svander
05-06-2007, 03:46 AM
I had a little mishap last night and cracked my taillight and scratched my bumper as well. :furious: In any case, the taillight is getting replaced (the whole set since they were custom tinted) and now I need to get this scratch repaired.
Please have a look at the pictures of the damage below and if you can, give me your ideas on how to address this. So far, I cleaned up the area as best as I could by running my Porter Cable with Meguiars #83, then #80 for about 30 minutes or so total. Panel became warm, not too hot but I was paranoid about giving it too much cowbell and burning off the paint due to the paint being softer in plastic body panels and such.
Anyway, here are the results so far:
You can see the scratches on the clearcoat on this image:
http://is.rely.net/2-1650-28982-l-19hqQ7mLshpO8L9GfkbD2w.jpg
This one shows the areas where the paint was scratched off:
http://is.rely.net/2-1650-28980-l-tA6QTXhJXAUtzQB2xT9Sw.jpg
Closeup of those same areas:
http://is.rely.net/2-1650-28979-l-6TiL9mdB3T33iVKSpxXpQ.jpg
As you can see I removed the taillight housing. The largest scratch is on the very edge of where the taillight sits, which makes it relatively unoticeable. Regardless, I know it`s there and not doing anything about it would haunt my dreams (I am pretty particular about my car... enough to create a user account here even though I`ve browsed this website for a while now). ;)
I read people`s opinions on kits such as Langka and Touchup123 (Touchup123 having the most favorable results among those that have used it). However, I need to know if you guys recommending approaching the issue in a different manner, including having a pro handle it (I`ve already IMd a local pro about it).
Suggestions not only welcome but much appreciated by anyone that has had read this far and has the time to help. Thanks in advance. :xyxthumbs
Please have a look at the pictures of the damage below and if you can, give me your ideas on how to address this. So far, I cleaned up the area as best as I could by running my Porter Cable with Meguiars #83, then #80 for about 30 minutes or so total. Panel became warm, not too hot but I was paranoid about giving it too much cowbell and burning off the paint due to the paint being softer in plastic body panels and such.
Anyway, here are the results so far:
You can see the scratches on the clearcoat on this image:
http://is.rely.net/2-1650-28982-l-19hqQ7mLshpO8L9GfkbD2w.jpg
This one shows the areas where the paint was scratched off:
http://is.rely.net/2-1650-28980-l-tA6QTXhJXAUtzQB2xT9Sw.jpg
Closeup of those same areas:
http://is.rely.net/2-1650-28979-l-6TiL9mdB3T33iVKSpxXpQ.jpg
As you can see I removed the taillight housing. The largest scratch is on the very edge of where the taillight sits, which makes it relatively unoticeable. Regardless, I know it`s there and not doing anything about it would haunt my dreams (I am pretty particular about my car... enough to create a user account here even though I`ve browsed this website for a while now). ;)
I read people`s opinions on kits such as Langka and Touchup123 (Touchup123 having the most favorable results among those that have used it). However, I need to know if you guys recommending approaching the issue in a different manner, including having a pro handle it (I`ve already IMd a local pro about it).
Suggestions not only welcome but much appreciated by anyone that has had read this far and has the time to help. Thanks in advance. :xyxthumbs