Rough Day

"Quadradeuce" (quadradeuce) 10/22/2018 at 18:21 • Filed to: I want to fire someone who isn't even my employee

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My wife drove the SS to work because I needed her car to transport a lawn mower. Shortly after arriving at I work, I get a call from her. An employee of hers just frantically ran up to her to tell her she opened her door into the SS.

F#$@.

Damage isn’t terrible, but I’m trying to figure out how to repair it. Thankfully the hit was close to the door handle where the sheet metal is fairly rigid and there doesn’t appear to be a ding. I can’t quite tell if this is just clear coat damage. I can feel it with my finger nail but it doesn't seem deep.  I’m having a hard time getting a better picture because my camera wants to focus on the items in the reflection rather than the paint.

Thoughts on who to take this to? Traditional body shop? Detail shop? I have trusted shops for both options.

Side rant:. My wife’s usual parking area is very tight. The spots are shallow, narrow, and up against concrete pillars. She has already lost a battle with the concrete pillars with her Saab, and it also sports a fair share of dings. So we agreed if she took the SS into work, she would park behind her building where there are 60+ unused spots. It adds 3 minutes on to her walk into work.

Guess where she parked it. Sigh, non car enthusiasts just don’t understand.

Future next gen S2000 owner > Quadradeuce 10/22/2018 at 18:45

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Touch up paint. Yeah, it still be noticeable if you look for it. Cars are meant to be driven though. Dings, rock chips are the price you pay.

nermal > Quadradeuce 10/22/2018 at 18:47

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You say that the guilty party is “an employee of hers”.

The only resolution is for her to fire them move their office to the basement, and steal their stapler.

Quadradeuce > Future next gen S2000 owner 10/22/2018 at 18:51

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I agree to an extent. But careless bull shit like this will not stand. I plan to keep this car forever, so I want to do anything I can to keep it looking nice long term.

Quadradeuce > nermal 10/22/2018 at 18:55

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The only reason I'm not totally livid at this woman is because she actually fessed up.  Most people would have just walked away. I give her credit for that. 

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > Quadradeuce 10/22/2018 at 18:57

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Poop happens — but you’re taking it rather well! I’d come into her work with several knuckles sammiches , then promptly go to jail.

Quadradeuce > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 10/22/2018 at 19:00

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She admitted to doing it, so she gets a pardon for now. I'm more mad at my wife for disregarding our agreement to not park it in that area due to all the damage on the Saab.

Chariotoflove > Quadradeuce 10/22/2018 at 19:08

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Rubbing compound maybe? If you’re serious about erasing the evidence of this mishap, you probably want to get insurance involved and collect the other lady’s information. It sucks to “ punish her” for doing the right thing, but that’s what insurance is for, and she knows it.  I left my info for someone in a parking lot after my shopping cart hit his car, knowing full well what that could lead to.

Quadradeuce > Chariotoflove 10/22/2018 at 19:10

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She did offer to pay for the damages. I'm just not sure if this is a mistake that buffs out or one that requires a spray gun to get involved.

TheRevanchist > Quadradeuce 10/22/2018 at 19:12

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Well, time to guilt trip her into buying some parts you might* need.

*”Y ou don’t really need them” is what everyone else says, but they don’t know. They are just jealous haters. Screw them!

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > Future next gen S2000 owner 10/22/2018 at 19:16

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This is a bad take.  Keep your car pristine

Chariotoflove > Quadradeuce 10/22/2018 at 19:22

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Good luck.  I know how you feel.  

E92M3 > Quadradeuce 10/22/2018 at 19:35

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A paintless den t repair guy can fix that. Ironically you’ll need to get a bottle of touchup paint for them. They’ll be able to touch that up and polish it down so that it’s not notice able. They do this all the time where there’s a di ng, and a scratch inside the ding. It's a black art and a marvel to watch them do their magic.

Gerry197 > Quadradeuce 10/22/2018 at 19:45

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That’s a good co-worker, it’s not unusual for someone to ding another car at the office parking lot and not think twice about it.

First thing, are you sure it’s a scratch and not leftover paint transfer or surface clearcoat scratch that can be buffed out?. I’ve seen clear coat scratches you would swear were deep but turned out to be superficial clear coat scratches that were easy to buff out.

If not, then touch up with some touch-up paint, apply light coats until you build it up just above the surface. Wait a week for it to fully cure, then pay a detail person who knows how to buff correctly give it a light pass with a buffer to cut the touch-up down to level.

It will be very hard to see after that. I would rather touch up small nicks you will get from time to time than break the factory paint to fix such a small scratch. It’s not worth doing open heart surgery for a scratch.

random001 > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 10/22/2018 at 20:01

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“Pristine”

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > Quadradeuce 10/22/2018 at 20:33

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This can be repaired with a polish or, in the worst case, a bit of touch-up paint plus polish/re-seal.  Sorry to hear, but at least it wasn’t worse.

Quadradeuce > E92M3 10/22/2018 at 20:52

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Thanks for the advice

Quadradeuce > Gerry197 10/22/2018 at 20:57

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Yeah, I’m impressed she admitted to it. I’m less likely to take her up on her offer to pay for it because of her honesty.

I think it’s in the clear coat and should buff out. My brother thought it was paint transfer, but I can't  get any of that mark off.  I'm mostly worried that if I don't do anything it was get worse over time, so I want to get it addressed.

Quadradeuce > Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever 10/22/2018 at 21:00

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When she called me about it, I imagined much worse.  But I'm still mad about it, especially since my work truck of 7 years only has one ding in it.  I hate this kind of thing, and I do everything I can to about it.  

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Quadradeuce 10/23/2018 at 00:38

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I am very enthusiastic about cars. But if you can see a dang in one like that, then it's too nice for me. Though the Mazda3 I bought tonight is very clean and straight. I'm sure someone will fix that for us.

Gerry197 > Quadradeuce 10/23/2018 at 04:20

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If its paint transfer or even clear coat scratch, it shouldn’t really get worse on it’s own even over time.

Have a good detail person inspect it and see what they recommend, a lot of times, over the counter“buff” products are just surface filler, a professional cutting/polishing compound maybe required here.

Make sure you don’t compromise the clear coat depth too much trying to get that scratch out 100%. It’s not worth it in the end.   

Future next gen S2000 owner > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 10/23/2018 at 09:56

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Cars should be driven, not sit in a museum. 

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Quadradeuce 10/23/2018 at 10:00

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Yeah, seriously. Good on her. 

E92M3 > Quadradeuce 10/23/2018 at 11:00

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You’re welcome. The guy I use does PDR on all the trade- ins and lease returns at a local Lexus dealership. He would charge $50-75 to repair that just to give you an idea of what it should cost. You could try to touch it up yourself, but it’ll probably be noticeable afterwards. This guy uses a heat gun to cure it to a certain point so he can polish it to level it, without removing all of the touchup. I’ve tried to copy his technique on my Lightning but I always end up removing all the touchup I just applied. If I let it cure too long,  I still end up with a raised blob.

Quadradeuce > E92M3 10/23/2018 at 12:59

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I have a small dent on my work truck that I would like to have fixed too.  Might talk to PDR on that too.