[SHABANA]

Today my car just touched another one whilst I was attempting to park. There wasn't a dent or anything, but there was a paint mark from my car left on the other car, and some of their paintwork has come off (I'd say a thin line of around 15cm). How much should it cost to repair as I am going to meet the person next week to sort it out (it was at the place I work).

[Né Stig]

Having just come back from a Coachworks, they said to me it depends on a few things:
1. Where the scratch is / or dent
2. How big it is
3. How deep it is

So if your talking about a bit of paintwork, dare I say you have tried T-cut? If it's deeper, then normally about £250. Mine by contrast is £650 from Coachworks and £960 from Audi and that is for 2 scratches and dents of 50mm and 2 further scratches of 30mm on both door and roof.

[SHABANA]

(Original post by Né Stig)
Having just come back from a Coachworks, they said to me it depends on a few things:
1. Where the scratch is / or dent
2. How big it is
3. How deep it is

So if your talking about a bit of paintwork, dare I say you have tried T-cut? If it's deeper, then normally about £250. Mine by contrast is £650 from Coachworks and £960 from Audi and that is for 2 scratches and dents of 50mm and 2 further scratches of 30mm on both door and roof.

There are no dents or anything. The scratch is on the driver's side door sort of half way down. It is not a deep scratch, just some paint has come away when it touched my car.

[JO53PHS]

If the paint has actually flaked off in a chunk, no amount of T-Cut is going to do anything. You're probably looking at £200-300 (give or take) to paint the panel.

[SHABANA]

(Original post by JO53PHS)
If the paint has actually flaked off in a chunk, no amount of T-Cut is going to do anything. You're probably looking at £200-300 (give or take) to paint the panel.

When I bumped it, there was just a small streak of red (my car) and about a 5cm long area which was white like a scrape. Just googled it - a scuff. That's what it looked like. Pretty much like the first photo here http://www.smartsolutionsuk.co.uk/paint_bdy.html the top part

[JO53PHS]

Depends how deep the scratches are, but if they're not too bad (as in the picture posted) they should mostly polish out with compound.

[CurlyBen]

As long as the underlying paintwork isn't damaged T Cut (or rubbing compound if it's a little more severe) will work, but if it's a metallic finish you'll take off the lacquer and the paintwork will look dull in that area. Respraying lacquer is a right bugger in my limited experience, you don't want to be doing it to someone else's car. There are some companies (Chips Away springs to mind) that specialise in repairing minor paintwork issues, they'll be cheaper and probably more convenient than taking it to a body or paint shop.

[JO53PHS]

(Original post by CurlyBen)
As long as the underlying paintwork isn't damaged T Cut (or rubbing compound if it's a little more severe) will work, but if it's a metallic finish you'll take off the lacquer and the paintwork will look dull in that area.

If you start with coarse compound and then go over the area again with a fine compound, before finishing it off with a polish, you can avoid this dull finish.

[CurlyBen]

(Original post by JO53PHS)
If you start with coarse compound and then go over the area again with a fine compound, before finishing it off with a polish, you can avoid this dull finish.

With normal finishes yes, but you need to relacquer metallic finishes. I've been fixing my brother's bumper - big crack and a lot of scratching after hitting a low wall - and it's obvious where the lacquer's missing, even after spraying.

[JO53PHS]

Every single car I have polished with this method is metallic, and it has not damaged the lacquer. Are you using a machine polisher? I don't see how you could polish long or hard enough by hand to go through the lacquer completely. I'm no paint shop expert, but I'd say you were doing it wrong if you're damaging your paintwork with compound.

[CurlyBen]

Unless it's a very minor scratch the lacquer will already be gone - it's only a very thin layer. It's not noticeable straight on, but at an angle it's very obvious.
It's very easy to go through lacquer by hand as well. Someone put a scratch almost the whole length of my mum's car and it took two or three coats of touch up paint to fill it. After flatting back the first coat the lacquer either side of the scratch was gone. It's really obvious when you put water on it.

[SHABANA]

(Original post by JO53PHS)
Depends how deep the scratches are, but if they're not too bad (as in the picture posted) they should mostly polish out with compound.

Actually I just inspected my own car again, and there is a thin line on my bumper where the paint has completely come off (can see the metal underneath). I think the other person would have around the same amount of damage - any idea how much that usually costs?

[KasanDude]

£0, scars are sexy.

Honestly though, it depends on the person's car and how they want to handle it. The person could be a douche, take the car to their authorized dealer and have the thing sorted out in the most expensive way possible and stick you with the bill. If they're reasonable and the scratch isnt too bad, T-Cut might be enough...

EDIT: Which part of their car did you scratch?

[JO53PHS]

(Original post by SHABANA)
Actually I just inspected my own car again, and there is a thin line on my bumper where the paint has completely come off (can see the metal underneath). I think the other person would have around the same amount of damage - any idea how much that usually costs?

If it's gone through to the metal (or plastic, in the case of the bumper), it's beyond repair by any sort of polish or compound.

If you want to make the scratch less noticeable, you can just buy a touch up paint and touch it in (£10). Alternatively you can get a ChipsAway style localised spray job for about £80, but this won't look as good as factory paintwork. If you want to do it properly you can pay £200 - 300 to get the panel painted and blended in at a proper paint shop. If you go down this route and the job is done properly, you'd have to look very closely to tell that it wasn't original.

Which route you go down depends on how much you're willing to spend, and how fussy you are about the quality of your paintwork.

[SHABANA]

(Original post by KasanDude)
£0, scars are sexy.

Honestly though, it depends on the person's car and how they want to handle it. The person could be a douche, take the car to their authorized dealer and have the thing sorted out in the most expensive way possible and stick you with the bill. If they're reasonable and the scratch isnt too bad, T-Cut might be enough...

EDIT: Which part of their car did you scratch?

Driver's door, quite low down.

[SHABANA]

(Original post by JO53PHS)
If it's gone through to the metal (or plastic, in the case of the bumper), it's beyond repair by any sort of polish or compound.

If you want to make the scratch less noticeable, you can just buy a touch up paint and touch it in (£10). Alternatively you can get a ChipsAway style localised spray job for about £80, but this won't look as good as factory paintwork. If you want to do it properly you can pay £200 - 300 to get the panel painted and blended in at a proper paint shop. If you go down this route and the job is done properly, you'd have to look very closely to tell that it wasn't original.

Which route you go down depends on how much you're willing to spend, and how fussy you are about the quality of your paintwork.

Well, my own car I'm not too fussed about. The other person - the car doesn't look too new and the other side is already dented in. So I'm not sure how picky they will be.

[SHABANA]

(Original post by JO53PHS)
If it's gone through to the metal (or plastic, in the case of the bumper), it's beyond repair by any sort of polish or compound.

If you want to make the scratch less noticeable, you can just buy a touch up paint and touch it in (£10). Alternatively you can get a ChipsAway style localised spray job for about £80, but this won't look as good as factory paintwork. If you want to do it properly you can pay £200 - 300 to get the panel painted and blended in at a proper paint shop. If you go down this route and the job is done properly, you'd have to look very closely to tell that it wasn't original.

Which route you go down depends on how much you're willing to spend, and how fussy you are about the quality of your paintwork.

This is a pic of the damage, I think the red stuff can be cleaned off:

[JO53PHS]

It's kinda hard to tell when the car is that filthy, but it looks like the vast majority of the scratches will polish out with compound (I use 3M Perfect-It III products). You can remove the red paint with thinners, but the compound will probably take most of it off anyway. I wouldn't be having any paintwork done with a scuff that small.