Is this SMART repairable?

[a]

A thin scratch, about 3 inches long on a metallic white Audi TT, with a small section that has gone right through the paint (the dark bit):

[Dave Hedgehog]

i had a whole bumper resprayed by a mobile paint repairer so a small mark like that should be possible

[Maracus]

For sure yes.

I had a dent approximately 4cm long SMART repaired when a paving slab slipped out of my hand onto the rear nearside panel

[Butter Face]

Metallic white paint means it is unlikely. Seems to be a hard colour to try and match with SMART repairs.

[V6Alfisti]

If it was mine, I would be tempted to get a chipex kit or good touch up pen.

Then use a bodyshop quality wet and dry, probably around 4000-6000 grit and see how she looks.

Whilst I love my car looking perfect, you can create more problems by painting that out with a smart repair as I have found that the repairs typically look great the first day but becomes less impressive with age.

Also painting the panel in a classic way at that join, could then mean having to add colour to the adjacent panel and then laquered over. Unless you have a bodyshop that you trust, prepare for potential grief

[a]

V6Alfisti said:

Unless you have a bodyshop that you trust, prepare for potential grief

I do, but they want £600 and to blend it into the door as you said.

If I try a touch-up pen, fine sandpaper and a good polish, will I be making it harder for a SMART repairer to do the job afterwards when I probably fail to improve it?

[Jonno02]

a said:

I do, but they want £600 and to blend it into the door as you said.

If I try a touch-up pen, fine sandpaper and a good polish, will I be making it harder for a SMART repairer to do the job afterwards when I probably fail to improve it?

Wow. I had a scratch (it was actually 2 or 3) about 3x that length and had it fixed by a bodyshop for £160, which required a full door respray to blend it.

DO NOT try a touch up pen. That's way to big for that.

[V6Alfisti]

Jonno02 said:

Wow. I had a scratch (it was actually 2 or 3) about 3x that length and had it fixed by a bodyshop for £160, which required a full door respray to blend it.

DO NOT try a touch up pen. That's way to big for that.

50% of that will come out with just a flat (end to end), the touch up pen will be for the down to metal bits.

I have made scratches that ran the length of a door look invisible without detailed inspection using the flatting, paint method.

The trick is to work smart with small applications of paint and sufficent dry time, chipex is rather good at this as it is easily removed if you get it wrong. However you need to be the kind of person with an eye for detail and patience, if I gave it to my father then it would fall into the classic "what have you done !!"

Also this being white will disguise most sins, if you were to do it on a red/light blue = no go.

[Jonno02]

V6Alfisti said:

50% of that will come out with just a flat (end to end), the touch up pen will be for the down to metal bits.

I have made scratches that ran the length of a door look invisible without detailed inspection using the flatting, paint method.

The trick is to work smart with small applications of paint and sufficent dry time, chipex is rather good at this as it is easily removed if you get it wrong. However you need to be the kind of person with an eye for detail and patience, if I gave it to my father then it would fall into the classic "what have you done !!"

Also this being white will disguise most sins, if you were to do it on a red/light blue = no go.

Touch up pens are for small stone chips, not for full down to the metal scratches. If you don't care about how the car looks, touch it up. It'll look blobby and unless you have previous experience, sanding is definitely a no-go on a car you want to look perfect. Touch up pens are not for properly fixing scratches down to the metal like that.

If you use a touch up pen on that, 95% chance it will just look like a either a slight depressed or slightly raised white line running along your car. Unless of course, as mentioned, you have experience with corrective paint work and sanding panels. If you do, you could make it look good.

[xjay1337]

I've repaired scratches like that with touch up paint and had great results. You basically apply the paint carefully using the brush and then sand it back and polish up.
Larry @ Ammo NYC did similar but on a much, much worse case with a Merc G-Wagon, and it looked a lot better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2aC_oseMe4

Smart repairs often lack durability, you can't get the same quality as you can from a bodyshop. So I would avoid those. And the damage is too small to justify the cost of a bodyshop.

[V6Alfisti]

xjay1337 said:

I've repaired scratches like that with touch up paint and had great results. You basically apply the paint carefully using the brush and then sand it back and polish up.
Larry @ Ammo NYC did similar but on a much, much worse case with a Merc G-Wagon, and it looked a lot better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2aC_oseMe4

Smart repairs often lack durability, you can't get the same quality as you can from a bodyshop. So I would avoid those. And the damage is too small to justify the cost of a bodyshop.

Yikes, I wouldn't have touched that ! but my experience mirrors yours. However as said, you can't attack like an oaf or you will get poor results. It is colour dependent though.

You could probably go to a bodyshop and bung them £10 to do a quick flat and polish on what you have (or apply some touch up - carefully to the deep bits, then go to the bodyshop for a flat and polish), you will still have the deep marks but the rest will either come out or not be noticeable (although always tough to tell from pictures). Wetting the panel will often give you an indication of how it will look after flatting, but some of yours are more mid level marks that might just be improved but not be invisible.

