My Car Got Keyed...

[Goran]

so i went to a party and there must have been about 20 cars parked in this field at somebodys house, get home the next day and somebody i don't know has put two huge, deep scratches in my bonnet and door, literally at random, probably because they thought it was hilarious

so as peeved as i am, you guys know a bit about paintwork, what should i do to fix it?

am i best just going to my insurance?

 

[alienware]

Are they through to the metal or primer or just surface? If they are surface then you can buff them out.

If they are through the metal then you can get a pen that fills the scratches with paint then buff them back.

How old is the car? is it worth worrying about? Going to the insurance will cost you in the long run.

Thankfully in the USA no one ever messed with my car. Well, I got a baseball through the side window once but I knew who that was so when I moved out I left him a little present - two litres of Nitromors all over his car.

 

[Youngie1337]

Get the magic fixing pen!

 

[Goran]

the scratches are super deep, like all the way to the metal i think

 

[Goran]

oh and the car is an 07, i got it second hand but its still in really good condition

i'll see what happens...

 

[alienware]

This is what you need mush. Halfords do them.. All you need to know is the year make and model of your car and the paint code.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/halfords-3-pe...vr_id=&cguid=ba32dd9b1270a0aad2e4d484ffcd4813

It's a three part system. Primer, top coat and laquer. It *should* also come with a pen to prepare the area IIRC.

However, know that what they will basically do is fill the scratches with some over run. So you then (once the scratch is full of the paint) buff it off with some Tcut to level it out.

It won't be perfect (due to your paint being three years old and no doubt a slightly different colour to new) but it does work quite well. My mate has an M3 in metallic black and we managed to do a pretty good job of a scratch on his bonnet. We even got a couple of scabs on the arches passable

 

[Goran]

my car's got this like weird finish thing thats suposed to protect it, and when i bought it it had a scratch which the car place fixed for me so i reckon the paint is pretty similair to what it was new

almost every other 207 i've seen is the same colour as mine so hopefully it should be a standard job

cheers for the help man, nice to know theres actual nice people out there among the retards who think it's funny to take a key to a car belonging to a stranger

 

[alienware]

No worries. I know how you can get attatched to a car. My last one had a full ground up rebuild, replacement brakes, suspension, rims & tyres, engine rebuild and turbo, etc etc. Was really sick. To top it all off I repainted it with holographic pearls and all.. Came out one day to find some tosser had lobbed a baseball through the side window. What made it worse was the cost of these side windows... $350. It's one piece and massive (2 door sports) and doesn't have a windowframe around it so it is laminated etc. Super gutted haha.

 

[Goran]

yeah i said to my mate earlier today, at least it isnt a smashed window or something, the car is still completely drivable its just a complete ballache that theres a massive scratch on the bonnet that looks quite penis-esque

 

[alienware]

Bastards. The part that gets me with tards like this is that they don't own a car and likely never will.

Still, I'm a firm believer in Karma mate. They'll get theirs.

 

[alienware]

Weird how Photobucket holds memories haha. Here was the day the window was smashed in. I also had to take a day off work so ended up $450 out of pocket

Thankfully though it happened before I did all of this. Or I think I would have been up on a murder charge

And when I say ground up rebuild I mean it. Seats, carpets, dash, steering wheel, pedals. Nothing was left unchanged.

Was a friggin ANIMAL on the road too

 

[Goran]

super nice car mate, makes it all the more special that you did most of it yourself

btw, my dad's given me some T Cut, but by reading the back of the tube, it looks as though this isnt the right thing to use. am i right?

 

[alienware]

Yes. That's basically cutting/rubbing/polishing compound depending on where you live in the world

However, here's some advice.. Tcut can be quite abrasive sometimes so start with that (if it's regular Tcut) and then move onto something finer like Tcut Metallic. I have Tcut metallic for my Alienware cases. The uses are different you see.

Tcut is for two stage paint finishes. Two stage meaning primer/top coat. Older cars are like that.

Tcut metallic is for more modern finishes or three stage, three stage meaning primer/basecoat (whatever colour your car is) and then clear coat or laquer again depending on what you call it.

Regular Tcut is TERRIBLE for laquer. It will scratch it and leave those horrible swirls. The only difference in them is the size of the 'grains' of cutting compound in the smelly fluid stuff.

I would get your touch up in (make sure you use too much) and then start with the heavier compound. When it has smoothed off start with the Tcut metallic which is finer and will give a nice clean finish.

This isn't as important on small touch ups but you still need to know. DO NOT wax any freshly applied paint. With these new paints the paint will still be reacting for about a month. It basically releases the chemicals and vapours within. If you wax over it and those vapors become sealed in they will eat your finish

 

[alienware]

Oh and some more advice. Ignore the instructions on the bottle that tell you to apply it, let it dry then rub hard. That's crap. Apply it wet and do your polishing wet, then let it dry and wash it off.

When the compound is dry it no longer provides the lubrication and will scratch your finish. Do all the hard rubbing whilst it is wet and then to save your arms falling off simply wash it off

 

[llwyd]

To be honest mate you will not get it back to a flawless finish without a respray. Even if you do it properly, prep it, fill it, sand it and take a machine polisher to it, it will still be noticeable. Look into the costs of a blowover from a body shop or even a replacement panel in the correct colour, whichever is cheaper.

Have a look on detailingworld and see if there is a professional detailer near you who would be able to give you an opinion on the results you could expect from paint correction.

 

[mayhem]

there are some jelioyus buggers out there good luck repairing it.