Damaged paint work - Ford Forums

dcliff1 · 03-26-2003, 17:58

Hi All,

Need some advice on paint work repairs. My electric gate shut on the back on my White EL XR and damaged the rear right panel above the wheel arch. There is a massive chunk of paint about the size of my pinky finger missing from the guard and some scratches and swirls above it on the panel.

Has anyone had experience with paint repairs.. should I try a touch up job myself or let a pro handle it? Anyone had experiences like this? How much would a pro cost just todo a panel?

Cheers

kooky · 03-26-2003, 19:06

If you hav'nt done panel repairs b4 then you need to get certain materials tools etc... IMO pay someone else to do it if its not right then they can do it again and it wont cost you any more. If you do it yourself and something goes wrong and youre not happy with the result you will end up paying someone to fix it. Im sure that others on the forum will be able to recommend someone for the job that wont let you down. theres a wealth of knowledge browsing here.

dazd · 03-26-2003, 19:32

D cliff ,
had the same problem with a gate only this was wind assisted , the worse thing was watching the gate swinging towards the rear and not being able to do shi#.
Hit exactly the same spot as yours but fate was dealing me some shitty cards that day and it swung back and slammed in it again.
Damage was a a chip about the size of a 5 cent coin and the latch on the gate left a ding about 10 cent in size just above the arch.

I took her to the local panel shop and was qouted $250-300 for touch up and for Mr Dent to pull that dent a few smaller battle scars on the passenger side.
I was pretty rapted when I picked it up unless you know where the ding was and the chip was it very hard to see and the ding is completly gone.
The final price was $350 cash that included a full buff and he touched up my front spoiler and most of the stone chips on the bonnet.
Its up to the individual if you want a respray $$$$$ are hard to come by at the mo so I opted for the touchup to keep her looking smick.
As Kooky said dont try it if you havent had some sort of experince in paint ,9 /10 times youll make it look worse trust me I tried the guy at the panel shop said it looked like a bird had shit green on the car.
Good luck Daz

dcliff1 · 03-27-2003, 05:03

I thought it would be around that... and I knew I should of started crying when the gate hit :) ha ha. $350 worth of tears.

Hmm. I may have to make an attempt myself.. I can't afford that right now.. perhaps just good enough to cover the major marks so it doesn't rust. I need to get a portion of the bumper resprayed (the idiot who owned the car b4 me pranged it and has the dodgyiest work done), so I might do it all in one hit when i get the cash... might be cheaper.

I hear there are paint pens you can get for cars? Dunno what there about.. I've actually done alot of rust repair and paintjobs on my older cars (you should try matching metalic blue!) but never a newer one like the XR.

Is there any sealants I can get (wax?) to cover the scratches so they don't rust?

Don't know. Tough decision.... it doesn't help being broke!