Paintless Dent Repair + Touch up for Minor Damage to Vehicle

coffeeinmyveins on 25/10/2024 - 16:39

Was driving home the other night and heard a horrific bang on the side of the car. Dashcam footage revealed a branch fell or was flung up by another vehicle and impacted the front quarter panel of the car, causing two very minor dents and 2mm by 1mm scratches on the paint.

This is a new Mazda in soul red, which I understand is very difficult to repair.

I did take it to a smash repair mob who were reputable but they want to respray the bonnet, two side doors, front panel and the quarter panel itself to "blend it" at a cost of over $5000.

I just walked away, they're clearly just trying to do an insurance job to generate work for themselves.

Has anyone had this colour repaired in Sydney and recommend a PDR and detailer that could help out?

Cheers.

Automotive

Comments

  • greencomet on 25/10/2024 - 16:47
    +3

    100% get a PDR person to look at it first, but the panel shop are correct. Metallic paints are never a 100% match and need to be blended into the surrounding panels or it will be very obvious which panel was re-painted. Mazda soul red is also a notoriously hard paint to get looking right which is probably why the quote was so high.

    • coffeeinmyveins on 28/10/2024 - 12:03

      I'm not after 100% but surely you don't need to respray both doors, the bonnet and roof to blend two marks on a side panel?

      If that was the case then everyone who registers a metallic paint car with insurance will have 5x premiums.

      • Euphemistic on 28/10/2024 - 16:17

        The better you want it to look, the more you need to respray. The cost of respraying isnt going to be 5x for inurance. Yes, it costs more but its a bit of lablur and a little paint. If the oabeks are in food conditjon they dont need a lot of preparation which is where a lot of cost goes in body repairs.

  • Sal in SA on 25/10/2024 - 17:04
    +2

    I mean, could always just get it done via Insurance.

    • coffeeinmyveins on 28/10/2024 - 11:59

      Yes which is what we would do, but if they need to respray more than half of the car to fix these two marks then I wouldn't even bother.

  • MS Paint on 25/10/2024 - 17:07
    +1

    I just walked away, they're clearly just trying to do an insurance job to generate work for themselves.

    No. Welcome to having a very complex paint colour. Soul red looks good for a reason.

    Just get PDR and a few dabs of touch up paint using a tooth pick. Only you will know it's there and you'll eventually forget about it as the car gets older and more scratches.

    • Jimothy Wongingtons on 25/10/2024 - 17:22
      +2

      only you'll know

      • be me

      • get brand new white car, less chance to show scratches right?

      • get keyed on drivers side door, despite parking literally like 69 empty car spaces away from the entrances of the westfield.

      • touch up with small brush/touch up paint

      • die a little inside every time hoping into car

      you'll eventually forget about it as the car gets older and more scratches.

      Can confirm, after the 420th time getting keyed, yeah it doesnt hurt as much.

      • MS Paint on 25/10/2024 - 17:28
        +1

        Scratches cost cents. Cheers

        • altomic on 26/10/2024 - 00:02
          -1

          makes scents

      • DashCam AKA Rolts on 25/10/2024 - 18:30
        +2

        420 tends to numb.

      • snoopster on 28/10/2024 - 23:34

        (recent) luxury vehicle tax paying car owner here, my new technique on picking a car spot is as follows
        - find two already parked cars that are parked decently well
        - bonus points if you gauge they have also paid the luxury vehicle tax, and if you gauge that they are going to take a long time in X, Y, Z place
        - park (properly) between them. straight and centered between the lines
        - try to be back before they get back

        Yes, a few variables out of your control but parking far away is not only less convenient, your pride and joy stands out big-time. Easier to notice for those delinquents who key vehicles (or oopsy, it was windy today). Also in the past when I parked further away, someone has usually parked right next door to spite me.

