Some people are jerks

[SirTanon]

For those who don't know, I have a 2010 Ford Fusion that I use as my daily driver. I drive 80 miles per day, round-trip to work, and the car is currently a little over 215,500 miles. While it's "just a daily driver", I still take very good care of it, do my own maintenance, and wash the car regularly. I also have done a full paint correction to it, and I try to make sure it always gets a spray wax every time I wash.

here's a pic of the car, last April, following a full paint correction, polish, and application of Meguiar's NXT 2.0 paste, etc..

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..and a closer shot of the hood, to give a better idea of how the paint looked when I was done correcting it, etc..

49027

... luckily, even though I was bad and let it go a little over a full year just topping off with Meg's UQW, the paint basically still looked almost as shiny, although it wasn't beading as well, and it was nowhere near as 'slick'

So, this past weekend, I decided to do a full wax job on it, even though it was 100+ degrees when I started at about 7PM. It was very hot and unpleasant work, but the end results were great, and the shine, protection, and slickness were back.

... and then this happened:

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Keyed...

... now I think I know who did it, but I really have no proof, and ultimately the damage is done. I think I can 'fix' it, and I have both factory touch-up paint, and a Dr. Colorchip kit that I ordered a little while ago to address general 'road rash' and other nicks, but it's still a real slap in the face.

I've watched Larry Kosilla's videos on the subject, and I have a reasonably good idea in terms of technique, etc.. but I've never really had to work on one of these myself before..

My plan includes

1 - thoroughly clean the area
2 - tape off around the scratch
3 - Multiple IPA wipe-downs of the scratch
4 - Using a super-fine paintbrush and toothpicks (or similar) to slowly fill in the scratch
5 - Lightly sanding the built-up filled-in paint to level, using super fine grit(~2000)
6 - Compound and polish
7 - Wax

I'm not ultimately going for "perfect" results, but I would like it to be a "two to six footer" as Larry would call it.


So.. two things:

- Can anyone offer some good tips in terms of how to 'attack' this?

and

- Who thinks this is 'fixable' vs. 'unfixable'

[GSKR]

Can you catch the edge with your nail.I would repaint the door before doing a touch up that big,it's gonna look horrible.

[GSKR]

Saw the video of him touching up a g wagon.100k truck and have to revert to that,no thanks just paint it.

[Grifffx4]

Doesn't hurt to try. Good learning experience

[SirTanon]

Can you catch the edge with your nail.I would repaint the door before doing a touch up that big,it's gonna look horrible.

Yes, it definitely catches when I go over it with my nail. It's through the clear coat, so it's going to need a proper touch-up.

Yes, I could get the door completely repainted, but again, this is a daily driver, and it already has little chips in the paint, and lots of tiny ones on the front of the hood, so it doesn't need to be perfect. I'm not going for "perfect" results... I'm looking for good enough so you won't see it unless you look for it.

The way I see it, if I don't like the results, I can still take it in for a repaint.

[GSKR]

If that's metallic it will be noticeable from 20 feet away.Daily driver or not just paint it.If you can wax your car in 100 degrees that's saying you care.$350 and its gone.your car is worth more than 350.00.

[Joe@NextLevelDetail]

According to Chris fix on youtube he has a video on this matter, he gets a screw driver and digs it into a pt cruiser clear coat leaving a huge scratch.

The pro at the start explains that clearcoat is as thin as a baggy, then he just goes and sands down the scratch taking pretty much all the clear coat off, but yet explains that its thin before doing it.

I am poking fun at the video i do realize that this doesn't help you, but dont go to town trying to sand it down, you will get the scratch "out" but will cause clear coat failure very fast.

Repaint or the touchup are the only realistic options, in sorry this happend to your car. And the person will get theres some way.

[GSKR]

Yes, it definitely catches when I go over it with my nail. It's through the clear coat, so it's going to need a proper touch-up.

Yes, I could get the door completely repainted, but again, this is a daily driver, and it already has little chips in the paint, and lots of tiny ones on the front of the hood, so it doesn't need to be perfect. I'm not going for "perfect" results... I'm looking for good enough so you won't see it unless you look for it.

The way I see it, if I don't like the results, I can still take it in for a repaint.give us a perfect close up angle pic.

[briarpatch]

It will not hurt to try and fix it, although I suspect you're gonna end up repainting it in the end. If you have comprehensive coverage on the vehicle, it will be covered by your insurance.

[SirTanon]

Thanks Joe. I agree - Simply trying to "sand out" the scratch is a bad idea. What I'm planning on doing is filling it in to the point where the touch-up paint is just slightly higher than the surrounding paint, then sand it back down so it's level, and then polishing it and waxing it so it's smooth and protected.

[GSKR]

Thanks Joe. I agree - Simply trying to "sand out" the scratch is a bad idea. What I'm planning on doing is filling it in to the point where the touch-up paint is just slightly higher than the surrounding paint, then sand it back down so it's level, and then polishing it and waxing it so it's smooth and protected.
That's the least of your promblem,the color will be way off .as it dries it will darken good luck.

[bigez]

Here's a write up one of our members, "richy" did a while back.

He's done this with quite a lot of success.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/how-articles/43535-key-repair-step-step-procedure.html

[Klasse Act]

I'm really sorry to see this first of all!

That said, getting it painted is the first thing you "wanna" do but to be honest with you, I can't see them matching paint on a car with that many miles on it, no matter how well you take care of your car, it could turn into a "holy crap that looks waaaaay better than the rest of the car", then all you end up noticing is that perfectly painted door, just sayin'.

I bet you can lighten it up with the right products, let's see what you can do, really interested in seeing how this comes out, subscribed.

[expdetailing]

I believe you can make it noticeably better by filling it in and sanding it, etc. If it comes out that it should be painted, then decide if it's worth it then. Besides, I can tell your itching to try filling it in, and so would I. Even if I was going to repaint it, I still would refine my experience by filling it in as best possible. Good luck!

[TTQ B4U]

Go on the Dr. Color Chip web site and buy the small squeegee and use it when applying the paint. Basically you apply it higher than the surrounding paint and squeegee the paint downward so that all of your cleanup is on one side. Use the blending solution and let it cure. "if" there is any slight hump or need to you can we sand it down just a bit with say 2000 grit paper and then polish it back to a gloss.

I think you will get it to be about 90% and very do-able and not much in the way of noticeable for many outside those that know it's there.