Hey all,

Scratched my skirt as below - really annoyed with myself. Empty car park and I park in the end space out of habit. Didn't hit the kerb with my alloys but the kerbs were so high that I beeched on the side skirt (and hence I feel particularly hard done to - if I'd hit the kerb with my alloy I'd feel more like it was my bad move).

Anyway, I digress - haven't had chance to obtain any quotes for repair work yet - it's probably only about six inches work of damage but has gone through to the plastic I believe. Given that it's an area that gets pretty battered anyway I'm not massively concerned with it being a 100% good job, just want it looking smarter than it is. Anyone have any idea what this is gonna cost me? I've been fortunate enough to not need any bodywork repair ever before, so not sure if this is gonna cost £50 or £500 - I'm guessing the wrong side of £100 however.

Will the fact that it's plastic make it any different to work with? Also I know that my car has 'lenticular paint' - will this be an issue?

Cheers.

If you use one of the mobile specialists as opposed to a body shop then you may just ve able to get in under £100.

I recon you'll pay £85 to £110 inc vat for this. Shop around.

Another reason it should not cost too much is unlike a panel repair any inperfections are not really going to show.

s130 said:

If you use one of the mobile specialists as opposed to a body shop then you may just ve able to get in under £100.

I recon you'll pay £85 to £110 inc vat for this. Shop around.

Another reason it should not cost too much is unlike a panel repair any inperfections are not really going to show.

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Thanks man, a few people who've had work done have implied a similar cost. Anyone happen to know if the lenticular paint thing will be an issue - it's just a fancy word for very metallic paint right, it's not applied any differently?

Honnestly, I wouldn't bother getting this professionally fixed. I'd purchase a bit of almost matching paint + clear nail polish and fix it myself. The result would be almost perfect.

It' would probably take about 15 minutes tops with some wet sanding, applying paint and then nail polish, rubbing and polishing.

Little scratches likes these on low places are very easy to fix because those parts don't reflect the sky.

Thanks for your thoughts Tad, hadn't considered that if I'm honest.

I have 3 scratched low places and even a bent wing that I fixed myself with matching paint and clear nail polish and yet you'd have to to go all CSI on the car to find them.

For places that get so easily scratched, it's not worth the money or time to get it professionally sprayed everytime. You can try fixing it for almost free and then if you don't manage you can then get it professionally done, you have nothing to lose trying.

That's a fair point - so you just applied the paint and then applied the nail polish on top? No real prep work or anything? Got a guide please, can't be as easy as it sounds surely

Cheers.

I done the same thing over the weekend! parked close to a kirb on a corner. didnt realise how high the kirb was and scratched about 10" in the middle! Was not a happy boy!!

I got a little crack on one of my side skirts from a random hole in Johannesburg.

The crack is underneath though but still sucks.

Andysan said:

That's a fair point - so you just applied the paint and then applied the nail polish on top? No real prep work or anything? Got a guide please, can't be as easy as it sounds surely

Cheers.

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wet sanding + polishing to remove the small scratches first. only then you use a tooth pick or very small paint brush to apply a tiny bit of paint on the remaining scratches. wait for paint to dry and then apply clear nail polish.

Wet sanding and polishing tutorials are available on youtube, just search for small scratch repair and wet sanding.

There are also scracth repair kit in the form of clear lacquer pens, they do exactly the same thing as clear nail polish.

Judging from your photo, about 3/4 of that damage will be gone after wet sanding and polishing.

If you don't want to use pro/local mobile repair specialist then ANY decent paint spary shop suppliers (even Halfords ......) will mix a can of spray paint to your paint code so you can effect your own repairs.

Like I said, being a low down small damage area then any repairs will be fairly tranparent unless you are entering a concourse car show.

The other alternative is to break out into a more individialist approach and paint the sills a different but supportive colour where absolute paint match is not an issue.

s130 said:

If you don't want to use pro/local mobile repair specialist then ANY decent paint spary shop suppliers (even Halfords ......) will mix a can of spray paint to your paint code so you can effect your own repairs.

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Although be aware that you might not even get an exact match that way.

I got paint made up by Halfords to touch up damage caused* to my wife's Suzuki Alto. I gave them the age of the car and the paint code, but still the paint is darker than the car.

A small repair like that would easily be done in a few hours by a bodyshop. It's worth trying a small local bodyshop as they may be just as cheap as the mobile guys, but have cleaner facilities. There's no harm in getting a quote.

*Think yours was sickening? This one was caused by a stone thrown up from the wheel of a lorry going the other direction.

Still not gotten me a quote yet, keep meaning to do so and never seem to find the time (or look into the DIY methods). Will keep you posted.