Advice for paint repairs

[Betrivent]

It doesn't rub, actually. My bumper cover is rubbing up against the quarter because of previous damage I repaired, but the bumper cover doesn't ever move, unless touched.

And again, this method I suggested is what some shops do "unofficially" on some non insurance claims. It isn't warranty'able because it goes against manufacturer recommendations for paint, but it SHOULD work by all means.

[devinlamothe]

Originally Posted by Betrivent

It doesn't rub, actually. My bumper cover is rubbing up against the quarter because of previous damage I repaired, but the bumper cover doesn't ever move, unless touched.

And again, this method I suggested is what some shops do "unofficially" on some non insurance claims. It isn't warranty'able because it goes against manufacturer recommendations for paint, but it SHOULD work by all means.

I get'cha. I know the body shop wanted to paint the whole panel (ya right, $$$$) and then blend in the rest of the paint.

I know they do this because it's considered a "metallic" paint and they don't really blend well, but I'm not looking to be super pro here, just enough to rid the surface rust and touch up the bare metal.

This is happening on the front as well, but it's my fault as when I take off the bumper to change light bulbs, etc, I must scratch the metal when clipping the bumper cover back in place.

[Hamster]

Originally Posted by Betrivent

It doesn't rub, actually. My bumper cover is rubbing up against the quarter because of previous damage I repaired, but the bumper cover doesn't ever move, unless touched.

And again, this method I suggested is what some shops do "unofficially" on some non insurance claims. It isn't warranty'able because it goes against manufacturer recommendations for paint, but it SHOULD work by all means.

I wish I knew this two years ago. I took my car to a body shop to fix a scratch, who this type of spot painting hack job. The greedy a-hole never told me that it's not a recommended fix, and for an ideal fix, the whole panel needs to be re-clearcoated. It came out horrible....The orange peel/appearance of the clearcoat looked really off, and the blending job on my metorite metallic looked bad. And I think it was done outside, because there was an amazing amount of dust mixed in with the paint. And mind you, at the time, my car was just over a year old, and had about 5,000 on the odometer. I simply didn't know what I know now, in that you cannot spot-paint a panel. You need to refinish the whole thing. I later found out that the scratch would have been covered under my comprehensive insurance. I think the jerk owner of the body shop wanted to make a quick buck without having to deal with any insurance companies. So he lied to me and was probably hoping I'd be too dumb to notice the problem. I wound up having to shell out almost $800 out of my own pocket at a different body shop to fix the crap. I've since learned a lot about what is covered by insurance, and to be extremely careful when choosing a body shop. So, to the OP, as Betrivent pointed out, be very careful about using the method described above, even if you're doing it yourself. The result may not come out as quite as you expect.