Paint Scratch

N

No Good Bugger

New member
Aloha from the Hawaiian Islands! I need some advice, attached are pictures that someone knifed my car, not keyed but knifed. I park in a Church parking lot and for the past 2 years that I have been there, no problem. The past month, when the church was housing those displaced when a park was closed for night time cleaning, etc., no problem. The last day that the displaced was staying at the church, 5/1/06, I got a problem. Well when I got home on that day, I found out that someone left me a present.

Since the damage was done by a knife or something of a sharp blade, it is a clean cut, my fingernail gets caught in the deepest part of the groove. Other than that there is no other damage only to that area, around 12 inches. It is 04 Camry Lunar Mist Metallic. So fellow, Detailers, what will be your opinion on what I should do? And is there any products and what steps, that you would use, if I decide to just live w/it. Thank you in advance!
 

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Well, first off, from the looks of it, you're probably not going to be able to get it completely out without a repaint. The second and third photos seem to show the scratch down to a dark primer. Is that the way it is, or just an effect of the camera?

You can certainly try to minimize its appearance as much as possible. What to do will depend on the tools and skills you have available.

If you have a rotary, you'll be able to minimize it the most. Start with something fairly aggressive and work your way down.

If you have a PC or other DA polisher, I'd start with some Scratch-X by hand, then use the PC to take care of the hazing that will be left behind.

If you're going to do it completely by hand... Scratch-X, then the polish of your choice. I've heard that SSR1 works well by hand, though I've never tried it.

Hope that helps, and I'm sure others will chime in with some good ideas as well. Welcome to DC! :howdy
 
Mahalo for all the replies. Just a small update, It was keyed, and not knifed like I had stated earlier. I got several estimates from 4 auto body shops, the prices range from $469 to $600. The last shop (with a great recommendations from different people), took one look at the damage and recommended that I do not get it repaired. He stated that if it did not bother me that much, then I should really consider not repairing it. He mentioned that the length of the scratch, around 12 inches, versus the area that they have to repair the scratch, would not justify repairing it.

I mentioned to him that the deepest part went to metal. He mentioned that in todays cars the metal is treated with a anti corrosive coat and to damage that coat a person has to really dig in to damage it. I told him I used the touch up paint and you could really tell that there is a scratch there. I used a toothpick to get the paint in groove, but it had gobs of paint surrounding the scratch. He then proceeded to use a microfiber towel and got a little paint thinner on it an proceeded to wipe the area. It wiped off the gob of paint and it looked pretty decent. He stated that if I keep washing and waxing, I should be fine. So now I do not know if I should get it repaired or not. Any opinions from the forum?

Mahalo Again!
 
Where I live, bare metal would rust in days.
You could try a Langka repair kit, available from our sponsors.
 
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