Ugh... battle scar on the 07 SE

[chrono807]

So I was driving down a dark road last night and discovered that flat rusted metal is extremely difficult to see if it's lying on the road. I found this out because my tire hit an 8" long piece of a broken leaf spring, and flung it up so it hit the bottom right corner of my rear driver's side door. I heard the noise without ever seeing a thing, pulled over, and boom. 2 1/2" gash in the paint, straight down to bare metal, and a nice ding. When I went back to see what it was, I had to drive the same stretch of road 3 more times before I even found the object I'd hit, and found out it was a spring. Nice 2x8" piece of rusted steel. Lovely.

Luckily I was near a store. I bought a can of rustoleum clear, went home and masked the 1" area surrounding the scratch, then hit it with the clear. When I got up this morning I gave it 2000 grit wet paper, Turtle Wax clearcoat polish, a few seconds of good buffing and a coat of wax. It's not any less visible, but it's a whole hell of a lot more protected from the elements we're about to get (I live in upstate NY).

So, how much would a body shop usually charge for this kind of fix? Is it something they'll hit me so hard for that I'm better off attempting it myself?

[GT-R]

Same thing happened to me 2 days ago.

[chrono807]

Must be a silver Camry curse.

[11LE]

Any pictures?

Wouldn't insurance cover it?

[MJZ]

Originally Posted by chrono807

So I was driving down a dark road last night and discovered that flat rusted metal is extremely difficult to see if it's lying on the road. I found this out because my tire hit an 8" long piece of a broken leaf spring, and flung it up so it hit the bottom right corner of my rear driver's side door. I heard the noise without ever seeing a thing, pulled over, and boom. 2 1/2" gash in the paint, straight down to bare metal, and a nice ding. When I went back to see what it was, I had to drive the same stretch of road 3 more times before I even found the object I'd hit, and found out it was a spring. Nice 2x8" piece of rusted steel. Lovely.

Luckily I was near a store. I bought a can of rustoleum clear, went home and masked the 1" area surrounding the scratch, then hit it with the clear. When I got up this morning I gave it 2000 grit wet paper, Turtle Wax clearcoat polish, a few seconds of good buffing and a coat of wax. It's not any less visible, but it's a whole hell of a lot more protected from the elements we're about to get (I live in upstate NY).

So, how much would a body shop usually charge for this kind of fix? Is it something they'll hit me so hard for that I'm better off attempting it myself?

Uh, for a door paint repair? Maybe $50-100 at most.

[GT-R]

I just touched up mine and call it a day. U can't really see it on a silver car anyway, unless you're looking for it.

[ItsMeJon]

That's crazy i ran over something a while ago on a road trip like tore my side skirt off almost. Just like two days ago i smacked a plastic black garbage can on the freeway it was dark when i saw it was to late . People need to learn how to secure there property in/on there vehicle.

[chrono807]

Originally Posted by MJZ

Uh, for a door paint repair? Maybe $50-100 at most.

Wow, only $50-$100? Then I'll definitely bring it to a body shop rather than taking the time to do it at home, I thought it would be worse. I'm sure there will be some bondo involved - the deepest point of the dent has a pretty sharp crease in it from the spring, so I doubt it can just be pulled. I'd be looking at $60-70 bucks for a container of bondo, a decent rust inhibiting primer and a rattle can of matched paint anyway.

Any pictures?

I haven't taken any pics - I wanted to just get home and get the clear on as quickly as possible before surface rust set in.

I'll describe it the best I can - a ding about 1" by 3", with about a 1/8"x2.5" crease at the deepest point where the paint is scratched off straight to the bare metal. The damage is in the lower rear corner of my driver's side rear door.

Wouldn't insurance cover it?

$500 deductible, and plus I just switched insurance and don't want my rates to go up.

[Tobeit]

Originally Posted by MJZ

Uh, for a door paint repair? Maybe $50-100 at most.

that is the cost for a 'scratch and dent' repair - will not work for deep scratches down to the metal as they actually not paint anything. repainting a door panel is $200+ min at a cheap garage and $500+ at toyota.

