Damaged Paint?

#1
So I was driving on I-95 today after work and a uhm...headlight fell off a guys car in front of me and broke into pieces and well now I noticed some of my paint chipped. It seems that the bumper is plastic and colored black...anyway to fix?
 
#2
Sadly, if you are down to the bumper material, not anything easy that I know.

Well ...

A body shop could re-spray and blend the bumper - probably around $200 at a shop like Maaco (some of them are decent) $450-$700 at a more reputable shop.

The dealer probably has a $5-10 bottle of brush-on touch-up paint. It won't look as bad, but it won't look factory either.

https://www.google.com/search?q=touch-up paint&gws_rd=ssl#q=touch-up+paint+forum

If you look on the detailing forums, they recommend building the area up, then applying several coats of paint to above the original surface, then wet-sanding and polishing down. That should work well, but I've never had the patience for it or much success.
 
#3
Sadly, if you are down to the bumper material, not anything easy that I know.

Well ...

A body shop could re-spray and blend the bumper - probably around $200 at a shop like Maaco (some of them are decent) $450-$700 at a more reputable shop.

The dealer probably has a $5-10 bottle of brush-on touch-up paint. It won't look as bad, but it won't look factory either.

https://www.google.com/search?q=touch-up paint&gws_rd=ssl#q=touch-up+paint+forum

If you look on the detailing forums, they recommend building the area up, then applying several coats of paint to above the original surface, then wet-sanding and polishing down. That should work well, but I've never had the patience for it or much success.

hm thanks for the info I did look up several youtube videos and i probably do not have the patience for it either lol
 
#4
Yep - the paint and ding warranty that most companies offer only covers paintless dent repair, so wouldn't help you in this case.

If you have low-deductible comprehensive insurance, it might cover this - it can't hurt to ask, and it shouldn't affect your rates.

Basic options -

Suck up the money and get it sprayed at a body shop.

Brush on some touch-up paint and live with it.

You might check with some detail shops - a lot of them probably do offer that and have the patience for it - and it should be less than having it sprayed.

Fortunately on the bumper you don't have to worry about rust.

Sucks that they are requiring all these water-based paints that chip so easily.
 
#5
Yep - the paint and ding warranty that most companies offer only covers paintless dent repair, so wouldn't help you in this case.

If you have low-deductible comprehensive insurance, it might cover this - it can't hurt to ask, and it shouldn't affect your rates.

Basic options -

Suck up the money and get it sprayed at a body shop.

Brush on some touch-up paint and live with it.

You might check with some detail shops - a lot of them probably do offer that and have the patience for it - and it should be less than having it sprayed.

Fortunately on the bumper you don't have to worry about rust.

Sucks that they are requiring all these water-based paints that chip so easily.

I was planning on plasti dipping the car so I guess now I have even more of an incentive to do so lol
 
#7
The entire car? (More guts than I have, plus I don't really see the point ...)
Well, plasti dip can be used to actually protect your paint by adding an extra layer of protection against small rocks, debris, etc. Plus its cheaper to plasti dip a car rather than actually pay to have it painted + paying to change the registration.
 
#8
Thing is with Plastidip is that you're still going to see the textures in the abrasions/scratches. I've plastidip'd a few things from car rims to motorcycle fairings. Also remember to allow the plastidip to cure (depending on how hot/humid/cold it is) before you start to drive the Rolla around.

I plastidip'd a Scion TC rim, allowed it to fully cure and unintentionally curbed my rims... the plastidip coating stayed on although the rim was left with a few scratches.

Just keep in mind that you may or may not lose a bit of the clear coating if you decide to remove the plastidip in the future (goo-gone and a blow dryer works great to remove plastidip if it's been cured for >24+ hours).
 
#9
Thing is with Plastidip is that you're still going to see the textures in the abrasions/scratches. I've plastidip'd a few things from car rims to motorcycle fairings. Also remember to allow the plastidip to cure (depending on how hot/humid/cold it is) before you start to drive the Rolla around.

I plastidip'd a Scion TC rim, allowed it to fully cure and unintentionally curbed my rims... the plastidip coating stayed on although the rim was left with a few scratches.

Just keep in mind that you may or may not lose a bit of the clear coating if you decide to remove the plastidip in the future (goo-gone and a blow dryer works great to remove plastidip if it's been cured for >24+ hours).
...I have plasti dipped cars before lol
 
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