[atmosphericM]

Hey guys,

Well, it has happened.

Perhaps I should be glad that it took nearly a year for one of those idiots to make their mark? I love the world we live in! Some incompetent a-hole has damaged my car and left without a note or anything at all. Thank goodness the damage is light and I am really hoping that it can be fixed by just "buffing it out." There are some light scratches but I hope they're shallow enough for paintless repair. The rest seems to be their bumper material left behind. That said, this will have to be fixed on my dime, obviously.

Is this something that you guys feel a detail shop could remedy? Or should I take it to an actual body shop? What would they do differently?

Thanks in advance,
aM

[msjt]

It doesn't look like you could catch it with your fingernail. You should be able to polish it out.

[StevenY.]

Doesn't look too bad. Try to wipe off that area with some goo gone, it should make it look a lot better as it looks like light paint transfer to me. I think you can easily fix it with a compound/polish.

[Krynos]

That should mostly buff out

[e90yyc]

Weak. Some people are such roaches.

I had someone crunch up my fender in front of my house. Looked like they drifted their tail end into it.

Tried buffing it out but couldn’t.

Hit yours with some rubbing compound and follow it up with a regular/machine polish and you should be good, or at least 90% there.

Worst case if you’re very particular and want it to look near-perfect, check out micro paint places in your area. If you don’t know, they kind of fill the gap between a detail shop and a full-on body shop. They do the stuff the body shops usually won’t, like laying down just a little paint to fix damage like yours, rather than respraying a whole panel.

[Nickco43]

Stop, Go get a magic eraser and water. Wet down the panel and lightly scrub it away. I see a few scratches but most of that should go away. For the deep scratches if they don't catch your finger nail then you can have them buffed out. If they do catch you can have them touched up. I have done this over 10 times on various family member's cars.


IMO if my car ever gets door dinged or scrapped then it is my fault. I always park far away and I have my dash cam running 24/7 just in case. If I cannot park far away I always park next to another car that looks like the owner cares about their car.

[Thorin]

It's a write-off. Obviously frame damage. Best give it to me to avoid any tax implications and disposal fees.

(but honestly that sucks, and truly it is minor and easily correctable).

[King Rudi]

My answer is going to rely on how good you are at detailing. If you own a DA and some rubbing compound, polishing compound and machine polish....you are proficient enough to take care of this on your own. The fact that you have posted on here asking questions about it leads me to believe this is not the case. This is easily fixable to anyone who is good with detailing. Should be relatively inexpensive. Go to your local detail shop and have them take care of it. Step 2. buy some black or silver caliper paint and paint your rotor hats.

Originally Posted by Nickco43

Stop, Go get a magic eraser and water. Wet down the panel and lightly scrub it away. I see a few scratches but most of that should go away. For the deep scratches if they don't catch your finger nail then you can have them buffed out. If they do catch you can have them touched up. I have done this over 10 times on various family member's cars.


IMO if my car ever gets door dinged or scrapped then it is my fault. I always park far away and I have my dash cam running 24/7 just in case. If I cannot park far away I always park next to another car that looks like the owner cares about their car.

DO NOT DO THIS.....EVER. A Magic Eraser wet has the abrasiveness of 3000 to 5000 grit sandpaper; dry its between 500 and 800 grit. This may work on some level, but you are basically sanding your clear coat, which needs to be machine polished after in order to restore luster. Mr. Clean Magic Erasers or any abrasive foam product containing melamine foam WILL scratch smooth surfaces. I'm not saying it can not be done, but unless you are VERY handy with a DA, under no circumstance would I recommend someone to do this.

Originally Posted by Thorin

It's a write-off. Obviously frame damage. Best give it to me to avoid any tax implications and disposal fees.

(but honestly that sucks, and truly it is minor and easily correctable).

Best answer in this thread. That's very nice of you to accept such a burden in order to relieve any further stress to OP.

[BSM n54iS]

For once, that'll actually buff out

[Nickco43]

Originally Posted by Not_Judy

DO NOT DO THIS.....EVER. A Magic Eraser wet has the abrasiveness of 3000 to 5000 grit sandpaper; dry its between 500 and 800 grit. This may work on some level, but you are basically sanding your clear coat, which needs to be machine polished after in order to restore luster. Mr. Clean Magic Erasers or any abrasive foam product containing melamine foam WILL scratch smooth surfaces. I'm not saying it can not be done, but unless you are VERY handy with a DA, under no circumstance would I recommend someone to do this.

Agree the disagree. The grit of the eraser is perfect for removing the paint transfer. Obviously you wouldn't do this to a show car but for a normal car this works wonders.

[John 070]

Man frustrating. My wife had this big black scuff on her white car about 2' long, I told her if you don't have a dent it will probably come off. I got it out with Meguiars cleaner wax and a clay bar, and it took a lot of elbow grease. The next day in the bright sun, saw a convex ding. Just imagine how people are ok with scraping other peoples' cars and driving away. And this was at pre-school (one of the worst).

[King Rudi]

Originally Posted by Nickco43

Agree the disagree. The grit of the eraser is perfect for removing the paint transfer. Obviously you wouldn't do this to a show car but for a normal car this works wonders.

I honestly mean no offense and can appreciate where you are coming from, but from someone who details cars, this is highly ineffective and is the complete opposite of "perfect" for removal. Using a Magic Eraser on clear coat will haze the clear coat, you might as well use sandpaper to remove it. I can't tell you how many cars I've fixed of people doing this. Using a DA and polish is the only way to bring back the shine after a magic eraser has been used and that is highly dependent on how aggressive it was used, some can not be fixed. If you're going to add haze, then use a rubbing compound, polishing compound and then machine polish to fix it, why wouldn't you just use those steps to remove the scuffs to begin with.

I'm not saying it won't remove the scuff marks, I am saying that it WILL damage the clear coat. It also not advised to use melamine foam on leather or vinyl or anything else that you wouldn't use sandpaper to remove the top layer of.

If he was using this on a $2k honda, sure......but on a BMW.....uh uh.

[e90yyc]

Ye I'm with Not_Judy. I would recommend using the appropriate products whenever possible...

If you were stranded in Africa and had to get your ride looking tip-top for the local car show, I'd say to clay bar it with chewing gum, compound it using raw African water (~1000 grit), and then finish up with a nice banana peel polish. But since you can acquire the right stuff, that's the way to go.

3M's Perfect-It series are a favorite of mine. The one-pint bottles are perfect for guys like myself who don't do this for a living, and the great shelf life (if stored correctly) means you'll have it next time you need to buff something out.

I'd start with this:


And finish with this:

And if you really want to go buck, you could use a super fine finishing glaze, but I'd say compounding and then polishing is probably adequate, especially if you're using a rag and not an orbital polisher

[atmosphericM]

Thanks a ton for the replies! I think I'll see what the local detail guy would charge me. If it's cheap enough I'll probably have him take care of it. If it's on the higher side then I'll probably buy some of these fancy chemicals and do a little learning.

[str8rcn]

I just noticed you're in Birmingham. Im in Prattville about an hour south of you. If you want to drive down Ill fix it for you.
If not check out Insane Paint and Detailing in Pelham. They are one of the best detail shops in the country in my opinion.