PS: I had a deep 2in scratch under my mirror (from somebody's umbrella tip on a parking lot :-() and they could not fix it w/o repaint.

[chrono807]

Originally Posted by Tobeit

that is the cost for a 'scratch and dent' repair - will not work for deep scratches down to the metal as they actually not paint anything. repainting a door panel is $200+ min at a cheap garage and $500+ at toyota.

PS: I had a deep 2in scratch under my mirror (from somebody's umbrella tip on a parking lot :-() and they could not fix it w/o repaint.

Well then in that case I might be holding off until spring and doing it myself. This will be my first body job involving filler - would this be the right procedure?

1) Low-grit paper in ding to rough up the paint (What grit would work well?)
2) Thin "coats" of filler until built up over original contour
3) Progressively finer grain sandpapers to shape filler to original contour
4) Several (3-4?) thin coats of matched paint, overspray an inch or so beyond edges of filler to blend.
5) Wet sand with high-grit (1500-2000) painted area and surrounding area to further blend
6) 3-4 coats of clear (the Rustoleum I already have is a great match to the factory clear)
7) Final wet sand
8) Polish

I know steps 6-8 are correct, and I'm 99% on 1-3. 4 and 5 are my biggest concerns, because I want to make sure I get a halfway convincing blend. I'm concerned about the fact that in the blend areas, I'll be spraying silver on top of clear and then spraying more clear on top of that - but then again, I guess the top "visible" layers are silver and clear, so it shouldn't be too noticeable to people other than me.

Is this a lot harder to get right than I'm making it out to be? How about primer, do I use it on the body filler? And if so, do I overspray the primer into the surrounding areas, or possibly even spray it directly on the body (to inhibit rust) before I apply the filler?

[Tobeit]

Originally Posted by chrono807

Well then in that case I might be holding off until spring and doing it myself. This will be my first body job involving filler - would this be the right procedure?

1) Low-grit paper in ding to rough up the paint (What grit would work well?)
2) Thin "coats" of filler until built up over original contour
3) Progressively finer grain sandpapers to shape filler to original contour
4) Several (3-4?) thin coats of matched paint, overspray an inch or so beyond edges of filler to blend.
5) Wet sand with high-grit (1500-2000) painted area and surrounding area to further blend
6) 3-4 coats of clear (the Rustoleum I already have is a great match to the factory clear)
7) Final wet sand
8) Polish

I know steps 6-8 are correct, and I'm 99% on 1-3. 4 and 5 are my biggest concerns, because I want to make sure I get a halfway convincing blend. I'm concerned about the fact that in the blend areas, I'll be spraying silver on top of clear and then spraying more clear on top of that - but then again, I guess the top "visible" layers are silver and clear, so it shouldn't be too noticeable to people other than me.

Is this a lot harder to get right than I'm making it out to be? How about primer, do I use it on the body filler? And if so, do I overspray the primer into the surrounding areas, or possibly even spray it directly on the body (to inhibit rust) before I apply the filler?

somebody else needs to chime in - i stay away from painting myself and rather don't give advice on that, never get the black to match and as smooth. Might be better/simpler on a silver car though.

[DOHCammer]

Originally Posted by Tobeit

somebody else needs to chime in - i stay away from painting myself and rather don't give advice on that, never get the black to match and as smooth. Might be better/simpler on a silver car though.

Silver is one of the hardest colors to match. I would advise you to get a book on simple auto body repair and read up on the correct procedures. I've done body repair such as you are attempting and its not hard. The procedure you spelled out is kinda close but you are leaving out some important steps. DO NOT expect a professional job and the color will not match at all with a rattlecan repaint, especially silver. Also, make sure wherever you buy the color coat that you also buy their clear coat and primer for proper paint compatability. Do not use that Rustoleum clear, its not automotive paint.