lemon Posted August 9, 2011 Posted August 9, 2011 OK..so I was changing the oil today. Decided to leave the garage door closed as it was hot and humid out. Normally, I can open the hatch with the garage door closed without hitting anything...but...I decided I needed a bit more room at the front of the vehicle so I backed the car up so it was closer to the garage door than normal. NOT a problem, as I wouldn't be opening the hatch. So, keys in the front pocket of my shorts, I crouch down to plug in my work lamp and...BEEP BEEP...what the hell is beeping? Then I hear the tailgate opening and realize the button on the remote has been pressed as I bent down, likely by one of the other keys. I run to the back of the car, but too late - the hatch has hit the garage door right were the metal hinge between the panels is, leaving two vertical scratches (right to the bare metal I might add) between the bottom of the hatch and the bottom of the licence plate. Doh!! As an aside, I used Pennzoil Ultra 5w20 with a Fram Xtended Guard. I drained out Valvoline SynPower 5w30 with an Xtended Guard. No problems with the 5w20, but I wasn't expecting any, as I run 0w20 in the winter. The only reason I had 5w30 in the engine anyway, was because I had an extra jug laying around that I wanted to use up. I keep planning to run 0w20 year round, but the Pennzoil Ultra was on sale.
RX400h Posted August 9, 2011 Posted August 9, 2011 Don't feel so bad; my neighbor forgot that his Jeep Commander hatch was up when he hit the garage door button near the garage entry to the house. The garage door caused the Jeep's hatch glass to explode, leaving cubes of glass everywhere. That was a somewhat costly mistake.
LEXIRX330 Posted August 9, 2011 Posted August 9, 2011 Sorry to hear, man...my old RX 330 I damn near broke my neck running to that hatch garage door was down and I thought it was up went to get something and I hit the key to open the rear door and just as I walked out I was like &*%#... Well I just made it. It happens get some touch up.
lenore Posted August 9, 2011 Posted August 9, 2011 I put the foam pipe wrap on my garage door just in case, Glued and cable tied it. That way door can open and hit foam....
lemon Posted August 9, 2011 Author Posted August 9, 2011 Yes, I can touch them up, but all that will do is protect the bare metal, I'll still see two vertical scratches of cover up paint. Might go to the place that repaired the back when some numpty rear eneded the vehicle in July 2010 and see if it's an easy repair. They did a really good paint repair job (except for the 400h decal being too low, remember) Here's a pic..
cduluk Posted August 9, 2011 Posted August 9, 2011 damn you're right, touch-up won't help much... You can see the paint "flaking" around the scratched areas, which only means maybe 2mm on both sides of the scratches needs to be sanded away before touch-up can be applied or else it will "bubble" and you won't be able to get the touch-up smooth. My guess is that they could sand, prime, and blend that lower area and clear the entire hatch from the rear wiper, down. It's probably the only way to make those lines invisible. Just make sure to tell them to put that decal back on straight this time! :P
lemon Posted August 9, 2011 Author Posted August 9, 2011 Well, the quote came in at $534...vs....$14 for a tube of touch up from Lexus. That price would include repainting and clearcoating the lower hatch right up to the 'bend', which is about halfway up or so. The bend is a good place to blend the paint and clearcoat with the older paint, as it's less noticeable because of the bend. They would have to remove the 'Lexus' and the '400h' and install new ones, so if I go that route, I'll make sure they install the 400h level this time. I'm kinda leaning toward the $14 solution.
cduluk Posted August 9, 2011 Posted August 9, 2011 Woahh that's WAY too much money for a simple clear blend! Can you take it to another shop? $300 sounds more reasonable for a small clear blend like that. You can heat the emblems up with a blow-drier and remove them, and do the same to reattach them. If you removed them ahead of the time a shop wouldn't have much to charge you for. Or you can get the emblems from Parts.com for pretty cheap. Since the damage is on a vertical panel of the car (v.s. a hood or roof) a clear blend will hold up just fine. I've done two small clear blends and they've both held up for over 2 winters now, on the right rear 1/4 panel below the tail light (i backed into a mailbox and it chipped the paint). It was definitely a better choice than just throwing some touch-up on it since the was up high. But in your case the damage is pretty low. Maybe you could try using some touch-up first and see if you can live with it for a while. <_<
Gryphon Posted October 2, 2011 Posted October 2, 2011 Don't feel alone. I made the same hatch mistake a while back-grrrrrrrr. Tom
katzjamr Posted October 3, 2011 Posted October 3, 2011 dont feel bad, i did the same thing years ago, my two scratches were a little shorter just below the slight fold in the lower part of the hatch. years later, when this 'lady' hit my rear bumper parking, i had the body shop fix the bumper and blend the scratches, it looks great and they threw it in with the bumper repair.
Gryphon Posted October 3, 2011 Posted October 3, 2011 Katzjamr, is that lady still available to rear end my car?
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