be sure to properly touch up everything so as to avoid rusting. Best of luck with whatever you decide to do!

Ivan @ DI

[Alex09_335]

Originally Posted by Detailed Image

Sucks to see that! You can't do a "fix" yourself per say, only thing you can do to avoid spending all that money is improve it to some level. It seems like it's through the paint completely in a few areas and through the clearcoat in others. By doing some wetsanding, paint touchup and polishing, you can bring that up to be a "5 or 10 foot defect" type thing, whereas now it's noticeable from far away. It may be something you want to try out because $100 may get you results that you will be very happy with and skip the painting at least for a while.

The only thing is, if you do it on your own, be sure to properly touch up everything so as to avoid rusting. Best of luck with whatever you decide to do!

Ivan @ DI

+1

nothing to loose if your end game is to get it professionally painted

Paint match kit at BMW is $35 and comes with a clear coat varnish

Follow up with wet sanding, polish and buffing. This can have the damage essentially invisible if you sand down the new paint application and clear coat to make a level surface to buff.

heres some killer wetanding to aspire to lol