First damage to the Lexus: Nasty chip from a mower

[SilverLexus]

Well I had my first damage to the car today. It's not terrible but it's a half inch stone chip. I was driving down Old Milton Parkway today and they are mowing the side of the road-I'm two lanes away. All of a sudden the mower throws up dirt and debris and I hear a huge thunk! noise like I blewout a tire or something real serious. I pull off on the left and there is a nasty chip on the rear passenger door. I'm pissed. I cross the street and get the guys to turn off their mowers. They were just state employees doing their job and it was more carelessness than anything. The manager comes over inspects the car, is real polite, then calls his manager and we wait about 10 minutes until he gets to the scene. The Georgia state insurance office is fortunately going pay for the repair.

I work so hard on my car this really bothers me but I should thankful it did not hit my windshield. My wife saw the rock and said it was very big. I guess things could have been much worse. They are definitely going to have to repaint the door. Just the inconvenience of it...just sucks...

Does anyone have any advice for making sure the repaint goes well? Is there anything I should be mindful of?

[Bill D]

Sorry to hear and I fear the repaint might not be uncomplicated. According to Accumulator, silver can be a bear to get right, let alone the first time. I'm sure he'll chime in with what he did.

[G35stilez]

I feel your pain and am sorry to hear.


My car got hit by a lacrosse ball in the door over the weekend. I'm pretty close to giving up on getting it all fixed and just dealing with it. Its sad how careless people are these days.


Have an insurance reccomended shop do the work. Question if they blend the areas, how they will mask off the work, if they will wetsand, etc.

[VictoryRed]

Off to the dealership??? muhahahaha

[TRD-22]

A five year old ran his tricycle into our Camry's driver door once. The dent is still there.

Good luck having a quality repair.

[SilverBelle04]

It hurt to just read the title of your post ! i woudl feel the same way about my car too. I remember my 1st rock chip on the bumper...i could see it from miles.

It'll be all shiny and new once you get it fixed..

Bob

[Way2SSlow]

Lee,

Had it gotten your windshield I could have had it changed and had you back on the road in an hour. Let me know who you decide to go with for paintwork. You might also want to get some Pro Polish and STRIP everything off the finish before you take it in...Especially if you are using a product that darkens. You want it matched perfectly. I've got a bottle of Pro Polish if you need it...let me know.

[Bill D]

If you're going to remove all of your LSP from the entire car, do it with a solvent like Prepsol. This method is non abrasive, no need to apply an abrasive to the rest of the car without it needing it.

[1 Clean WS6]

Lee I had Cherokee Collision off of Highway 5 here in Marietta paint the hood for my truck...they matched the silver perfect and blended the fenders as well. For me to recommend a body shop it HAS to be good!! It took me maybe 15 or so minutes to get their work back up to my standards when they were done (a few isolated spots needed to be clayed and few spots needed to be hit with the PC).

[SilverLexus]

Thanks everyone for the kind comments and advice (most of you anyway). I think I may try chip repair first given that it did not reach through the primer and a repaint would be a pain.

[Jinba ittai]

Bummer. Why is it when they mow the grass by the side of the road they throw all the dirt and debris INTO the road? I encountered this problem with mowing quite a bit when I took a trip down south a few weeks ago.

I had my car two days/300 miles when a rock got thrown up and hit my car's windshield. Result was a new windshield. I'd rather have a new windshield then a repaint.

On my new paint job 800 miles later and I got a nasty chip on the front bumper driving down the interstate. Fortunately the bodyshop was able to fill it in and sand it so it's hardly noticeable. It's a better repair than I could've done myself.

Good luck.