Someone keyed my car!
Someone keyed my car!
Yea, so I come back home for the weekend and am installing some speakers in my '89 s13 with a friend when he notices these two scratches on my passenger side. I'm currently a UCSD student and have only had my car for a few weeks and only drove to campus all of twice. The car was pretty much garaged any other time other than those two trips to campus. To think that my car, out of all the benz's and bmw's in the lot, gets singled out and keyed up... I'm not sure if I should be proud or just cry. ^^ Well, I didn't post this just to whine, but was actually wondering what could be done to fix the damage? one of the scratches is pretty shallow, but the other gets a little deep in the middle. I've been told that I should just go to a nissan dealer and try to get some touchup paint and that might cover it up. I'm also thinking that a body shop outta handle it, but the damage is fairly small and I don't want to be gouged with labor costs. I'm worried about permanent damage if I don't get it treated soon. Any suggestions?
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Repo Man
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Well, damn, that sucks. I would definitely get any bare metal covered ASAP with touch-up paint as it will rust and start vehicular cancer. It may not look the best, but will keep it from rusting until you can get professional repairs.
As far as labor costs, don't just go to one place. Shop around like anything else. You may be surprised what some places would fix it for. Good luck!
As far as labor costs, don't just go to one place. Shop around like anything else. You may be surprised what some places would fix it for. Good luck!
are the scratches deep? if they are not through the paint they can be wetsanded and then buffed out. i would have someone that knows how to do this do it for you. if they are too deep you can get some touchup paint, go to a bodyshop and make sure you get the exact color, ( dont go to auto-zone or somewhere like that) use a toothpick or something small and pointy, not the brush, and fill in the scratch so it is a little higher than the rest of the paint, when it is dry, it can be wetsanded down and buffed, again i would have someone with experience do this, it wont look perfect but at least you wont have to get the whole thing repainted.
Thanks for the advice guys! I think I'll just be going to my local Nissan dealer then. ^_^ One of my friends recommended that I should borrow an air brush kit, try taping off the area around the scratches, then air brushing with the touch up paint. Would this maybe work better than just using a toothpick and filling in the scratch like daniel240 was saying? I can live with it looking only ok for awhile, since I plan on just doing a whole new paint job eventually. Also, about wetsanding, The scratches themselves don't really come off the surface but are actually sorta inward at this point. How would I wetsand at this point? Yeah, that sounds kinda dumb, sorry. ^_^
Get one of the mothers paint chip repair kits. They work great. According to Mother's;
1Clean the area with rubbing alcohol and dab on touch up paint as sparingly as possible. You'll still have blobs, but minimize then as best you can at this point.
2. Wrap a credit card sized piece of plastic in an old t-shirt or similar soft cloth
3. Apply the paint chip repair fluid on the cloth (vertical surface) and wipe it over the paint.
4. The fluid will soften the paint, so after a few minutes a gentle rub with the card will remove excess paint around the chip, leaving the chip full of paint.
Let the softened paint dry for a couple of hours to harden, then wax over it to protect it.
This way there's no sanding, and you don't have to worry about your scratch turning into a big patch of bare metal.
1Clean the area with rubbing alcohol and dab on touch up paint as sparingly as possible. You'll still have blobs, but minimize then as best you can at this point.
2. Wrap a credit card sized piece of plastic in an old t-shirt or similar soft cloth
3. Apply the paint chip repair fluid on the cloth (vertical surface) and wipe it over the paint.
4. The fluid will soften the paint, so after a few minutes a gentle rub with the card will remove excess paint around the chip, leaving the chip full of paint.
Let the softened paint dry for a couple of hours to harden, then wax over it to protect it.
This way there's no sanding, and you don't have to worry about your scratch turning into a big patch of bare metal.
the hole passanger side on my car got keyed. From the passenger door, back to the rear bumper. This happened about a year ago, while i was still in hs. Now i wont drive the car to college. I bought a honda for that 
. Anywas my insurance compnay painted the whole passanger side, and rear bumper, and rear trunk of the car. It was about 1300 dollars of work because i brough it to a good shop, but its worth it. They give you a lifetime warranty on the paint for peeling or bubbiling. Since its a comprehensive damage also your insurance cant go up. Good luck, hope you get it all taken care of.
. Anywas my insurance compnay painted the whole passanger side, and rear bumper, and rear trunk of the car. It was about 1300 dollars of work because i brough it to a good shop, but its worth it. They give you a lifetime warranty on the paint for peeling or bubbiling. Since its a comprehensive damage also your insurance cant go up. Good luck, hope you get it all taken care of.