[holee]

Help....

I've gotten my first major scratch to my 328. It looks like what happened is that someone put a box or something on thr trunk and then lifted it off. Because I have a very long white scratch that goes from the right side to the left of the trunk now.

Fortunately it's a thin scratch and it doesn't look too deep. The left and outer parts of the scratch are gray in color while the middle part is a bright white in color. (My car is Orient blue, btw). It's definitely eaten through the paint. But it's a clean scratch. There's no noticeable metal shavings or anything like that. It's about as thick as the edge of a piece of paper.

But now I'm not sure what to do to fix it. Do I take it into a body shop? Or a detailer? And if so, what kind of prices should I be expecting? I know detailers can fix little scratches and stuff, but this covers the length of the entire trunk side to side.

I'm not entirely certain who'd be a good shop to handle something like this in the Bay area, either.

Any help or tips would be greatly appreciated. This is just annoying. I don't mind small scratches, but this thing is like a neon sign.

 

[ashecnc]

Yuk, sorry to hear that.. I know how you feel, last week some fool stabbed a knife in my brand new tire :bawling: luckily for me, insurance paid me back....

 

[Nick325xiT 5spd]

SOunds like it's time for a repaint. I need to do that as soon as I find the time. Some asshole keyed both my passenger doors.

 

[Nick325xiT 5spd]

You might try some scratch-x, though. It's only a few bucks and it MIGHT work.

 

[holee]

Yuk, sorry to hear that.. I know how you feel, last week some fool stabbed a knife in my brand new tire :bawling: luckily for me, insurance paid me back....

So is that a job for a detailer or a body shop then?

 

[ashecnc]

So is that a job for a detailer or a body shop then?

I'd say for a body shop :thumbdwn:

 

[holee]

*UPDATE*

Well I think I'll go by a detailer's first, then a body shop. I'm hoping that it won't be more than $2-$300 though. Sigh...

I read about Diablo Auto Polishing, and apparently Dinan sends their cars there, so it doesn't sound too bad. I'm guessing they're expensive, but I hope they're not THAT expensive...

 

[holee]

Well I just had the car look by Diablo Autoworks (formerly Diablo Auto Detailing) in Mountain View. The guy said that the scratch is too deep to buff out, so he thinks the only way to fix it is to repaint.

So now I'm going to take it to two places, one is Calwest (down the street), which Diablo recommended, and the other is Sunnyvale Auto + Body, where I had my spoiler installed.

What is a fair price for to repaint a full trunk though?

And has anyone used or heard much about Calwest?

 

[The HACK]

Well I just had the car look by Diablo Autoworks (formerly Diablo Auto Detailing) in Mountain View. The guy said that the scratch is too deep to buff out, so he thinks the only way to fix it is to repaint.

So now I'm going to take it to two places, one is Calwest (down the street), which Diablo recommended, and the other is Sunnyvale Auto + Body, where I had my spoiler installed.

What is a fair price for to repaint a full trunk though?

And has anyone used or heard much about Calwest?

Fair price is between $350 to $500, depending on who you use. A $350 job will be a fairly good color match but to someone who's lived with the color in the past, they'll be able to spot the difference a few feet away. A $500 will be a very good match, upon very close inspection you can probably still tell the difference but to 99% of the people out there admiring your car, the repair is invisible.

 

[holee]

Holy ********

Do not go to Calwest in Sunnyvale, CA.

I went there to get an estimate....

$1200!!!!!

They want to take the whole rear of the car apart, windows,
lights, everything and repaint pretty much the back of the
car to blend it all.

Sod them.

But I just realized...this would be covered under insurance. 'Cuz it's not my fault. So I'll go that route first... One question though, should I file the claim first or get the estimate first?

I am not paying $1200...

 

[Guest84]

Take a picture, we may be able to help you judging by the picture in the Detail forum.