neuronbob

I'm going to have to get this body panel repainted. Not sure of the cost yet, but I expect it will be expensive.

Some moron in a parking lot dented my passenger fender and ran a few weeks ago. Here's the before:



The poor repair guy spent four hours trying to get this right. The result is hard to see at a distance. Looks OK here:



But when you look close up, the paint looks buckled and bumpy, though it is smooth as glass to the touch. Further, there is now some spider webbing of the paint. You can't see it well in this pic, I'll have to post another pic later after I've found the macro setting on my camera. The two dots in the middle of the repair we didn't expect to some out correctly from the start and I'm not concerned about those.



EDIT: Added better picture with macro setting.


It's really obvious when you look closely that the paint is imperfect.

The guy wasn't happy with his work either, and didn't charge me anything, to his credit.

What would you do? At this point, I'm probably going to have to swallow the cost of having that panel repainted. But would you? It also means the clear bra will have to come off on that panel. $$$$ I'm just worried that if salt gets into the cracked paint (again, it's smooth as glass, doesn't feel broken at all) there will be rust problems.

e30cabrio

iTrader: (6)

Looks much better. It would bug me but I have much smaller dings that bug me.

I'd say depends on how much it bothers you and if you want to pay to have it fixed.

Since it happened in a parking lot with no one admitting it maybe check with your insurance and see if uninsured motorist coverage will pay?

037

it's not very visible and if it doesn't make your car fall apart leave it alone...

neuronbob

Thanks for the comments so far. It's noticeable up close and bugs me, but at least the dent is gone.

I edited the original post with an image in the macro setting for my camera.

psheu

should cost no more than $150 for the fix but, ouch..... i feel your pain

Blazing GT

I have two of those on my car

neuronbob

So this is an inexpensive repair? I guess I really won't complain, then. The dent repair guy indicated that I didn't have to pay him, I wasn't even angry with him about this anyway.

csmeance

Personally, I like to keep my car's body parts as OEM as possible. I would just clean up the area and have some clear-bra put over the whole fender on both sides to make them look even. That way it will stay protected from salt and all the elements, the paint will still be the factory one and not affect anything else down the road.

Treblig

I have a dent on the driver's side rear wheel lip. Had it there for a year now. Declined the dentless paint repair because I didn't want the guy to drill the holes necessary to reach the dent and he wasn't sure he could get all of the dent out. It certainly bothers me to look at it, but a lot less than it would to have a less than perfect repair. Particularly paint matching since my car is WDP.

neuronbob

Thanks for all the comments, guys, and talking me down. I think I'll leave it alone as it's not noticeable at a distance and you kind of have to be looking right at it to notice it. I've never used a paintless dent repair....lesson learned.

Rob144

I'd leave it (and I'm pretty anal about these things).

Consider that you got a free improvement, without the hassle of color-matching, repainting, rebra-ing, etc. Looks like the repair guy did the best he could.

I ended up not taking my Ody to a body shop to fix what ended up being a pretty significant scrape. Same for my RL, where I backed into a shrub stump that peeled a bunch of paint off the rear bumper. I touched up each of them with factory touch-up, and used Quixx to polish it. Not perfect, but better that going whole hog with the body shop (they wanted at least $400 for the Ody, and couldn't ensure a good match unless they could also paint the doors, which weren't affected by the scrape).

You're doing the right thing....

Rob144

neuronbob

Even though the guy insisted I not pay him, I will probably pay him something for his trouble. It looks much better today. I showed it to some friends and they didn't notice anything until I pointed out to them what the issue was.

I guess being anal retentive and detail oriented is not so good when it comes to cars. On the job, though, I'd better be both!

Treblig

Here is an option for sealing the paint to protect against rust. I know nothing about it as I just came across it in the Motor Trend magazine, but it sure sounds interesting. I am considering it for my front end rock chips. Check it out for yourself:

http://www.drcolorchip.com/

470hpGS400

iTrader: (1)

Paint it. Done right you will not even notice the repaint, but everyone will notice the bad paint fearing the spider webbing will spread,etc.
Plus it will be a eye magnet every time you glance at the car, that will be the first place you eye ball asking yourself if you can notice it.

fatty

Do something to it, it will always bother you like its cheating on you!

DXplicitOne

iTrader: (1)

As all others are saying its not as bad as you think it is especially on silver which makes it more difficult to see so thats a plus. What i can tell you is that it looks like the clear has cracked (hard to tell from pics) but it doesnt look like its the base coat at all just the clear. IF this is the case have a professional detailer (not the $20 office guy) look at it and see if he can color sand and buff the imperfection away. The panel does look slightly compromised but not much, looks like the majority of the blemish is the cracking. I paint cars to entertain myself and have had plenty of key marks, cart cracks and skids that i fixed with simple 2000 grit and a buffer with no repaint needed. So if its really pissin you off, talk to a pro detailer to see what he suggests as alot of this blemish looks still on the surface.

As for a repaint it wouldnt take much at all your right and the match and OEM paint isnt even a question since the only portion that would receive paint would be that nickel sized area and then they would reCLEAR the entire fender so matching isnt an issue. But its honestly alot of hassle to go through for something so small. But thats your decision in the end.

I do hope if you talk to a detailer hes able to get out the majority of it for you as from the pics it looks doable. Good luck.

Gabe15

iTrader: (1)

Shouldnt have to worry about rust. The fenders and hood are aluminum.

afjock21

Is paintless dent repair really that bad?

I think the cracking and stuff is just from the guys car denting your car... And what are those two dots from?

neuronbob

I left it alone. My precious is headed to the Mannheim auctions even as we speak, I now own a CTS-V....

afjock21

sho_nuff1997

iTrader: (2)

Is there a thread about it?

afjock21

PICTURES!

You should still stay here for your CTS-V lol!

470hpGS400

iTrader: (1)

Holy cow, one little dent and you get rid of the car! hate to see what you do when you cut your finger! Congrats on the car. GM huh? Well, at least it's fast-very fast.

afjock21

^