Scratch On Quarter Panel With Dent

[thedriver]

Hello all,

I have this GS 300 and the other day I was coming out of a very narrow underground parking spot, I scratched with the side wall on the quarter panel behind the passenger side, it is scratched with dent lines and the paint is also chipped off...took it to a local high rated body shop they guy gave me a quotation of $250 and he wants to take hte dent off and repaint the whole quarter panel from top to bottom...i don't know if I wanna do that as repaint color might be visible since this is sparkling blue...never bothered to take it to dealer they are crazy in price when it comes to this stuff...

Please tell me if I need to buy a kit or something that at least covers the color, i don't know...

past experiences and advises will be highly appreciated.

for some reason I am not allowed to post jpg extensions in this forum, but anyways please have a look below.

http://img705.imageshack.us/i/95280467.jpg

http://img820.imageshack.us/i/59562443.jpg

http://img51.imageshack.us/i/39476306.jpg

http://img849.imageshack.us/i/92314604.jpg

http://img97.imageshack.us/i/42656721.jpg

[RX350lover]

Hello all,

I have this GS 300 and the other day I was coming out of a very narrow underground parking spot, I scratched with the side wall on the quarter panel behind the passenger side, it is scratched with dent lines and the paint is also chipped off...took it to a local high rated body shop they guy gave me a quotation of $250 and he wants to take hte dent off and repaint the whole quarter panel from top to bottom...i don't know if I wanna do that as repaint color might be visible since this is sparkling blue...never bothered to take it to dealer they are crazy in price when it comes to this stuff...

Please tell me if I need to buy a kit or something that at least covers the color, i don't know...

past experiences and advises will be highly appreciated.

for some reason I am not allowed to post jpg extensions in this forum, but anyways please have a look below.

http://img705.imageshack.us/i/95280467.jpg

http://img820.imageshack.us/i/59562443.jpg

http://img51.imageshack.us/i/39476306.jpg

http://img849.imageshack.us/i/92314604.jpg

http://img97.imageshack.us/i/42656721.jpg

I'm sorry for your pain. I had body works done on my cars a few times... Average cost was $3,000. So I do have a little bit of knowledge about it. At a cost of $250, I would be inclined to believe that there will be quite a difference in appearance between the painted panel and the rest of that side of your car.

IMHO, you need an outstanding body shop that mixes its own colors and will not only do the rear panel, but the door next to the panel as well as half the front (driver) door. What they need to do is a phase out (a gradual reduction in new color to marry with the old color) from the rear towards the front. AND, the whole side of your car should be varnished. They did that at the body shop I went to and I swear, it is impossible to tell that the car has ever been painted. For example, when I had a new hood installed, they did the whole front (including the front bumper) with a phase out on both front doors. Including varnishing up to both front doors. Their work is literally invisible and given I kept the car for many years after that, it was worth every single penny I spent.

Good luck.

P.S. Lexus dealers body shop might be pricey, but they might do a 'perfect' job. I dunno because I've never been to one, but I suspect they could offer you a 'perfect' finish. OTOH, it might not be worth it on an 11 year old car...

[cduluk]

Are they going to repair the scratches on the rear door as well? Or just touch them up?

If they're going to repair the door as well, they'd need to color-blend the rear 1/4 panel into the rear door and clear coat the entire rear 1/4 panel (all the way up to the trunk and all the way across the top down to where it meets the front fender) and clear coat the rear door.

If they're not going to repair the scratches on the rear door, they'd do a small color blend from the damaged area onto the rest of the 1/4 panel. Since it's low, they wouldn't need to worry about it matching with the rear door as long as they mix the paint correctly. Then they'd need to clear the entire rear 1/4 panel...

$250 sounds right if they're just going to repair the 1/4 panel. BUT, maybe a little too cheap if they're going to clear the entire 1/4 panel all the way across the top to the front fender. That's a LOT of clear coat.

