6 Year old car: dinged, scratched, rusted exterior - advice?

[wiirenet]

I have been wanting to fix up my car's exterior. I'm having friends/family dissuade me, that it's a waste of money.. but if I could just get some advice, and maybe a couple car folks to reiterate to me that this isn't a waste of money!

I get my car washed maybe once a month, and once a year a better detail/wax costing $100+. So I care about how it looks. I just have gathered up dings over time that I never fixed.

2 photos attached of dent & scratches. The white marks/scratches are on the bumper. Not really dents.


The other is above the right wheel, those are dents & scratches. And I can see rust appearing in the seam.



What sort of place would you recommend I go to? Just google "auto body shop? What should I ask for, so I dont sound supremely ignorant ("I just want my car to look pretty.. hurdurrr") is there a treatment or specific type of work I should ask for?

What kind of fair estimate should I expect?

and the dumbest question- the photo of the back of my car, that's just the muffler that is visible right? so i'm using the right part name...



Anytime I get my car detailed, that always still looks like crap. Should any detail place be able to bring it back to nice/new condition?
The way it looks- does this look like a detailing job, or a shop job- is this rust that needs some kind of special fix it that can't be cleaned off?

Would it be costly/idiotic to simply replace the muffler with a new one just to look nicer?

or am I being nitpicky and should I just leave my muffler alone...

thanks for any responses!!

[IllusionX]

Muffler...spray paint it with matte BBQ paint. :)

[bronsin]

For me...no way I worry about stuff like that.

But for you sure...have it taken care of. You'll feel a lot better about the car.

Click and clack used to say if your car isnt running right and you cant fix it....wash it!

[wiirenet]

Originally Posted by IllusionX

Muffler...spray paint it with matte BBQ paint. :)

Hmmm!! The "High Heat" spray paint? good idea thanks... though i rather just pay someone to do it. i don't know how to properly clean/scrape everything off, so i would just be sealing in everything on it..

[wiirenet]

Originally Posted by bronsin

For me...no way I worry about stuff like that.

But for you sure...have it taken care of. You'll feel a lot better about the car.

Click and clack used to say if your car isnt running right and you cant fix it....wash it!

I always get it washed at a nicer place, hand dry etc- it looks great, except for these spots.... i'm a shallow person haha... and i know the more my car looks like a junker, the more i'll want to buy a new one. I don't want to though, it's been great not having a car payment and I hope this will last me at least ten more years.......

so i rather keep my car looking nice/new. I've been really happy with how nice my interior has stayed! Now if I was only as careful on the outside
i just dont want to be an ignorant girl walking into a body shop and having them say it costs 1k or something, if i could get it done somewhere for less.

[WeeYari]

Originally Posted by wiirenet

or am I being nitpicky and should I just leave my muffler alone...

Yes. Sure you can paint it, but given where you live, it will just end up looking gungy again. If anything, I'd invest in a tasteful stainless steel tailpipe tip as that is what is visible 100% if the time.

[bronsin]

Originally Posted by wiirenet

i'm a shallow person haha... and i know the more my car looks like a junker, the more i'll want to buy a new one. .

Does that mean...because I don't care what my car looks like ...that Im a DEEP person?

Oh my gosh how cool is that!

[bairjo]

[quote=WeeYari;765307]Yes. Sure you can paint it, but given where you live, it will just end up looking gungy again.

Gungy?...I had to look that one up. Urban dictionary gave a description that....well was gross. You certainly made your point using "gungy" lol!

[bronsin]

Originally Posted by wiirenet

i just dont want to be an ignorant girl walking into a body shop and having them say it costs 1k or something, if i could get it done somewhere for less.

You worry too much. Yes its true you don't know everything but then again, neither does anyone else.

It is your fate to have the car made to look new again. Just as it is my fate to have the car....not look like new.

Go get it fixed. Whatever happens happens. Try and shop around to two or three places. Ask people you know where a reputable shop is. With a little work you can find a good price.

But don't put it off. Or else youll be buying a new car!

[bairjo]

You may want to check out and see if the local high school has a vocational body shop. Just a thought....

[WeeYari]

Originally Posted by bairjo

Gungy?...I had to look that one up. Urban dictionary gave a description that....well was gross. You certainly made your point using "gungy" lol!

...and OP is female...so sorry. I meant grungy.

[invader166]

I had the same kind of scratches as the ones in the pictures. All I did was go to a specialty car store, had them make a batch of colour match paint with my colour code, and spray-painted the panels. Honestly, if i didn't show them to you, you probably woudn't be able to tell the car had scratches in those areas.

[justjesus]

wiirenet Love your license plate!

The first pic: that looks like white paint transfer. If it is indeed just paint transfer, then almost any detailer worth a nickle should be able to "buff" it off. The end result will depend on his skill, and how much you are willing to pay. But just getting rid of most of that, and having it look decent, shouldn't be too much. I'm in Cali, so pricing is different from IL. Me, I'd charge 30-50 for just that one spot, and it depends how deep it is.

The second pic: same thing, have most of that taken care with buffing. You have rust, because of the bare metal. For that, many detailers WONT be able to repaint, or touch it up. But that's something you can do yourself, depending on how much bare metal exists. Sure, it might still be dinged up, but having the area buffed out, and the bare metal touched up with color-matched paint, will make it look a whole lot better. If you can't live with the dings/dent, then yes, a body shop will be needed. That opens up a whole new chat. How good a job do you want done, how much you're willing to pay, etc. A proper job, to make it look close to as new as possible, for that section, will be in the several hundreds. So Cal pricing, you're looking at 700$ easily. So, can you live with a small dent?

As for your exhaust....yeah, you're going a bit overboard there. Most of the time, it can't be seen unless you're looking to see it. If it's still working, keep it, I'd say.

The info I provided is the route that I would take, to keep the costs down. You can do a whole lot more, get much better results, but the costs go way up. So you gotta ask yourself, how much you're willing to pay and what are you willing to live with?

[nortonfb]

I'm the cynic. You will never recoup the expense.
What is that worth to you? The rust will return in less than 3 years.
You have a great learning opportunity here. Fix it your self.
You can't break anything if it's already broken.

[ern-diz]

I've had my rear bumper, front bumper and both side mirrors resprayed at a body shop because the clear coat started fading/cracking. I can already see respraying the hood in my future. I completely agree with you, Wiirenet, I enjoy not having a car payment, but like my car looking crispy.

I'd visit a few local body shops and get both their opinion on what needs to be painted/what can be buffed and what they'd charge. Once done, they can color sand and buff the entire car to even things out and make the whole thing look nice again. Yelp is a good resource for customer reviews on body shops near you. As for the muffler, as others have said, I wouldn't sweat that at all.

[why?]

A body shop will be willing to negotiate just like any other business. Try and get written quotes from at least 3 or 4 shops that are reputable in your area. Then you will know what you are looking at.

And people buy aftermarket mufflers for reasons just as vain as yours. You can even buy carbon fibre mufflers if you really want to.