To Paint Or Not...need Advice

[SASK250]

Guys, I need some help. Last weekend some dumb-!Removed! movers parked extremely close to my new IS; could only walk sideways between the vehicles. Short story is they put a paint chip on the rear pillar, drivers side, about half way between the roof and where the rear panel has it’s crease. It is about the length on the nail on my pinkie finger and maybe about a third of the width. My dealer’s body shop looked at it and put on some touch up paint, then clear coat, then water sanded it. It doesn’t feel too smooth and is still noticeable, enough too irritate me. They also noticed a very minor dent, which after talking with a few sources, is deemed too small to be able to have anything done with it. If the average guy walked by, they likely wouldn’t notice this blemish but since I know it’s there it still bothers me. The other option is to paint the area. The dealer explained that this would mean the rear panel, the rear door and the roof line from A to C pillar would need to be re-painted in order to have the paint blend in (in addition to the tail lights, rear door and bumper being removed). Thus the integrity of the factor paint over a large area has been violated not to mention that the gaps/seams on the removed panels will never be like it was done at the factory.

Note that the moving company has agreed to pay for all repairs.

So my questions is: Do I re-paint or do I leave it as is (touched up by the dealer)? Although I want a “good as new” look, my feeling is to leave as is and not re-paint, thereby leaving the factory finish intact.

Your thoughts and sorry if I’m sounding a bit anal about a small “ding”

[lambobaby1218]

Guys, I need some help. Last weekend some dumb-!Removed! movers parked extremely close to my new IS; could only walk sideways between the vehicles. Short story is they put a paint chip on the rear pillar, drivers side, about half way between the roof and where the rear panel has it’s crease. It is about the length on the nail on my pinkie finger and maybe about a third of the width. My dealer’s body shop looked at it and put on some touch up paint, then clear coat, then water sanded it. It doesn’t feel too smooth and is still noticeable, enough too irritate me. They also noticed a very minor dent, which after talking with a few sources, is deemed too small to be able to have anything done with it. If the average guy walked by, they likely wouldn’t notice this blemish but since I know it’s there it still bothers me. The other option is to paint the area. The dealer explained that this would mean the rear panel, the rear door and the roof line from A to C pillar would need to be re-painted in order to have the paint blend in (in addition to the tail lights, rear door and bumper being removed). Thus the integrity of the factor paint over a large area has been violated not to mention that the gaps/seams on the removed panels will never be like it was done at the factory.

Note that the moving company has agreed to pay for all repairs.

So my questions is: Do I re-paint or do I leave it as is (touched up by the dealer)? Although I want a “good as new” look, my feeling is to leave as is and not re-paint, thereby leaving the factory finish intact.

Your thoughts and sorry if I’m sounding a bit anal about a small “ding”

My opinion, I say do not repaint it. I know it's irritating (I've been there!), but do as I did, and deal with it the way it is!! lol. Otherwise, you risk having it look like you've been in an accident or something.

[REVO350]

I know how you feel having to look at it everytime you walk up to the car. You are not alone! You should get a quote from the dealer, and get the moving company to write you a check for the cost of repairing the dent. Take that money, and spend it on something else for your car. :-)

[SultanOfSix]

I'm not really sure how bad it looks, but I had a similar situation in that I had to decide whether to repaint or not, except mine was a bigger repaint job because of where it occured.

I had taken my car into an establishment to get something installed on the vehicle. When whatever was done was installed, the guy pointed out that there was some strange mark on the car. Well, it happened to be a circular area about 8 inches in diameter on the left hood of the car that was a little darker than the rest of the paint on the hood. Though it was barely visible (no one would have noticed it unless you pointed it out to them), it bothered the hell out of me. My Lexus IS 250 is silver (or tungsten pearl ;)). Although, I knew he did it - he didn't admit to doing it - he offered to pay for any repaint job that was necessary. So, being the nice guy that I am - I didn't yell at him because I know accidents happen - I said I would. At least he was honest and guilty enough to point it out to me, which tells me he's a good human being who has a conscience.

Well, the body shop I went to told me they would have to repaint portions of the left side next to the hood as well as take the clear coat off, repaint the portion of the hood that had suffered whatever was done to it and then blend the paint in, and of course, refinish the clear coat. I'm not exactly sure what was done, but from what the guy at the body shop told me, he thinks the person may have scratched somethng, then tried to fix it by reblending the paint and then clear coating it again and he said that was a big no-no on this type of car.

Long story short, I went along and did the paint job, and although it's not "factory" quality and I can notice a few tiny blemishes here and there, they did a pretty damn good job such that the weight felt knowing that the mark was there no longer lingers on. It cost 600+ dollars (the guy paid for it) and there was no physical damage (dents), so it was a pretty expensive paint job, but I wanted it done right.

[SKperformance]

Get a PDR paintless dent removal guy to fix the dents first then have a detailer fill the scratches and wetsand and buff it down properly.

[Rx330driver]

i would not get it repainted, i would also take the money and run like someone up there said. this is because i feel that especially because there are so many @$$es out there, cars always get dented. yo uare better off just fixing it when you get into a giant accident.

[lexon]

I know how irritating it is to see a dent or a scratch but no matter how many times you fix it these sort of things keep happening. Life is full of losses and we have to put up with it. I was quoted $550.00 to repaint my hood for a minor scratch but I'm beginning to make peace with it.

[Gryphon]

Ditto re a paintless dent remover. You can usually get a referral from a high end dealer. Talented ones do amazing work.

[SW03ES]

Believe me, I KNOW how you feel. I have a ding on my car right in the passenger side dogleg (that strip of metal between the rear door and the rear wheel) that they can't get tools in to fix with PDR. The same story about the areas that would have to be repainted.

I didn't do it and you shouldn't either.

[JeffSpicoli]

I have small/or big dependin how you look at it on my new lexus is 250. (about a half inch by 3 inches on underside of bumper) it was actually my stupid fault. Can i just get it touched up? Should i do it myself?

[Atlanta]

All,

I have a Lexus ES430 and just returned from getting quotes for repair ranging from $575 to $1,250 to repair a ding the size of of a #2 pencil eraser. Based on the comments, I'll have it repaired and learn to live with it until a major accident occurs. We live in Atlanta and travel a great deal, we are confident there will be other dings.

My question, when going with a repair what steps should I make sure are included in the process, i.e., sanding, final coatings, etc.? I look forward to the feedback.

Regards,

Atlanta