Monotaur

Well, just two days after I washed me car (pics: http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=392423), I go to the store and when I come out, some idiot in an old rusty & muddy truck is parked next to me, and is in fact OVER the white line. I had purposefully parked in a spot that was surrounded by atleast 1 empty on either side, and it wasn't like the parking lot was full either - there were plenty of other choices.

Anyway, when I see how close he is I immediately check for dings but didn't see any (too dark). But, in the morning, I saw these:





Now, I called around and my insurance co had estimated (on description alone and it being a 2004) that it would cost $600-$700 to fix (a bit steep IMO), but the dealer's body shop (which has usually treated me fairly in the past) will charge $300 to fix... I know this is a lot of $$$ to fix a ding, but I've never had to do this before - is this too much? It's less than my deductible so I'll be paying out of pocket for it - don't want to file a claim anyway if I don't have to. They said that they probably won't have to use any fill, and that they can just hammer it out from the other side, sand the paint down and repaint it... they said that red is very easy to match, so there shouldn't be any problems.

What should I look for when picking it up? Should I expect it to be perfect again? Right now, you can actually see some of the exposed metal in the center of the ding where the paint has flaked away... so I'm concerned that if I don't have it fixed soon that I could develop a rusty spot (I've had this happen on a previous car, although the injury was far greater).

Thanks!

MAJ_Jimbo

Definitely don't claim it against your insurance if you don't have to. That's can possibly raise your insurance later when you go up for your 6 month premiums and what underwriters see when they do a check on you.

I would look mostly to see if the ding has been fully taking out, but more importantly how they painted. Make sure the paint has been blended right by taking your car out in the sun and looking at it at various angles. Also make sure they didn't have any overspray on your hood or anything.

I say this because I had to have my right quarter panel replaced and bumper when a Ford F250 ran me, my Wife and 2 year old daughter off the road. They fixed everything right, but the quarter panel was not blended properly and I had to take it back for a repaint. Plus they got overspray on the hood that had to be buffed out, and got a little overspray on the black trim near the mirror that they buffed out too. I would imagine they would repaint the whole quarter panel for you and blend it appropriately...

Just my 2 cents...good luck!

Monotaur

Thanks for the tips, I'll definately take it out in the sun and look at it from different angles.

Yeah, I've seen some of the work they have done in the past and it looked good. My only concern is the $300 charge... is this too much? I've thought about it though and even if I could find someone to fix it for $250 or so, i'd "only" be saving $50 and I wouldn't be sure of the quality of work like I am with the dealer's body shop - they do a good job. It just really ticks me off that some careless jerk in an old muddy beater can just swing his door out and force me to pay $$$ to fix his mistake.

Anyway, thanks again.

MAJ_Jimbo

Your right...I hate people that do that too. In fact, it happend to me in my 2002 VW Passat (RIP) when I was assigned to the Pentagon. It was approaching dawn as I was waiting in my car and this other car pulled up and swung their door open and hit my car...I rolled my window down, and not paying attention to who it was and said, "You just hit my car bud!". It turned out to be a 3-star General, and I was only a Captain at the time. He apologized, we looked at the car and their was a ding and he gave me his insurance information and it was resolved. That was a lucky situation...but their are SEVERAL careless people out there...that's why I attempt to park in places where other people won't park...but still...it's a hit or miss.

About the shop...if you know the quality of their work and it's good...they I would go with it as opposed to a shop you don't know. You don't want to have paint fading, bubbling and such later down the road....

Jimbo

04BlackMaxx

Monotaur- I totally feel your pain on this one...just when your happy yourride is perfect..something happens!

Look into PDR (paintless dent removal)
I got this done on my driver side rear door (was more minor though) and it cost me only $97 and 1 hr. I was sooo pleased with the result, they did an exceptional job. Can't even find it anymore.

However, on tuesday, Parked in starbucks and got a ding by an overweight careless broad in a RAV4....Buffed away scratches...but of course a very slight impression was left...im shopping around to see if I can get PDR for less than $100...because this is really, really minor...but for you as logn as the paint is intact, go for PDR dont give someone $500....That does not appear to need any paint.

Oh my bad...you already sent it out. Hate to say it but that damage looks like a perfect candidate for PDR. You may have been able to save a ton of money and not have to worry about your paint looking perfect..

well...for everyone else who reads this...look into PDR before you do anything!

MetaOrbit

iTrader: (19)

I'm with 04Blackmaxx on PDR. I had dentwizard take out several dings/dents on my car.

You might be SOL with the ding being on a body line, as they advised me on one of mine, but after all was said and done they were able to get that one out too. At least take it to them and see what they say. You could save yourself a bunch in a long run. I got dings/dents taken out of my hood and two doors for like $130. Looks brand new.

Monotaur

I know it's kind of hard to tell with those pics, but the ding is almost a 'crease' from the bottom of the body panel (the top of the wheel well) to just above the wheel well body line... and it is fairly scratched along the way, with some bare metal poking through in some places... would PDR be applicible in this situation?

04BlackMaxx

I would definately have them inspect it and tell you if they can. If the paint it broken they might not...but its so much cheaper than repainting the panel its worth a look into. Ive had a panel repainted on a previous car and would avoid it at all costs because it was never the same (but it was a silver car with 4 yr. old paint on it) My dads lexus had a new bumper installed and repainted and there is no way of telling. But I would personally rather have PDR and buff out or live with a scratch than repaint a panel...even if there was no price difference.

willysmooo

no..you cant use the pdr on anything in a crease area..i have been using a pdr guy on my cars for 8 years whenever i get one..they are great but cant work magic..as far as the top post goes..i would be very surprised if your dealer doesnt put filler in it...i highly doubt they could push it out and make it look good in the spot its in

NIKV69

This is exactly the reason I never park next to anyone. I will walk a 1/4 mile if I have to. I would lose it if some ******* did that to my car. Dings just kill the look of your car. It's a hassle but you have to take the steps to protect it.