[Dr Interceptor]

Disappointing thread... From the title I was expecting this...

[Blue Oval84]

a said:

I do, but they want £600 and to blend it into the door as you said.

If I try a touch-up pen, fine sandpaper and a good polish, will I be making it harder for a SMART repairer to do the job afterwards when I probably fail to improve it?

Where in the county are you? That's a LOT of money for two panels in my opinion.

[swisstoni]

If you do a bit of research (aka YouTube for a couple of hours) you'll be surprised what can be done at home with a bit care and time.

Not just dobbing paint on with a brush - proper invisible repairs.

Then you will be armed with this skill for life.

[V6Alfisti]

Blue Oval84 said:

Where in the county are you? That's a LOT of money for two panels in my opinion.

Agreed about £150 a panel is standard, and I think it used to be £150 + £75 for the blend.

Although this was a couple of years ago...

[Blue Oval84]

V6Alfisti said:

Agreed about £150 a panel is standard, and I think it used to be £150 + £75 for the blend.

Although this was a couple of years ago...

That would sound more like it.

I normally get my bodywork done in Sunderland (I live in Brighton) where I would say that would be about £125-£150 for a top notch job.

My S60 had clearly had dodgy paintwork on the rear quarter before I got it, and the rear bumper was scratched to death. To get the full bumper sprayed, rear quarter stripped to metal, knocked back into shape properly (it was full of bodge and rusting - now it's just got a very light skim of filler), and the rear door blended cost £410. The actual paintwork stretched from the a-pillar, along the roofline to cover the full rear quarter panel, and bumper.

There was some trouble getting the blend perfect so it ended up being feathered into the front door as well, It's now completely perfect, and I counted four separate panels ended up painted for £410.

Last time I got my silver A4 sprayed was the front wing (rusting) and the bottom of the front door. All perfect colour match for £125.

I'll honestly never bother going anywhere else

[xjay1337]

V6Alfisti said:

Blue Oval84 said:

Where in the county are you? That's a LOT of money for two panels in my opinion.

Agreed about £150 a panel is standard, and I think it used to be £150 + £75 for the blend.

Although this was a couple of years ago...

To be honest it's 2 very large panels on the car.
Not a bad price for an off the street job.

These days decent painters are both expensive and hard to find.

[V8covin]

Why do people want smart repairs done instead of going to a bodyshop ?
Is it purely the convenience of the repairer coming to you ?......because it can't be the cost as I often see figures banded about that are more expensive than your average bodyshop.
Actually some bodyshops do smart repairs in-house.....it has to be better to have your paintwork done indooors than outside in the damp British climate

[Squiggs]

V8covin said:

Why do people want smart repairs done instead of going to a bodyshop ?
Is it purely the convenience of the repairer coming to you ?......because it can't be the cost as I often see figures banded about that are more expensive than your average bodyshop.
Actually some bodyshops do smart repairs in-house.....it has to be better to have your paintwork done indooors than outside in the damp British climate

I think it all depends on what you consider as a Smart repair.

Some "Smart repairers" will turn up and spray the side of your car on your driveway.
Most of these "Smart repairers" are ex bodyshop guys gone mobile - with no real knowledge on how to 'smart' repair.

I know someone is going to slate me (I can take it) .... but being able to a full re-spray doesn't make you any more able to 'smart repair' than it does a smart repairer being able to full re-sprays.
Both have similar skills - but there's a different approach and way of doing things, each using bigger/smaller tools in different ways.

So whilst in some cases the price difference might not be miles apart, some of the OCD want to keep as much as they can original and therefore want the repair as small as possible - and if you're 'Smart' and deal with that sort of crowd it's not difficult to keep a small area clean, warm and dry whilst you're working outside.
The area worked on should be small so that with the correct equipment the 'wet paint' time is kept to such a minimum that very little can damage the finish before it's cured.

But in the main I would say that mobile Smart repairs are convenient.
The customer hasn't got to get their car to the bodyshop, get home, be without their car for what might three days and get back to their car - all for the sake of a small amount of damage that can be repaired in around 4 hrs (and often less) on their driveway.

Let's say you had a lease car that's going back. Let's say it's Merc - who are probably the worst offenders for over-charging on damage to lease returns. Let's say it had a scuffed/scratched bumper corner
Merc would probably charge for a new bumper (or large part of) on a lease return (and they will still charge that if there's a detectable repair !)
A decent bodyshop might want it for three days to do the whole bumper.
A good Smart repairer could probably do the corner in 3 - 4 hrs - at your convenience.

If both repairs are undetectable then why shouldn't the Smart repairer be charging the same as the bodyshop?

Obviously there are good Smart repairers and not so good Smart repairers - the same as there are good bodyshops and not so good bodyshops ....... the best of either should know and explain what their capabilities are ....... the others just do what they can.