just hit a deer with my truck, paint damage (I got lucky)

[ReaperHWK]

A little deer jumped out in front of my F150, it`s neck and head were a little taller than my front bumper.



I hit it front left corner, that deer had a BAD DAY. I must have hit it about 30 mph. It ran out but limped home if you know what I mean. I went to look for it but it`s probably dead by now.



Anyway, since the truck has a solid steel bumper there is no dent. I have a few scratches that can easily be buffed out, I think I hot mostly soft tissue and the truck just pushed the deer into the street.



Only major damage is I have a quarter size star shapped crack in the paint. Looks like the paint actually cracked. I`m pretty sure I can`t buff it but I`ll try.



Question is, is there a home fix for this or do I need to go to a body shop? I wonder if they need to repaint the whole bumper or just paint and blend that area?



Sucks that actually the truck has a whole new repaint, that bumper paint is only 4 months old!



Brian

[Accumulator]

REaperHWK- Glad you`re OK and that the damage wasn`t worse (says the guy who deered his beloved S8).



For something *that* small I can`t help but think that a well-done spot-repair oughta be OK. IF, that is, you can then pamper the area in question.



Spot repairs are a :nono Every paint manufacturer says so and for good reason. You`re supposed to get the whol bumper reshot, or at least recleared. BUT I`ve had countless spot-ins work out great. Perfect match, *ZERO* problems over many years, simply no evidence that it was a bad idea...that`s how it`s almost always worked out for me and the one such repair that did fail was a post-importation repair on a new car. All the repairs like that done by my paint guys have worked out super.



But I`ll repeat one more time that you`re not supposed to have it done that way So good luck if you go that route.

[David Fermani]

Yeah, sounds like it will require a body shop to fix this unless you`re have a good understanding of refinishing. Because the bumper is metal and the paint is cracking, it could end up rusting. Water could get pushed through the cracking and into the bare metal each time you driver though a rain storm. With this in mind, it may be another bad idea to spot refinish it because this "abuse from the elements" could cause the blend to fail more prematurely. Just my opinion...