04BlackMaxx

In some situations however...this could lead to not going where you want or need to go...now thats not fun either.

04BlkMaxSEauto

damn thats bad

NIKV69

04BlackMaxx,

I have never been not able to go somewhere. With the exception of Manhattan which I would never take my car there anyway. I'ts a pain but I will pay the price for a dent free car.

rabenoja

iTrader: (2)

Wow, I feel for you man. My girl thinks that I'm crazy for parking way out there and even taking up to 30 minutes to find the right one. I also try and park in 2 spots. I know that it's a **** move but, no one is gonna pay me for a door ding that they caused when I'm not around. I hate door dings but, they will happen. I've got a very small ding by my rear bumper on the passenger's side.

I'm probably gonna see if the PDR guys can take it out, otherwise I'm leaving it. I'd hate to have a mismatched colored panel on a year old car!

Anyway, good luck with that!

Monotaur

Thanks for all the concern and advice everyone... Living in a small town, there aren't any local PDR shops (that I could find?) in my area. So, my car has an apt at the body shop tomorrow at 9AM.

Thanks again, I'll post pics when it's out (should be tuesday).

nyautostyle

wow if you could only see my car with the dings i have, you would go nuts!

anyway i know around here they would charge $75 a panel for dents-dings.. not sure how much paint damage you have though?

Okiewan

Could have been this:
Is the Red OP metal flake? Don't think I've ever seen one up close. Anyway, for mine they are replacing the fender (I insisted on no filler), they have to blend the hood and drivers door ... 1200. Don't feel too bad about the 300!

Okiewan

Previous poster is right, the PDR won't work across a crease.

Monotaur

Ouch. Sorry bro

Yeah, red op is metal flake (it's got little shiny shiny bits in it, but they are pretty small). I'll know more tomorrow afternoon when I pick it up... hoping for the best...

Okiewan

They'll need to blend it. Not cheap. Not metal flake or pearl as they seem to call white with flake, a lot cheaper.

Good luck to you.

wsu

I have a couple of small indentations on my rear bumper (about the diameter of a large pencil), the estimate I got for these two small issues was $300 to $400, so I'd say that in comparison, the $600 to $700 dollars you were quoted, though steep, sounds about the going rate (unfortunately).

Okiewan

The latest (today) quote I got from a good shop is 1500 on mine.. seems the "3 stage paint" is the big cost, having to disassemble the door and blend the paint over it and the hood. So, assuming they aren't going to put a new fender on it (they are on mine) 700 may not be that far out of line?

Monotaur

$600-$700 was what the insurance agent thought it might be, and I was quoted by the body shop at $300. In fact, when I went to pick it up today, they charged me only $208.50 (and that was also fixing another paint problem: http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=393589).

Anyway, overall I'm mostly satisfied with the job.... I think they ended up painting the entire panel. However, I've noticed that the texture of this paint isn't like the factory paint - I can almost see little brush marks in it (really, really tiny) and it must have been dusty in the painting booth because I've got debris under the paint (unfortunately, I didn't notice this until I got home to take pics - so I took to back but by that time all of the paint people had gone home [it was alrady after hours when I picked it up as they were running late...]). And, the color seems to be a tiny bit off - it's ever-so-slightly darker than the rest of the car (I'm guessing because of paint fade?). But, the sparkles look great, and you can't even tell the original dent was there... here are some pics:

Can you tell that the panel had been repainted?


Close up of panel where ding was:

Monotaur

Close up of paint bubble/debris under paint (along with 'scratches'):



Is this expected from a non-factory paint job?

Oh yeah, they said not to wax it for 1-2 weeks as that may scratch the paint (although washing should be fine). All of my wax that I applied last week seems to be gone, plus they wiped all of the mirros, windows,info screen/pod clusters, etc with a wet rag so now they are streaked.

Thanks!

Okiewan

I'd take it back for sure. Crap in the paint like that is unacceptable and hard to believe it would happen in a booth. Do you know if they baked the clear or just let it sit over night (clear needs 400 deg for 30 minutes to cure or at least 24 hours)?

Monotaur

I'm not sure how they did it, but the manager said they'd need a day and a half (turned out being 2), so I'm guessing that they just left it out for 24 hours... I'll try to ask this morning when I see him.

Monotaur

Well, I took it back and the manager said that it was just a dust particle in the sprayer, so they sanded it off in about 5 minutes... although, I think they may have scratched the paint, althought I'm not sure (I'll have to wash that panel to really see).

Anyway, thanks for all of the advice - I think my ding has been fixed satisfactorily now

04BlackMaxx

Looks pretty good, howe3ver it appears the part you repainted is perfectly clean and waxed, while the rest of the car is not. If the rest of the car is not as clean as the painted panel, id say it looks great, if thats how it looks after the whole har has been waxed, id say you can tell a little. The shine is more brilliant on the painted part, thats all...im sure its because you didnt shine up the panels around it.

Monotaur

Yeah, I think they washed the entire car pretty well because the paint didn't feel like it had been waxed anymore when I got it, whereas the newly painted panel feels very smooth and waxed... so, you are probably right.

Thanks for the feedback, I'm feeling better about the entire thing now... just hoping the line I saw today isn't a scratch, or I'll have to try and buff it out... ugh, it never ends.