[cl9] need help with paint scratches..

[trevork86]

Do any of you guys know a decent panel repairer around Ryde area? Yesterday
morning, i scratched my driver's side front door when reversing. I was damn pissed at myself, since i really took great care for my Euro.

I called up a Honda dealer in northern sydney area seek for respray or whatever that needs to be done to bring my car back to its factory spec. However i was informed that, the painting and body works were actually carried out by some other workshops.

I was so anxious right now since my Euro has only done 4700km, i will then upload pictures of my car and guys, please tell me how much am i looking at to fix it.!

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu89/trevorking86/IMG_0213.jpg
http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu89/trevorking86/IMG_0214.jpg
http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu89/trevorking86/IMG_0216.jpg

[akina]

Is it dented?
If it is then you'll be looking at around +/-$800
If it isn't then your just looking for a respray around +/-$300

[trevork86]

Thanks very much bro, appreciated.
Well, lucky me, it is not dented at all! Do you know any paint shops that you think is good enough to bring it back 99.99%?

[akina]

Not around Ryde sorry.
But make sure you take it to a place that has good rep cause they need to take your whole door off for the respray. Just make sure your door is aligned properly and closes properly before you pay.

[trevork86]

How do you guy reckon ATLAS motor body works? Had anyone used their services?

I cant find a good paint repair shop in ryde area, could you guy please advise me where to go as long as it is not too far (30km from ryde).

thanks in advance

[H.T]

How deep are the scratches? What you rubbed against was it white?You may even get away with polishing them out if they haven't affected the paint too much.

If after polishing the scratches are quite small you could contact the companies that do stone chip repairs and get them touched up, as if you try and paint only the door your going to have a hard time matching it to the rest of the car...

You may even be able to get a small paint sample made up and use a very very thin brush to touch up.

If you still want to proceed with a good body shop, visit Regatta Body Works at Regatta Road, Five Dock.

Or Le Mans at Petersham, both have done work for me on previous cars and I can't fault there workmanship.

[aaronng]

Not around Ryde sorry.
But make sure you take it to a place that has good rep cause they need to take your whole door off for the respray. Just make sure your door is aligned properly and closes properly before you pay.

Don't need to take the door off to respray. They can mask off the rest of the car with newspaper. They still need to blend the paint, which can mean respraying the entire door and part of the adjacent panels

[akina]

Don't need to take the door off to respray. They can mask off the rest of the car with newspaper. They still need to blend the paint, which can mean respraying the entire door and part of the adjacent panels

I guess this comes down to the resprayer themselves... Last time they took the door off to respray mine.

[Crapdaz]

yeh i got my boot taken off and resprayed!

make sure go to a reputable one which can mix paint for sh1t else you'll have 2 tone

[trevork86]

How deep are the scratches? What you rubbed against was it white?You may even get away with polishing them out if they haven't affected the paint too much.

If after polishing the scratches are quite small you could contact the companies that do stone chip repairs and get them touched up, as if you try and paint only the door your going to have a hard time matching it to the rest of the car...

You may even be able to get a small paint sample made up and use a very very thin brush to touch up.

If you still want to proceed with a good body shop, visit Regatta Body Works at Regatta Road, Five Dock.

Or Le Mans at Petersham, both have done work for me on previous cars and I can't fault there workmanship.


thanks a lot bro. Since the scratches are really deep, i dont think polish would be helpful in anyway. I would still love to have a go with body shop. Thanks for your recommendation.

[HunterZero]

DON'T try fixing those scratches yourself. You'll risk making it worse.

The white you see could be paint transfer if you scraped against something white, but is also likely to be the clear coat stressing around the scratch. It does not necessarily mean the scratch can't be repaired, although it is not a good sign.

Run your fingernail gently across the scratch. If your fingernail does not 'click', then the damage is superficial and can be 100% buffed out. If it 'clicks', then this is a deep scratch, and may possibly have penetrated the clear. It may still be possible to save it, but it depends how deep the scratch is.

I can recommend Prestige Auto Salon in Rydalmere, a short trip down Victoria Rd from Ryde. This body shop is used by Trivett Classic, among others, so they are well experienced with Honda OEM paint repairs.

http://www.prestigeautosalon.com.au/

Talk to Chris Box. They can attempt to buff out the scratches for you if the scratch has not penetrated the clear. If the panel does need a repaint, they use top quality Glasurit brand paint.

