Scratched my TL, would appreciate help/advice

V

v|nsan|ty

New member
Hi everyone,



I was in a bit of a rush to leave my house so in my haste I severely underestimated the situation. A truck was parked on my driveway at an angle so I thought I could squeeze myself out. This wasn't a typical truck, it was a duct cleaning one. I was parked in the garage on the left side, my brother's car on the right. The truck was on the far left of the driveway at an angle. I've actually squeezed myself out a few times before in similar instances, but of course not in the TL. I guess I'm still getting used to the size of the TL since it's the biggest car I've ever driven. My parents both have suvs but they don't have the same length as the TL. I reversed and was heavily relying on the back-up camera. Big mistake! I kept inching forward, reversing, inching forward, etc. I thought I had cleared enough space so I slowly backed out. Next thing I know I hear a screech. In horror, I quickly drove back into the garage to survey the damage. Due to my stupidity of ignoring the fact that I should have just got the cleaning person to move the truck, I suffered the consequence. I managed to swipe the trucks side step bar. It's quite deep on the rear bumper but not too bad on the quarter panel. What are my options? I think I might be able to buff the quarter panel and use some touch-up paint, but that gash hurts to look at :(



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quarter is going to need paint, and it being so close to that door, the door will most likely have to be blended.



If a competent body man and painter do good work, they can probably get away with just shooting the quarter w/o having to blend. Damage is low anyway, so only a HORRIBLE color mismatch would show...
 
Ouch, it's down to the primer. Don't think touch up paint would hide very well having heavy metallic paint.
 
Is this possible to fix on my own? Perhaps with some bondo, wet-sanding, and touch-up paint? Or is my only option really to take it into a body shop?
 
v|nsan|ty said:
Is this possible to fix on my own? Perhaps with some bondo, wet-sanding, and touch-up paint? Or is my only option really to take it into a body shop?
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Try it out, but I know it won't match. If this was just a small rock chip it wouldn't be as noticeable, but it's sizeable and will stand out, especially on metallic paint.
 
I think taking it into a bodyshop is the way to go. Trying to fix it on your own, especially a metallic paint, definitely will not match. To match, it will have to be sprayed just as the original paint was. Touching it up will stick out like a sore thumb.
 
Both of those panels need repainting because they're both damaged. Because the quarter is damaged, they'll have to actually refinish all the way up the side of the roof surround as there's not a break point. Beware of hacks that spot refinish panels and don't remove trim that is within or butted up to the panel being refinished.
 
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