[sr5959]

Hi guys, just discovered someone scraped the corner of my car. It's not a deep scrape, feels smooth, but as you can see the paint has been taken off.

My question is, can I repair this myself using something like Dr. Chip or is this a job for a bodyshop?

Thanks!

 

[vern]

Hi guys, just discovered someone scraped the corner of my car. It's not a deep scrape, feels smooth, but as you can see the paint has been taken off.

My question is, can I repair this myself using something like Dr. Chip or is this a job for a bodyshop?

Thanks!

IMO body shop. Its a new car ,why fool around and be sorry later.
cheers
vern

 

[samualcc]

Hi guys, just discovered someone scraped the corner of my car. It's not a deep scrape, feels smooth, but as you can see the paint has been taken off.

My question is, can I repair this myself using something like Dr. Chip or is this a job for a bodyshop?

Thanks!

I can't tell 100% by this, but if it is on the bumper, you can probably repair it yourself. Probably won't look as nice as if a body shop does it though. Fortunately if it is the bumper, there are few downsides to trying yourself. It won't rust, and if it looks bad, it would be easy enough to grind off the touch up paint and have it fixed professionally.

Also...

PARK FAR AWAY FROM EVERYONE!!

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

 

[tturedraider]

That sucks! Dr. Color Chip will do the job pretty well, a body shop will do the best.

 

[sr5959]

Thanks for the advice guys, I'll try myself with the Dr. Chip first. Not sure when it happened could've been a few days ago...

 

[ShadowGTR]

Going off what the picture looks like, it looks nearly identical to a tire rub mark. One that you might get if you accidentally hit a tire shard on the highway. I know because I had just such an incident occur to me about a month ago (had only owned the car for like a month! :bawling

After I got back home, I inspected the bumper for damage. The only thing I noticed was a 2 inch long black mark near the bottom of the bumper where the tire shard had hit. It surprisingly felt smooth (you would think it would have been rough). I took some Turtle Wax Bug and Tar remover and sprayed it onto the spot. I let it sit for a minute, and then took a clean microfiber cloth and gently wiped it clean. Most of it came off. A few more applications, and there was no sign of the tire mark.

I am not questioning the OP judgment that the paint is missing. I am just going off what the picture looks like and the part where the OP said it "...felt smooth". Just tossing in an observation. If it is a tire mark and can be removed without having to paint the bumper, I'm pretty sure the OP's wallet will be much happier for it!

In any case, sorry for what happened and I hope you get it resolved.

 

[AndDown]

Going off what the picture looks like, it looks nearly identical to a tire rub mark. One that you might get if you accidentally hit a tire shard on the highway. I know because I had just such an incident occur to me about a month ago (had only owned the car for like a month! :bawling

After I got back home, I inspected the bumper for damage. The only thing I noticed was a 2 inch long black mark near the bottom of the bumper where the tire shard had hit. It surprisingly felt smooth (you would think it would have been rough). I took some Turtle Wax Bug and Tar remover and sprayed it onto the spot. I let it sit for a minute, and then took a clean microfiber cloth and gently wiped it clean. Most of it came off. A few more applications, and there was no sign of the tire mark.

I am not questioning the OP judgment that the paint is missing. I am just going off what the picture looks like and the part where the OP said it "...felt smooth". Just tossing in an observation. If it is a tire mark and can be removed without having to paint the bumper, I'm pretty sure the OP's wallet will be much happier for it!

In any case, sorry for what happened and I hope you get it resolved.

It does look like a tire mark if you look posterior to the large black mark, kind of a fainter marking. Also, there's this smaller black mark above the main marks. Definitely worth trying to clean it with the tar remover. Also, feeling the edges of the "scrape" should tell you if it's the paint that's rubbed off or there's something on the paint itself.

 

[sr5959]

Thanks guys I will get some of that Turtle stuff this evening and give it a try, it would be nice if that works! Great advice on this forum, thank you!

 

[sr5959]

Well the Turtle Wax Bug and Tar remover didn't work, the paint is definitely scraped.

Does anyone have any idea what a bodyshop would charge to fix this?

Thanks.

 

[voip-ninja]

Well the Turtle Wax Bug and Tar remover didn't work, the paint is definitely scraped.