I highly recommend them, because they will be willing to try a 'least drastic' repair option and save the original paint before going the respray route.

If the scratch is through the clear coat, it cannot be buffed out, the only option to restore it to new is to strip to primer and respray the entire door skin. You cannot just respray the clear. Touch up paint will look unsightly from a few feet away on a dark car, especially due to the way the Euro side panels reflect light. If the car is new, it will not be a problem to match the paint.

Honda dealers (eg, Scotts) use PPG paint typically, which is still good, but they're going to want to turn your car around fast and respray and charge $800 rather than try and remove the scratch without respray for around $200-$300.

Prestige Auto Salon removed a scratch from my Nighthawk CL9 Euro that three other bodyshops said would need a repaint. You'd never ever know the scratch was there.

Good luck,

- HZ

[giant_mongrel]

anyone know any in Melbourne?

[trevork86]

Bro, i appreciate all your concern, and i would really like to say thanks for your help, you typed this much to help a stranger. I didnt have time to check the forum everyday, i was quite busy, before i had a chance to look at your post, i've already left my car at Scientific Motor Body works, they charged me 800$, and they say the car will be ready by this friday. I paid too much i believe, but if they could really get the job done, i wouldnt worry too much abt some few hundred bucks.

Anyway, thanks. If, i however damaged my car again, i will definitely go the shop of your recommendation, but hope it will never happen.

thanks bro. thanks to all'yal. and looking forward to a good result on my car. i will post pics after i get the car back.

[HunterZero]

That's no worries. Scientific are a Glasurit certified repairer, so I'm sure they'll do a good job.

And don't worry, you didn't pay too much. Because the paint is metallic, and as I suspect the whole door needs to be taken back to primer to respray it properly, $800 is about the going rate. I've had a quote over $900 for that type of respray, so $800 is not bad.

We just feel your pain, bro.

- HZ

[HunterZero]

How'd the repair go?

- HZ

[trevork86]

How'd the repair go?

- HZ

How's it going bro. I will upload pics by this Friday,too busy working. The paint is alright i think, but there are few problems!

First, There are two minor spots that looks like bubble?!

Second, they have accidentally put some sort of chemicals on my headlight, which eats the plastic surface, and some drops on front bumper as well...

I will upload pics for you to see... I havent got time to go back to them, and i dont know whether they will fix my damn headlight since i signed some paper when i picked up my car.

Damn, i thought it was some sticker residue ! should be more careful!!!

[HunterZero]

Damn, they might have spilled some thinner on the bumper and headlight and not noticed.

As for the bubbles - do they actually look like actual air bubbles, or orange peel? Either way, these are quality issues that they should have dealt with.

If there are issues, don't delay in taking it right back to them. At least give them a quick call and talk to someone.

Is the surface of the headlight/bumper badly damaged? You might be able to use some Meguiars ScratchX or Novus #2 to gently polish it out if it's only the surface that's marked.

- HZ

[traumatized]

^ have you called them yet? you shoudl inform them of your concerns so they are at least aware of it so they do not assume it was you that caused the issues.

[trevork86]

Just got home.. will take pics tmr morning.. it's dark and i dont have a proper camera..

For HZ, bro, they dont look like air bubbles nor orange peel, it's difficult to describe.. i will upload pics for you to see. I'm also thinking about polishin, i think it might do the job since the damage is not too deep..
and for traumatized, i still didnt call them, i cant stand the pain that my car is not with me...

and by the way, i dont know it's normal or not, my car has done more than 30km when it's been fixed at Scientific.. i mean, i personally babied my car in everyway i can.. and it felt sad to imagine, how they might have driven it...

It's just too difficult to find someone who will treat your car in a satisfatory way as how you have always treated it

[HunterZero]

I'm the same way with my car, it gets babied about the place. I stress when I drive near roadworks, for heavens sake.

So... Scientific ran 30km onto your car? That's not right. I'd put the hard word on them about that.