My guess is that they're planning on doing a clear-blend rather than clearing the entire 1/4 panel. Uses a lot less clear which costs a lot less. They'd feather the edge right about level with the fuel door... so not clearing the entire panel. They might be able to wet-sand and polish the feathered edge out, but with age it'll reappear.

Best solution is to clear the entire panel after doing a color-blend. But realistically, that's about $500+

[TA in KC]

Call me a skeptic, but after all the body work I've been through on multiple cars, $250 sounds unbelievably cheap to me as well. I would also suspect that at this price, it would most certainly not be a quality repair.

A friend had a similar incident in his Ford Five Hundred (regular, non-metallic paint) recently. The cost to replace and repaint the rear bumper, repaint the quarter panel, and remove a small "clean" ding using the paintless method exceeded $5000 at a reputable body shop here in Kansas City- just to give you an idea.

I am very surprised at how quickly the exposed metal began to rust if this only happened a few days ago- and I think the damage looks far too severe to be repaired with "PDR". I would think that section of, if not the entire quarter panel would need to be replaced, repainted, and blended. $250 surely would not cover all of that.

Do you carry collision insurance, and is repairing this damage important to you? If you are going to proceed even if the cost is higher, I think you should find a reputable independent body shop. Most of those places need to have a good reputation and perform quality work in order to stay in business.

[01GS300]

That repair cannot be done “properly” for $250. Spend the money and get it done right and you’ll be happier in the long run.

I had rear door dent/scratch and rear quarter panel “ding” repaired on my 2001 GS300 a year or so ago. Most independent body shops quoted me from 1000-1200 bucks. I got the name of a guy with a professional home shop who said he does work for about 60% of what most body shops charge. I was confident in this guy as he does body work at a local GM dealer during the day. He did a great job and the final cost was $700. I was worried about color matching too but he uses a computerized mixing system that matches your color from the manufacturer's paint code stamped on your car. He says that any “reputable” shop will be using this system. He also blended into the front door, rear quarter panel and partially into the roof and then clear-coated the entire area.

This guy is located in Whitby, ON and I can give you his name if you want but the savings may not be worth the inconvenience of coming out from Mississauga and leaving your car for a few days. If you can’t find an independent guy I would use a reputable shop and make sure they are doing a proper repair. I would think you would pay upwards of $1000 for a good job but in the end the extra bucks are worth it.

[cduluk]

They wouldn't need to replace the rear 1/4 panel. They'll have their PDR guy push the dent out from behind, then they'll sand all of the rust off and bondo the surface smooth, then prime, and paint.

[TA in KC]

They wouldn't need to replace the rear 1/4 panel. They'll have their PDR guy push the dent out from behind, then they'll sand all of the rust off and bondo the surface smooth, then prime, and paint.

Do you have experience having damage like this repaired successfully with PDR? Maybe I'm wrong, but I really don't think that would work.

I had some hail damage and a few door dings repaired that way on my 1998 LS400 a couple of weeks ago. The tech who did the work told me he was glad there were no dings in the "dog leg" area where this damage is located- he told me it is particularly difficult to access with regular tools and sometimes not even possible.

I suppose they could cover up the rest of the damage with body filler- but I don't know how long that would last.

[cduluk]

They wouldn't need to replace the rear 1/4 panel. They'll have their PDR guy push the dent out from behind, then they'll sand all of the rust off and bondo the surface smooth, then prime, and paint.

Do you have experience having damage like this repaired successfully with PDR? Maybe I'm wrong, but I really don't think that would work.

I had some hail damage and a few door dings repaired that way on my 1998 LS400 a couple of weeks ago. The tech who did the work told me he was glad there were no dings in the "dog leg" area where this damage is located- he told me it is particularly difficult to access with regular tools and sometimes not even possible.

I suppose they could cover up the rest of the damage with body filler- but I don't know how long that would last.

They drill a small hole behind the area in the wheel well, then push the dent out with what looks like a coat hanger... works pretty well, i've seen it done. They then install a small rubber plug to prevent water from getting inside the hole. <_<