Does anyone have any idea what a bodyshop would charge to fix this?

Thanks.

If you ask them to just touch it up they might offer to do it for $100-$150. If they do it the "right way" it would probably mean sanding it down and repainting the whole bumper so it matches properly... probably something like $300-$600.

 

[samualcc]

If you ask them to just touch it up they might offer to do it for $100-$150. If they do it the "right way" it would probably mean sanding it down and repainting the whole bumper so it matches properly... probably something like $300-$600.

+ 1

The "Proper" way to do it is to respray the entire bumper. Probably 400 to 500 easily.

However they could probably touch it up and no one would notice.

 

[sr5959]

+ 1

The "Proper" way to do it is to respray the entire bumper. Probably 400 to 500 easily.

However they could probably touch it up and no one would notice.

Thanks guys, I think a touch-up is what I'll try first. Might try the Dr. Color Chip, some photos on their website show similar damage, I'll post the results...

 

[tturedraider]

Thanks guys, I think a touch-up is what I'll try first. Might try the Dr. Color Chip, some photos on their website show similar damage, I'll post the results...

I've used Dr. Color Chip. It can work pretty well.

 

[sr5959]

So this weekend I 'repaired' the scrape on my car using Dr. Color Chip. It's not perfect but it's pretty much unnoticeable unless you are looking for it. Thanks ttureraider for recommending this product. Even though my damage was not what it's really intended for, it worked pretty well. I didn't want to have a bodyshop repair this just yet as I think it's bound to happen again...

Before/After pics:

 

[Zeichen311]

I wish I had spotted this thread when you first posted, before you did any work. I have some experience with this type of repair.

First off: BMW uses different colors of primer-filler under the base color coat, to minimize the visibility of the inevitable stone chips. On a white car, your filler coat would be a dull white. The fact that your damage was black means the primer-filler was scraped away as well, which means you painted an unprimed surface.

The Dr. Colorchip paint may or may not be suitable for use on bare metal or plastic on repairs larger than a stone chip--that is, you may find this repair falls apart in several months because the paint did not adhere properly to the unprimed bodywork. However, it is a different formulation than typical touch-up paint and it may be self-priming.

Bottom line, check the repaired area often for signs of cracking, chipping or peeling. If it starts to let go, before you engage a body shop you might still want to try a "proper" repair yourself.

This thread outlines the process I followed to effect repair to a similar scrape. Over a year has passed since and the repair is still undetectable. The work may seem daunting at first but it helps to remember, the worst that can happen is you pay a body shop to repaint the bumper cover--which is exactly the same outcome as never trying to repair it yourself in the first place. :thumbup:

In any event, I hope your Dr. Colorchip repair holds and if it does not, I hope my brief photo essay proves helpful.

 

[sr5959]

I wish I had spotted this thread when you first posted, before you did any work. I have some experience with this type of repair.

First off: BMW uses different colors of primer-filler under the base color coat, to minimize the visibility of the inevitable stone chips. On a white car, your filler coat would be a dull white. The fact that your damage was black means the primer-filler was scraped away as well, which means you painted an unprimed surface.

The Dr. Colorchip paint may or may not be suitable for use on bare metal or plastic on repairs larger than a stone chip--that is, you may find this repair falls apart in several months because the paint did not adhere properly to the unprimed bodywork. However, it is a different formulation than typical touch-up paint and it may be self-priming.

Bottom line, check the repaired area often for signs of cracking, chipping or peeling. If it starts to let go, before you engage a body shop you might still want to try a "proper" repair yourself.

This thread outlines the process I followed to effect repair to a similar scrape. Over a year has passed since and the repair is still undetectable. The work may seem daunting at first but it helps to remember, the worst that can happen is you pay a body shop to repaint the bumper cover--which is exactly the same outcome as never trying to repair it yourself in the first place. :thumbup:

In any event, I hope your Dr. Colorchip repair holds and if it does not, I hope my brief photo essay proves helpful.

Thanks for the advice, I will try this if it becomes necessary. For now I just wanted to make a quick easy repair and I'm quite pleased with the result. It's noticeable if you know what you're looking for, but it's a lot better than before. As you say if I had messed up it's still just the same repair for a bodyshop.