It should not have needed to leave the workshop. There's no reason for them to drive it if they are repairing it on site, unless they were very busy and could not accomodate the car in their workshop and drove it to another site 15km away for repair. This may also be why the workmanship had problems if it was not repaired in the primary workshop.

Usually when you sign the car over to them for repair, it gives them permission to drive your car, so be careful. See if there was any fine print in the paperwork they gave you regarding needing to drive your car.

What I've found is that sometimes, workshops use customers' cars as runabouts for errands! To me, this is completely unacceptable. This happened to a friend of mine with his Mitsubishi when he had it serviced. He busted them on that. To make things worse, he had a litany of warranty problems with that car too, they ended up extending his warranty and giving free labour for a few of his servicing visits.

For this reason, I'm always specific that I've recorded the kms and write the odo reading on the paperwork, and that it's not to leave the premises without my approval when I leave it with a workshop. If there's any clause in the paperwork allowing them to drive it off site, I'd cross it out and initial it and point it out to whoever is working on my car.

Make sure you get onto Scientific SOON. Perservere. Don't be afraid to ask to talk to someone senior. Make a fuss. The fact they ran 30km onto your car might be hard to argue now since you picked up the car a few days ago and it's impossible to prove, but you can still bring it up. Fact is, a car is one of the most expensive (if not the most expensive!) items you'll ever own, and an Accord Euro is not a cheap car. You've paid good money to have it repaired right.

But if you run into a wall, and have no luck with Scientific or just want some advice, I can recommend Prestige Auto Salon. They may be able to do the buffing work for you inexpensively and save you the drama. Expressly say you'll only be happy if the finish is flawless, no swirls or holograms which stick out on a black car.

And make sure you always check the car thoroughly in a bright area when you pick it up.

- HZ

[sports06]

Just got home.. will take pics tmr morning.. it's dark and i dont have a proper camera..

For HZ, bro, they dont look like air bubbles nor orange peel, it's difficult to describe.. i will upload pics for you to see. I'm also thinking about polishin, i think it might do the job since the damage is not too deep..
and for traumatized, i still didnt call them, i cant stand the pain that my car is not with me...

and by the way, i dont know it's normal or not, my car has done more than 30km when it's been fixed at Scientific.. i mean, i personally babied my car in everyway i can.. and it felt sad to imagine, how they might have driven it...

It's just too difficult to find someone who will treat your car in a satisfatory way as how you have always treated it

i would be putting the hard word on them! thats not right, slack work plus driving YOUR car without needing to/permission! if they just flip you off, you might need to contact consumer comission... or someone like that

[HunterZero]

Just had a thought - the 'bubbles' aren't paint runs, are they??

- HZ

[trevork86]

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu89/trevorking86/IMG_0226.jpg
http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu89/trevorking86/IMG_0225.jpg
http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu89/trevorking86/IMG_0230.jpg
http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu89/trevorking86/IMG_0227.jpg
http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu89/trevorking86/IMG_0229.jpg

There are two spots of these.. really hard to take pictures of them. i really have no idea how could this happen.. the front door which i scratched is alright, but they accidently put up these two spots on my passenger side door...though, they said they have painted the whole right hand side of my car...

[trevork86]

here's the spillage on my headlight and front bumper
http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu89/trevorking86/IMG_0231.jpg
http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu89/trevorking86/IMG_0236.jpg
http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu89/trevorking86/IMG_0237.jpg

[bentusi123]

i have a friend doing paint job.
he working at a paint shop. but he receive self work as well.
cuz he doing self work, so price is very cheap.
last time, i damaged my front bumper, he fix for me for $300. but he is in ashfield.
or there is a body repairs at rydalmere. they fix front and rear bumper for $800 cash.
if u want any of them, ask me for infor.

PS: u did it already, never mind.

[HunterZero]

Are those imperfections raised, or divots?

If they're raised, then the repair place should be able to sand them down and refinish to remove them for you.

If they are divots, then these are going to be harder to fix. They might be able to lessen or remove them, but it may require re-doing the job. The surface might not have been completely clean before they sprayed over it, or the prep work might not have been 100%. Did they take the entire door back to primer, or just the section with the scratch?

Silicon paint products are the worst for making resprays difficult. What do you use to clean/seal your paint?

You should call them immediately and make the time to take it right back to them.

- HZ