        This really applies to any car you're trying to take good care of (don't judge too hard on the luxury thing). Also got a PDR subscription out of the dealership/stealership which brings any fixes to $50 while you are subscribed

  • pjetson on 25/10/2024 - 17:41
    +1

    two very minor dents and 2mm by 1mm scratches on the paint

    It's most likely not suitable for paintless dent repair if the paint is scratched.

  • apsilon on 25/10/2024 - 18:46

    Soul red is a multi colour layer paint. What the smash repairer suggested is the correct way to obtain the best results. A good touch up will hide it but if you look for it you will find it.

    • coffeeinmyveins on 28/10/2024 - 12:00

      I'm not after restoring it to factory. If it can be touched up and look 80% of the way there, then that's a much better option than respraying half the car.

      • apsilon on 28/10/2024 - 12:57

        It won't look 80%. It'll just be hard to spot due to the size and making them reddish rather than white/silver. I'm also very wary of pulling dents where the paint is compromised. Despite what many say you can pull paint off where it's already damaged.

        • coffeeinmyveins on 28/10/2024 - 14:46

          Eek, well that's a worry.

          I wonder if I should just do it through insurance and let it be done that way. If I do it privately and they screw it up, I'm assuming my insurance company will just say no to any issues they introduce.

          • apsilon on 28/10/2024 - 15:34

            @coffeeinmyveins: If it were me, I'd just touch it up to ensure there's no chance of rust and leave it at that. These days door dings and rock chips are inevitable unfortunately.

            • coffeeinmyveins on 28/10/2024 - 16:17

              @apsilon: Thanks. I'm definitely leaning towards this. I don't want to have half the car resprayed even if it is done through insurance.

  • Sye on 25/10/2024 - 21:50
    +1

    I just use my lip balm that I have in my centre console to fix scratches on my 20 year old Camry.

  • p1 ama on 26/10/2024 - 00:34

    Have no advice for you other than perhaps it's cheaper to just do an insurance job. Could you track down the car that flung the branch at your car, or if it was potentially an unsafe tree that council would be responsible for?

    But that being said, this thread has led me down the rabbit hole of reading about Mazda "soul red", and it actually seems that people are legit crazy for this colour (e.g. see https://www.reddit.com/r/mazda3/comments/qdjimo/whats_the_hy…).

    I don't get it, like to me, it's just a red car - the idea that somehow this colour can "move" people emotionally is making me feel like I'm missing out on some transcendent experience.

    • lgacb08 on 27/10/2024 - 09:34

      No chance you can shift blame it, it pretty much falls into 'the act of god' category.

    • coffeeinmyveins on 28/10/2024 - 12:01

      Could you track down the car that flung the branch at your car, or if it was potentially an unsafe tree that council would be responsible for?

      dashcam doesn't reveal where it came from, just that it hit the car. it's a real mystery as to where exactly it originated from. it was also dark, so it made it harder.

      No chance council will accept any blame, they don't even do that for massive potholes.

      Regarding the colour, it is beautiful and it's my favourite red, but yeah, it's not a transcendent experience. They have changed it too over the generations. The latest gen one that i have is much more "cherry" and deeper.

  • Euphemistic on 26/10/2024 - 06:27
    -1

    I prefer my repairer to keep pants on.

  • rodericb on 26/10/2024 - 16:54

    Get paintless dent repair for the dents. You will need to see if the scratch has gone below the actual paint or if it has just gone through the clear. Clean up the scratch area and look very carefully at the scratch to see how deep the scratch is. Give it a polish with some cutting compound like Mothers scratch remover and if the scratch looks to be disappearing then that's good.

    If you still see a light coloured scratch after cutting then maybe get the scratch filled by a professional or just leave it. A 2mm X 1mm scratch is nothing much.
    Certainly not worth paying $5000 to fix. Or even half that.

    If you can, take a pic of the scratch and put a link to it.

  • jizmo on 26/10/2024 - 23:53

    causing two very minor dents and 2mm by 1mm scratches on the paint

    Stone chips are larger than that, you need to take for longer drives other than your driveway for wash time.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join