Help! I'm making this worse! (2008 BMW)

[saint3448]

I turn to this forum to help me. Here's my story.

I brought my 2008 335i Black Sapphire Metallic to a local vinyl shop to get the chrome trip wrapped black. They did a horrible job, and left many small scratches between the trim and the body of the car, from the razor blade used to cut the trim.

Scratches (These go all around the windows):


Okay, so I call and complain, bring it in, and they their attempt to fix it was to put some 20yr old separated rubbing compound on a q-tip and vigorously rub it up and down on the paint. (Im an idiot for letting them touch my car after what they already did...)

This did nothing but scuff the paint a bit.

So I decide to try and do something myself. I order some touchup paint from BMW, and try to apply it with a toothpick, this goes horribly wrong.

From this point on, things spiral quickly down hill. Foolishly I panic, and go out and by a TurtleWax paint scratch repair kit. I immediately try to remove the touchup paint with the level 1 sanding block included (with lube), and all I did with that was make the affected area larger. Now, instead of just a scratch down in between the trim and the roof, I've got a dull rubbed off area on the rounding from the roof to the channel.


I brought it to a body shop, but they said it'd cost a ton to fix because they'd have to remove all the trim, and paint the whole panel. He did apply some 3M compound that made the scuff mark less noticeable.

Annnnnnyway....I'm pissed. It's my own fault, and now I turn to this forum for any advice. HELP!

[RoyalBlUE08]

wow. they should of been much more careful while cutting i would went back to the shop and used a razor on all of thier cars until they fixed mine.

[Flash Gordon]

Where is the defect? That shiny area along the rainrail?

[gatoman39]

the pictures you took are so poor that it's hard to tell whats wrong.

[C. Charles Hahn]

the pictures you took are so poor that it's hard to tell whats wrong.

Wow... I can see the problem clear as day.

Saint, from what it looks like to me when they cut the vinyl, they pushed so hard that they also cut the paint. Without seeing it in person under a magnifier I can't say for sure, but more than likely some of that scratch may be down to primer. You were on the right track with the touch-up paint, but you'll never make it look perfect that way.

Langka or Dr. Colorchip might do a better job but the only way to do it right (and what I would demand to be compensated for by that shop) would be to refinish that entire panel.

[Dugdug]

I would make them pay for the damages.....

[aerogt01]

I'm not the most expert person here, but those scratches look unfixable without a repaint.
The only thing you could do is make them look better, but not fix them.

Get a quote from the body shop to fix everything, then go back to the other shop and demand that they pay what it would cost to fix it.

Don't EVER go back to that shop, even if they offer (for free).

[saint3448]

Yea....that's being worked on. They have this attitude like I'm being overly picky or something.

I mean, what options do I have if they just say "We refunded the money you spent here, that's all we're going to do."

I imagine it will be upwards of $500 to get both sides resprayed from BMW.

[C. Charles Hahn]

Yea....that's being worked on. They have this attitude like I'm being overly picky or something.

I mean, what options do I have if they just say "We refunded the money you spent here, that's all we're going to do."

I imagine it will be upwards of $500 to get both sides resprayed from BMW.

Go get a quote and present it to them. Tell them you want to be compensated for the repairs and that if they refuse, you'll take them to small claims court.

[Kristopher1129]

That looks like a pretty deep cut. Completely their fault...they should pay to fix it. But, will they? Probably not.

A business that would conduct itself correctly, would have brought the scratches to your attention, apologized, and fixed the problem already. I get the feeling you may be stuck with fixing it.