Scraped sideskirt - options?

blinkme323 · 11-03-09, 06:41

Hey guys, I was driving home late last night and as luck would have it, I clipped a curb and scrapred my sideskirt towards the rear wheel. The picture actually makes it look a little worse than it is, but right now it looks like my options are the following:

a) Touch up the spot as best I can

b) Buy a whole new side skirt

c) Just let it go

I'm extremely OCD, so this is really bothering me right now, lol. Any help is appreciated.

lland · 11-03-09, 07:01

I had a similar scratch on my last car. The location is actually good in that even a slightly imperfect repair will be unnoticed. To fix mine, I cleaned out the scratch, sanded it smooth, and touched it up with OEM touchup paint (built up a couple of layers until it was just slightly above the original paint level). Let it dry for a couple of days than sanded it down with 1500, 2000, and 3000 grit paper wet and wrapped around a square pencil eraser. Polished it up and it was good to go. Even if you were very close and looking right at it, you still had to know it was there to find it. Total cost was just a few dollars and a couple of hours.

LL

Setec Astronomy · 11-03-09, 07:08

It's hard to tell how bad that really is from your small pic. It's possible a good polishing would make that much less noticeable (be careful if you are using a machine those panels heat up fast and you'll burn the paint off). Like lland, I've had good luck touching up something like that after sanding it smooth.

The thing that makes me think it's not really bad is that it's white...frequently those panels are black plastic. What is the white? The substrate? Primer? Scratched Clear? Transfer from the curb? Have you tried anything on it yet?

yakky · 11-03-09, 07:31

If you buy a new skirt, you'll have to get that painted, and if you're OCD, that is going to be an adventure. I'd just hit it with some touchup paint. If you do your homework, you can make it look very good. Is it metallic paint? If so, you have your work cutout for you as you can't really sand metallics without changing the appearance (the flakes float to the top and get sanded off first). Anyway, good luck.

andrewd523 · 11-03-09, 08:09

I would try Quixx scratch repair. It is only $15, and it is worth a shot.

blinkme323 · 11-03-09, 08:15

Sorry for the pic quality guys, it's the best I can do at the moment. Looking at the mark further it appears that the paint and most of the primer have been scraped off, but there looks to be minimal damage to the skirt itself. I priced out a replacement skirt and it is about $500 painted...

wannafbody · 11-03-09, 08:24

Try some Megs Ultimate compound, chances are if it's deep it will need painted.

blinkme323 · 11-03-09, 10:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by wannafbody

Try some Megs Ultimate compound, chances are if it's deep it will need painted.

Yeah, I've pretty much resided myself to the fact that it has to be painted. It's just a matter of whether I'll have to paint the whole thing or just touch it up.

Setec Astronomy · 11-03-09, 05:25

I wish you would humor me and try some polish on there by hand and see how it looks.

blinkme323 · 11-03-09, 08:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Setec Astronomy

I wish you would humor me and try some polish on there by hand and see how it looks.

I'll certainly give it a shot. I did try some scratch-x and it didn't have much of an effect. I'll let you know how the polishing compound goes.

David Fermani · 11-03-09, 08:32

Why replace this piece when it can be repaired/refinished easily? Probably $100-$150 for a Body Shop to remove, sand, fill and refinish.

Setec Astronomy · 11-04-09, 06:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by blinkme323

I'll certainly give it a shot. I did try some scratch-x and it didn't have much of an effect. I'll let you know how the polishing compound goes.

Well, ok then.