Deep Scratch

[chiprotege]

I recently noticed a 5 inch scratch on my right rear door of my "03" protege es. It looks like someone walked by and keyed it ( haters). The scratch went into the metal. I want to fix it but I don't know if I should order the paint from Mazda or get a body shop to do the job. I already got an estimate of $500 from a shop. Does anyone have any better ideas?

 

[J dragon]

you try polishing that thing...Muguires Car polish I heard does the trick on scratches

 

[Lord_Zath]

well if it's all the way down to the paint, I'm not sure if any polish will completely fix the problem, but it's a good place to start... but I'm no paint pro here...

 

[AbsoluteSwed]

go around to different shops and find the best deal, just make sure its a good shop and all that, shop around

 

[Mr Detailer]

You said it goes down to the metal. Polishing slowly removes the clearcoat until the surrounding clear is even with the bottom of the scratch. So IOW it's not possible to polish out a scratch that goes all the way through the clear, and obviously not possible to polish out a scratch that goes to the metal.

Your only option is to use touchup paint or have the panel repainted. For $500 I would hope that they plan to repaint the whole panel and blend the surrounding panels. That's a sh*tload of $$$ just to do a touchup job.

If I were you, I would get some touchup paint and do your best job on it. If you decide that it still looks bad, and you are willing to pay $500 to improve it, then go for it.

 

[Lil Freek]

^^ I concur.
Get some touchup from Mazda and apply it SLOWLY with a needle or toothpick (not the stupid brush they give you.
Then once it's all filled and looks "ok", take a high powered orbital polisher and a decent compound to the side of the car... work the living crap out of it and PRAY that you can get it to buff into a decent shade.

To use touchup paint, you'll ALWAYS notice the scratch... the only true solution is to have the area completely sanded down and then repainted. Depending on the colour and parking arrangements of your car, any colour a 'cheap' shop uses to paint your car won't even match the rest of your car - paint fade is a horrible thing.

 

[Mr Detailer]

I like to use a toothpick too. The brush will just get paint in a much larger area than necessary.

paint fade is a horrible thing.

That's why proper detailing is key. A well-protected paint job won't fade.

 

[Lil Freek]

oy... but even with assloads of protectant... 2 years in 100degree weather in the beaming sun... the colour will not remain perfect. (probably be at 99% versus 80%, but still not perfect)

My paint wasn't taken care of at all by the previous owner, so I do what I can for now... but in a year or 2, I'm just going to have the whole thing repainted.

 

[RallyeRedSi]

i tried using bad mazda touch up paint and this is the result

 

[Lil Freek]

you used the brush, didn't you?

 

[Mr Detailer]

My paint wasn't taken care of at all by the previous owner, so I do what I can for now... but in a year or 2, I'm just going to have the whole thing repainted.

What's the problem that you need a repaint? Often, things can be restored even when you may think it's gone for good.

Examples...

 

[RallyeRedSi]

you used the brush, didn't you?

yes (hand)

 

[Lil Freek]

Mr. detailer.. my car is the wrong colour
i'm going to have it repainted a custom pearlescent paint

i have a few bad rockchips that me and a guy from Meguiars are going to try to fix up... the quality of my paint is decent, nothing that can't be fixed (again with the Meguairs guy)

 

[ssmp5]

Just key the rest of your car and have your insurance pay for the new paint job!!!

 

[meGrimlock]

check this link, i found it while browsing yahoo shopping for some car stuff:
http://www.properautocare.com/byhand.html
great tips on how to get that scratch out and they sell a lot of detailing stuff.

looks like you have to sand in between multiple applications of touch up paint if you wanna do a good job. then polish, then wax.
-meGrimlock

 

[Lil Freek]

detailing tips 'n s*** - http://autopia.org