Body/Paint Work Question

[boost4me]

I'm looking for some opinions of people that do or are intimately familiar with body work. So here goes...

To the average joe... my car is in pristine condition for a 2004 with 48K miles on it. However, being the anal owner I am I of course notice all the little flaws here and there.... The front bumper cover and hood has some normal wear from chipping etc... I have done a lot of touch up work on it. There are two visible dings on the right quarter panel that need to be repaired.

There is also water damage that occured from the previous owner. Its hard to see because I have removed it from the naked eye but under certain reflective lighting conditions, such as fluorescent lights, you can see how the clear coat is eched on all the horizontal surfaces of the car, so hood, roof, and trunk lid. Except for the two dings the sides are in pretty good shape.

I would be ecstatic if I could have the hood, front bumper cover, and the two dings cleaned up. But as this point your working on 1/3 of the car.

If I just fixed the dings, and road/chipping on the hood and front bumper I'm curious what that would cost... do you have to repaint an entire surface to fix a few stone chips on the hood?

 

[luke1333]

To do it right you would have to repaint the entire bumper/hood etc. as far the dings well are they at places that they can be popped out from behind or gotten to?

clearcoat etching may be able to be buffed out depending on how bad it is. and i will tell you it may be tough to match if the car is from florida and it looks redfire?

 

[boost4me]

Its Redfire, yep. Color wise the car has spent most of its life in the garage, its actually VERY shiny and not faded at all from sun. I think someone just let it sit under a hard water well sprinkler one day then the sun baked it and you know how that goes... thats it for your clearcoat once the sun gets it.

 

[mavericks-03svt]

most small dings can be PDR out depending on what, where, and how big a dent it is. Rock chips can be touched up to look decent but not perfect. If you are anal about it, get a reputable shop to repair the rock chips and paint the panels damaged. Redfire is blendable, so the shop may want to blend your fenders if some of the rock chips on the hood are close to the fender. The color should match up nice since your paint is not faded out. Sounds like an easy repair/refinish to me, just time to get out the old check book.
Post a few pics of the dents and let me know roughly how many rock chips you have and on how many panels. I will write you a quick estimate in my estimating software. This will get you in the ballpark. It will help if you know the labor rates in your area too.

 

[boost4me]

most small dings can be PDR out depending on what, where, and how big a dent it is. Rock chips can be touched up to look decent but not perfect. If you are anal about it, get a reputable shop to repair the rock chips and paint the panels damaged. Redfire is blendable, so the shop may want to blend your fenders if some of the rock chips on the hood are close to the fender. The color should match up nice since your paint is not faded out. Sounds like an easy repair/refinish to me, just time to get out the old check book.
Post a few pics of the dents and let me know roughly how many rock chips you have and on how many panels. I will write you a quick estimate in my estimating software. This will get you in the ballpark. It will help if you know the labor rates in your area too.

sweet! thanks dude... I'll send some pics....

 

[mavericks-03svt]

total estimate came out to $1,581.04. That is figuring the labor at $48 per hr body and refinish and $35 for paint/materials. Your labor rates in florida are probably higher and I added in some slop to get you close. I figured $150 to PDR your dents which is probably on the high side since I have not seen the photo yet. Let me know if you have any questions. If you figure out the labor rates in your area, I will modify the estimate and can email it to you to negotiate with local shop. Good luck bro.

Page 1 of estimate

Page 2 of estimate

 

[boost4me]

wow this great! Here are some pics of the dings, what do you think?

DING 1

DING 2

 

[mavericks-03svt]

well, I am 50-50 on if a PDR man will be able to PDR either of these dents. the PDR man will likely have to glue pull the dents out which is usually a 50-50 shot at best. If it was me, I would check with some PDR guys in the area and see what they tell you. The problem is there is a lot of foam and glue under the quarter panel around that fuel door opening and the dent near the wheel opening will be tough spot to access due to the way the quarter and outer wheelhouse is welded up. Both spots will be hard to access with the PDR tools they use. That is why I think they will have to glue pull the dents. Some guys are good at glue pulling and some are not. I guess worse case you could try the PDR route and if it doesn't look good after attempting repair, plan on adding some money for quarter panel repair/refinish. The good news is you would not need to pay to blend the door.

 

[Chewy]

Those dings are totally PDR-able. Pretty minor if you ask me. I'd also be willing to bet that if you take your car to a shop I know in Ft. Lauderdale that they will be able to panel paint your hood without any need to go into the fenders. Spot on and probably the best quality in all of S. Florida. They'll also have their dent guy remove those dents too.

 

[boost4me]

Those dings are totally PDR-able. Pretty minor if you ask me. I'd also be willing to bet that if you take your car to a shop I know in Ft. Lauderdale that they will be able to panel paint your hood without any need to go into the fenders. Spot on and probably the best quality in all of S. Florida. They'll also have their dent guy remove those dents too.

Hook up a brother!

 

[Chewy]

1st Class European: Luxury Auto Body Repair | Pompano Beach Sports Car Repair | Boca Raton Auto Body | Collision Repair

1 of 6 Ferrari Authorized body shops in the US. 2nd to none in quality. But, they aren't all that cheap. Speak to John and tell him his favorite detailer David sent you.

 

[boost4me]

cool thanks, I'll check them out.

 

[boost4me]

Well I found a great paintless dent repair guy here in stuart, fl...

It came out amazing! The one near the fuel tank was pretty sharp, so it wasn't flawless, but it just looks like a little orange peel now, and putting your finger over it, its smooth as can be. The one above the wheel is completely gone gone... though!

He said I could probably wet sand and buff it and it will have a smooth finish.

not sure how to do that though and if its even worth trying... I mean it looks 100% better, I'm the only one that would even notice anything there.

 

[mavericks-03svt]

glad you got it worked out. I figured they could get it, but not sure if it would be perfect or not. The problem with PDR repairs are the man with the tool. He is either good or he is not.

 

[Greenwood1982]

Those Dings can most def. be taken care of by a paintless dent repair guy. I actually had 3 small ones from the previous owner. It doesn't take much for this thin sheet metal to take a hit.

The PDR guy came to my house, popped out 3 dents in no time. 200 bucks. Well worth it.

Does your dents have paint damage?

 

[boost4me]

Yeah PDR guy took care of them yesterday! It looks awesome!

I watched him do it, I can't believe how fast and easy it was. The guy came highly recommended, he was very skilled. The one near my fuel door was the worst, that one took about 15 minutes to do. Lots of taps from the out side and inside. The one above the wheel was like 1-2-3 done... literally, he drilled a small hole stuck a tool in there and it was gone before my eyes.

Best of all, he only charged me 75 bucks.

 

[mavericks-03svt]

did he drill a hole in the door jamb? In the insurance field that I work in, we tell them not to drill holes. That is why I said it would be hard for him to access those spots. I was curious where he was going in at.

 

[boost4me]

not in the door jamb, I wouldn't allow that. He didn't suggest either. He was able to get to it from inside the wheel well. He just drilled a small hole on the top of the wheel well above the tire did the pop, and then filled it in with some black silicone or liquid nails stuff or something.