Scratch Advice

[MikeA3]

To cut a long story short a charming young gent decided to run a key down the side of my Audi (he best pray i don't find him), I've tried to polish it out but it's too deep (you can catch your finger nail on it)and seems to go through the silver paint to what i'd assume is the grey primer layer underneath.

There are two main scratches, the 1st is approximately 60cm long and goes from the front wing to the door and the second is approximately 40cm long and starts on the rear of the door and continues onto the rear panel.

Before I claim on the insurance (£350 excess) and lose yet more NCB could anyone advise how much this would cost to get sorted and if possible, recommend anyone in the surrey area who could do the work?

Sorry if the photos don't show the scratch too well & Any help would be greatly appreciated

Mike

[baldy1926]

how deep is it?if its not too deep a good detailer may be able to polish it out

[MikeA3]

It seems to vary in depth with the deeper sections going down to a grey (primer?) layer underneath the silver paint.

[belleair302]

Ring up Kim Collins at QST in Haywards Heath and ask him who he uses for bodywork.

There are some top bodyshops near Heathrow but as far as Surrey goes, cannot help TBH.

[mneame]

you could try some dr colourchip stuff first. about £50 from the states iirc. brush it in the chip / scratch then smear. leave for a while and wipe of excess with cloth and solution. then have to leave it a couple of days before polishing and sealing but the results are good.

[kds keltec]

I have posted below a before and after pictures showing a scratch that removed with just local compounding only so give it a go with a detailer
first and will be far cheaper than repaint
Before




after

[Anatol]

Hey KDS, not that I'm the forum police, but you may want to throttle back on posting pictures of your own work - have a read of the sticky topic at the top of the forum. PH get a bit funny about it, as they make their money selling advertising - only amateurs are supposed to post before and afters, not we pros.

Tol

[Glassman]

Anatol said:

Hey KDS, not that I'm the forum police, but you may want to throttle back on posting pictures of your own work - have a read of the sticky topic at the top of the forum. PH get a bit funny about it, as they make their money selling advertising - only amateurs are supposed to post before and afters, not we pros.

Tol

What??

[Anatol]

Glassman said:

What??

First topic in the forum. Sticky by Garlic called "rules for posting pictures in this forum" or something like it...

Tol

[Glassman]

Anatol said:

Glassman said:

What??

First topic in the forum. Sticky by Garlic called "rules for posting pictures in this forum" or something like it...

Tol

I think you're misunderstanding what Garlick has stated.

Garlick said:

All, just a reminder of the rules for posting pictures on this and other PistonHeads forums

Pictures submitted by the OWNER of a car that has just been detailed are fine, we all love to see the pictures of fantastic cars looking their best.

Pictures of cars submitted by professional detailers are not acceptable as it is classed as an advert.

PistonHeads does not allow the posting of detailers contact details either.

For example, A poster saying 'Here are the pics of my car after it was detailed by XZY valeting' is fine. To say 'here are pics of my car after it was detailed by XYZ Valeting, who are based at 13 High Street, London. 0208 123 4567 or www.xyzdetailing.com will be removed, or edited by the mods.

Advice given by pro detailers/ valeters is also fine, but please don't post contact details within your post.

Any questions please drop me a line.

Cheers
Paul

The pictures posted of the before and after are not plugging anything / anyone; our guy is illustrating what he managed with a bit of compound. AFAICS.

[Anatol]

Not that I want to get into an argument, but:

"Pictures of cars submitted by professional detailers are not acceptable..."

KDS is a professional detailer, according to his profile page and website (and the knowledgeable stuff he's already said in his first few posts!)

Seems fairly straightforward to me...

Tol

Edited by Anatol on Thursday 12th June 09:09

[Glassman]

Anatol said:

Not that I want to get into an argument, but:

"Pictures of cars submitted by professional detailers are not acceptable..."

Seems like you're taking it a bit personal. He's not plugging his services, but offering simple advice. HTH.

[Anatol]

Not at all - it was intended as a bit of friendly advice to KDS personally, to avoid anyone being slapped down by the PH mods. He's new to the forums, and from his earlier posts he's got a lot of experience, an enviable setup, and an attitude to researching paintwork issues with a bit of scientific method that I've got a lot of time for - have a look at his contributions and our interactions in the "isn't machine polishing removing the protection...?" thread lower down - there's no bad blood there.

I'm not even a detailer, so it has no bearing on me personally - I'm a long way from taking umbrage about it. I take the point that maybe it would have been better said in a PM though.

Tol

[Glassman]

Tol, you're being a bit anal. Chill out.

[Anatol]

I hear that often enough that there's probably a grain of truth in it.

Too much coffee this morning perhaps

[Glassman]

Anatol said:

I hear that often enough that there's probably a grain of truth in it.

Too much coffee this morning perhaps

Are you now suggesting that too much coffee in the morning can make you anal??

[goes to check rules of posting]

[Anatol]

My morning:

[kds keltec]

Lol what have i done
Thanks Tol for calling me professional without even seeing my work
or meeting me !

I can asure piston head members that you stand to gain alot more from me and my website than i will or would from work it brings to my company!

Last year a had waiting list for over 3 months and thats working 14hour days and 7 days a week! This is all before i start to demo at the big car shows advertise or finish my web site, which i am spending far too much time and money building up guide pages showing step by step pictures and script of how to carry out every thing to do vehicle paint!
Now i dont need to make these guides at all and some customers have said i could lose work from it, but if a person wants to have i go themselves it would not matter what i charged they are always going to try themselves first!

I actually joined pistonheads through other members who are my customers saying i should join ,and because of my passion for cars (and passion for cars has cost my marriage).

I am also intelligent enough to know it would be so easy to tell my customers to flood forums with "Pictures of my car detailed" with number plates and signs in the background of my company name!
I use number plates with kds on just for the growing problem of steeling car identity ! Type in goggle kds and it will never link to me or my company.

There are millions of cars out there and now seems like millions of hand car washes damaging the paint so is plenty of work out there and no one should be worried about me !

long live hand car washes and retail stores selling crap products(love the coloured wax that people ask is that what i use) lol.

Thanks kelly

ps will be looking for a trust worthy and top detailer soon to help cope with the incressing work load so that i can spend more time on forums upsetting people

[mneame]

kds keltec said:

ps will be looking for a trust worthy and top detailer soon to help cope with the incressing work load so that i can spend more time on forums upsetting people

cough cough I'm in Essex. pm if you need me

[MikeA3]

Thanks for the replies - even if most had nothing to do with my original question

Does anyone know how much it would cost for that kind of polishing work to be done? and who could do it in the epsom / surrey neck of the woods