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So someone has obviously clipped the back of our car in the supermarket car park when reversing in or out. The rear nearside bumper and wheel arch was lightly scratched with white paint transferred on it. Also left a shallow (so shallow I missed it at first) crease free dent around 10cm in diameter. I've cleaned it up and mostly it was just paint transfer but there are some shallow scratches and of course the dent. What are my options for restoring it -
do nothing? A definite candidate although car is a new to us 18 plate and was unblemished beforehand.
Try and DIY it? Buy a dent puller (cue Father Ted clip) and a scratch removal kit?
Use one of those mobile people who come to you and fix it up?
Go to a local bodyshop?
I'm of the shit happens lets leave it train of thought, but if it can be repaired cheaply enough and well enough then I might be tempted. Anyone had success with a DIY approach, or otherwise which is likely to be the most cost effective option?
The colour enriched T-cut is pretty good on minor scratches. Worth a go for not much cost or effort (although it does need quite vigorous application). Not sure I'd try pulling the dent as you risk damaging the paint, which will be far more obvious. Can you get to the back and push it?
Someone added a 30mm x 50mm dent to my bonnet (front edge) at a petrol station or supermarket after I'd had my current car 1 hour. (Defo not there when collected).
Local chips-away folks sorted it for £100. (If it had been 2 or 3 years old I'd have left it. But 1 hour and under 20 miles... 😡
I would get a dent removal guy rather than try it yourself. I try most repairs but was glad I paid someone else to do mine. Not only is it an art to use the dent pushing rods or the stickj on pull things, you also have to choose the right technique for the right type and location of the dent. Can you get in behind it? does it affect a crease line? where is the tension in the panel now? is the metal stretched?
If you can't really see it then either do nothing and don't make it worse or get someone to do it properly and make it better.
Removing scratches is a bit of a misnomer. You can remove a scuff as long as it's not gone though the paint, if you can feel it with your fingernail then it's too deep and needs filling / sanding / painting.
Farcela G3 is good. Buy the complete set, the scratch remover is the most aggressive and will sort the scratch itself, then paint restorer is less abrasive and will polish the paint back to a good finish. Then wax it (hard wax is better though)
T-Cut on it's own is really quite aggressive and will leave the paint dull afterwards.
If it's a dark colour then the coloured fillers work quite well. Poorboys do one called black hole. It's a step between polishing and waxing and is adding a dark filler material which fills all the microscopic marks in the paint so the light doesn't reflect off them making them invisible.
But after all that, if it's more than a very light mark then you really need to get a professional in to sort it if it bothers you.
Is the shallow dent in plastic or metal?