Repairing scratch on car wing.

Avoriaz

I have an 8 year old Golf, bought 3 years ago.

The bodywork is in generally good condition but it had the scratches and dent in the front near side wing/wheel arch shown in the pictures when I bought it.

The long scratch is shallow and about 10 cms. The short scratch is deeper and about 2 cms. The dent is shallow. Neither scratch appear to be right down to the metal and there has been no change in appearance in 3 years.

I'm not especially precious about cars so I haven't done anything about it so far.

I don't want to pay for a full professional repair which I guess would be several hundred pounds but I would be willing to pay for someone to fill in the scratch and paint over to improve the appearance somewhat if such a service is available at a sensible price.

Alternatively, perhaps it is something I can do myself. What would I need for that?

Poundland are currently selling a scratch filler stick but I'm sceptical that a £1 product would be effective. I would also presumably need to get some matching paint.

I'm going to get the car valeted. (see my other thread). Do the mobile valet firms do a decent job on scratch repairs? Some I have googled claim that they do.

Advice and suggestions as to likely costs etc please.

The speckles etc in the pictures are dust etc. The car needs a clean.

PDC

Best thing would be to get some quotes. If they can get to the dent underneath then they should be able to pull the dent out. Some dent people just do dents, some do smart repairs too.

As to doing it yourself, would certainly be cheaper but it depends on how perfect a repair you want. Halfords and other places sell small paint pens for most car paint colours which will match, they have a brush and a nib and are easy to apply. If you do it well it can look great but it won't be completely unnoticeable.

The alternative is the filler stick type thing. I had a large but not deep scratch from some vandalism on my last car and got some turtle wax colour polish which came with a filler stick. This worked well and would pretty much hide the scratch though it would only last around six months before needing doing again.

Comes down to what you want to spend and how good a job you want to see really.

JustinR1979

Other than the dent, a wax crayon can fill the scratch pretty well; like you got in those awful colour polish kits mentioned above!

Foxy-Stoat_3

Front wing or rear wing? You could search ebay for a front wing the same colour and swop them over.

You will make it look worse if you try and repair it yourself, expect to pay around £150 for it to be repaired and sprayed properly, but take it to some local body shops for quotes. You get what you pay for really with bodywork. The money is in the labour.

Repair it you self with some filler, wet and dry sand paper, primer, top coat and lacquer you can buy from motor factors/paint supplier, they can normally mix the paint to match as well, materials probably will be £50 maybe.

The whole wing will probably not look that good unless your technique is ok, and you wont be able to blow the paint into surrounding panels so colour may look a different shade under some lights. Its not something that a DIYer can do at home and expect good results first time.

Ebe_Scrooge

I agree with the other replies here : yes you can do it yourself, but it won't be perfect. Over the years I've done many many similar repairs to my old bangers. My first attempt was a right nightmare, looked rubbish. Luckily it was nigh on impossible to make the car look any worse than it already was ! Now, I'm pretty good at it, and do a pretty good job if I do say so myself.

It's not actually that difficult, just very time-consuming. But if you take your time over it, you can do a pretty reasonable job for a fraction of the cost a professional would charge. It's up to you - what's more important to you, a perfect but expensive repair, or a pretty cheap and ok-ish repair ?

JustinR1979

In this case you will probably save nothing, as you'll have to buy so many paints, fillers, wet and dry etc, make a mess of it 2 or 3 times, and spend days and days at it.
As above, after practice you can get pretty good, but it takes a bit of trial and error (and frustration and tears!)

OddballJamie

An 8 year old Golf has still gotta be worth a few quid, spend the cash and have a pro repair it. You'll get most of it back when you sell/trade it.

Valet it yourself and use the money saved on the repair.

Slowly_does_it..

The very top right of the top picture seems to show a few dents in the panel.

I would be tempted to talk to a mobile dent doctor, scratch repair person about getting the whole lot done. something like http://www.dr-dent.co.uk/ (I have no knowledge of where you are, and I have never used these guys, but thats the sort of guy I would be trying first)

If you decide not to go down that route, I have had good luck with the rattle cans and the paint code from the car. This can be done on filler, so if you are feeling brave, nothing stopping you! Youtube has a few good pointers on fillering and painting - just make sure everything is CLEAN.

Strider590

!!!!!! are people banging an about filling the dent?

Remove the wheel arch liner, knock the dent out from the inside (further than needed), then simply tap it flat with a soft headed hammer.

The experts will use a sheet with lines printed on it and flatten the dent using the reflection of those lines.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

As strider said, remove wheel liner, feel for the dent, and work it up from the outside of the dent inwards you maybe lucky and it will pop up back into shape or be slightly low, if low you simply then push lightly flexing metal up and down (trick is not to push to far to crack the paint) and create a highspot, then you tap lightly on the highspot back down.


those scrathes are too deep, I bet if you put a microscope on it will have busted through a few layers. and if you rub your nail across the scratch youll hear how deep it actually is as you nail will take little flakes off of the lacquer, the panel need repainting ideally but you really should protect it form dirt, I would personally fill that scratch with lacquer, not a color make a crown over the whole scratch then flatten with a 2500 grit and polish until I could get a replacement wing same color from salvage.

Avoriaz

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. :beer:

I think I will have a go at doing it myself.