Seeking Detailer with Key Repair Experience!

[bmwstephen]

Hi all-

Hoping to find an detail wiz in the bay area experienced in key damage repairs. I have a key mark across 2 doors and I'm trying to avoid a refinish as much as possible given the age and condition of the car (daily driver).

Specifically, I'm looking for someone who has experience filling the scratch with touch up paint and capable leveling and polishing it to a seamless finish. Examples below

Key Repair-Step by Step Procedure - Auto Geek Online Auto Detailing Forum (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/how-articles/43535-key-repair-step-step-procedure.html#post576425)

How to fix a deliberate deep key scratch - Auto Geek Online Auto Detailing Forum (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/how-articles/51955-how-fix-deliberate-deep-key-scratch.html#post696676)

I currently have a bottle of OEM touch up paint for the detailer to work his magic with. Pics of the damage

http://i.imgur.com/ePXLiQ8.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/HPqZ4pZ.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/6FsT1CE.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/zOMP9mv.jpg

[cleanmycorolla]

You should get this person to polish the entire car too while you're at it.

[Rainman67]

What part of the bay area?

[bmwstephen]

I am in fremont

[Mikertt]

I've done a few scratch repairs on my Saturn before. I usually top it off with clear coat touch up as well to make it look as close to the original paint as I can. I'm over in Hercules. Sorry to see the car got keyed like that.

[bmwstephen]

I've done a few scratch repairs on my Saturn before. I usually top it off with clear coat touch up as well to make it look as close to the original paint as I can. I'm over in Hercules. Sorry to see the car got keyed like that.

any samples of your work?

[Detailing by M]

Take it to a body shop. you'll need a repaint.
"filling" in a scratch is nearly impossible.
After you sand the "blob" of paint off usually it will come out of the scratch too.

[bmwstephen]

Take it to a body shop. you'll need a repaint.
"filling" in a scratch is nearly impossible.
After you sand the "blob" of paint off usually it will come out of the scratch too.

i figure I try this out before heading to the body shop (They quoted me $700). It's a 10 year old daily driver with other natural nicks here and there around the paint.

Figure I go with the most economical effort first and I rather try to retain as much original paint on the car as possible while masking that scratch

[Detailing by M]

ok well Dr. Color Chip is a great "chip" filler and is recommended for small scratches.
If you can't find anyone, I'd order DCC and do it yourself for around $40 bucks

[Setec Astronomy]

Take it to a body shop. you'll need a repaint.
"filling" in a scratch is nearly impossible.
After you sand the "blob" of paint off usually it will come out of the scratch too.

How can you say this when the OP posted 2 threads where a scratch repair like this was done (out of many more threads in the forum)?

[Detailing by M]

^^^true, but most fail. It's a hit or miss thing.
The proper way is to re-paint.

Sent while I was Detailing or something related to detailing ;)

[bmwstephen]

^^^true, but most fail. It's a hit or miss thing.
The proper way is to re-paint.

Sent while I was Detailing or something related to detailing ;)

no harm done. I have always been an advocate of doing it at the body shop until i discovered this forum.

Correct that I run the risk of failure where the paint my "walk off" the repair area. Pretty common even in body shops that do spot repairs are mid panel blends with clear coat.

However, I'm hopeful since the repair area is limited to the scratch rather than requiring a larger area of like traditional spot repairs

[Rainman67]

If you want to give it a shot. Just bring it out to Manteca with the touch up paint, it will save you $700.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using AG Online

[Mikertt]

any samples of your work?

You can take a look at my Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152025034555298.905658.537930297&type=1&l=f185dad223

Now again, it really depends on how bad it is. Also, it won't be a perfect fix as there is almost no way to make it perfectly flat without taking off too much surrounding paint. I've only done it to my own car and never for anyone else yet. On my car, it looks great and the average person won't notice. You can only see a slight bulge of the clear coat at certain angles in the perfect light.

[richy]

Take it to a body shop. you'll need a repaint.
"filling" in a scratch is nearly impossible.
After you sand the "blob" of paint off usually it will come out of the scratch too.
Not to sound arrogant, but just because you can't do it doesn't mean someone else can't. That's my thread that was referenced and I've posted 2 other key repairs this month.