Medium depth Keyed Car, Estoril Blue (BMW): Touch-up, Respray?

D

donoman

New member
A car I am considering buying has key damage. (pictures below). I am wondering if anyone knows how much it would cost to get the door panels repainted, and if anyone could do a good job. In this situation do people respray the entire car, or just the entire panel?



I'm worried because I don't want a car that looks like light blue, dark blue, estoril blue. I would like this thing to look clean when it's done and I'm willing to pay...



But what would this cost to repair? I looked at the key marks and I think they are actually quite deep. I would venture to say that they are almost down to the primer but I will have to take to it with a wetsander and find out. So I'm asking you guys as a WORST CASE SCENARIO, what will I have to do?



The car is Estoril (a BMW blue)... is this color impossible to match, or is it extremely expensive? The damage is on 2 panels: the passenger door and I believe the rear quarter panel. There is also a scratch (not a huge one) on the front bumper from being backed into. And the rear bumper (pix below) has pits. There is no actual body damage, just scratching. Thanks so much for your input.



The side of the car is what would bother me the most, followed by the front of hte car and then the rear bumper.



The guy is offering me the car for about $4000 less than fair market value.



Should I buy the car? Is it a good deal?



The reason this is attractive to me is because I can afford the car in this condition (due to the scratched) but the owner is the original owner and he has service documents from all the visits to the dealer for maintenance.
 
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Any scratches or chips that can catch a fingernail generally are too deep to be polished out. Touch-up paint in of itself is not optimal and for a color like that it will look even worse trying to match it.



The color of the paint usually isn't the cost factor unless your working with a metallic or Pearl Coat. Since there is no metal/body work to be done I would say your in for a repaint on the panels (repairing the paint of course).



I would also say your getting more than enough off the Blue Book Value of the car to have even the bodyshop at the dealership handle it. Shouldn't be more than $1,000 or maybe 1,500.00



If this is all that is holding you up on the purchase (car checks out mechanically and everything else on the interior and exterior is fine) I would go for it.



Just make sure you get someone who knows what they are doing to handle the paint
 
Thanks for the advice!

The pictures are of the Door, Rear Qt, and then the rear bumper.



If I'm getting those repainted, I would also get the front bumper repainted, which has some scratches from San Francisco parking :(



4 body panels ... is that still 1000/1500$?
 
I thought one of those pictures looked like it was the rear bumper. Bumpers are usually removed from the car then repaired/painted.



Repaint's on bumpers usually run around $400.00 or so ( time and labor to remove and re-install included). All of the repairs are going to be the same.





1) washing down the panels and removing wax/silicone

2) sand the nicks/sratches down with 400 - 600 grit sandpaper and feather the edges

3) prime and fill where required and sand again.

4) wetsand the whole panel 1500 - 2000 grit sand paper

5) apply adhesion promoter

6) repaint the immediate repaired areas of the panels with a frresh coat

7) "reduce" the paint and go out a littler further from the repair (blending) if required

8) re-apply the clear coat to the entire panels



I only do bodywork/painting as a hobby on cars I own. Whenever someone with a fairly new car asks me how much something would cost to get fixed I tell them to go to the dealership to get an estimate.



It's the most expensive route, but they have to put the car in the same condition it was in when it was sold, be it bodywork or mechanical. You can base quotes from other shops on that.



Some of those scratches look like they can be buffed out. does your fingernail catch?
 
I have some dings and scratches I'd like to get repaired. So if you do go through with it and get it painted let me know what you pay please. I'd like to know what to expect.
 
Anthony,



I've seen Langka before, but do you think it will work for such a long scratch? I will need to check if my finger can dig into the paint to see just how deep it really is.



Donovan
 
i've found that langka does not work very well at all. it just discolored the touch-up paint and made it look much worse. if it's $4000 under market value and only would need a couple panels re-shot, then it still seems like a good deal to me.



btw, donoman, i was/am thunderex on barf. :D i moved back down south though.
 
donoman said:
Anthony,



I've seen Langka before, but do you think it will work for such a long scratch? I will need to check if my finger can dig into the paint to see just how deep it really is.



Donovan
Click to expand...



I have never used Langka. The product I tested out was called "Touch-Up Magic" and it doesn't matter how deep the scratch is, it can still be filled and built up. Now if the scratch is too long then there might be problems in the finishing process, as in it looking professional.



The product I used works pretty good in that it only removes the excess paint but leaves the touch-up paint you have applied. Of course you could also fill the scratch with touch-up paint (I prefer the "paint pens") applied with a fine sable paint brush and then wet sand those areas after they have been filled and thoroughly dried.



Build up the layers slowly and the results will look much nicer. It looks as if there is some flake in your paint, if so those can be difficult in repair as you will never match the flake with the surrounding flake but it will look better that having a nasty scratch. If they still don't look good then have it re-shot.



Anthony
 
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