malcolmd

My car acquired these two one inch long scratches yesterday whilst driving up a favourite mountain road (still running in the engine after rebuild and UMW Stage II). A rock fell from above, no doubt loosened by recent heavy rains. There was no avoiding it. It hit right in the middle of the bonnet. Could there be a more obvious spot! No dent, but one rather deep scratch and the second less so. I would have preferred the windscreen - a new one under insurance without impact on claim history/premium is permitted by my policy yearly - but never happens - 12 years and counting!


So the question is: Repaint or try a "repair".

What experience is there out there with the repair route? Not withstanding the fact that there are "repairers" and there are "Repairers", does the depth of the scratch have a significant bearing on the results? Is there a difference in perception of a residual "scar" between say the horizonatal surface of a bonnet and the vertical of say of a door?

I am about to start doing monthly club track days, so I am aware that the car is likely to get some stone chips from that, and although my inclination is to repaint, I can see that new perfect finnish becoming less perfect soon - this is why I thought of the repair option.

Your thoughts and experiences are appreciated.

Malcolm.

911/Q45

Id leave it be until you accumulate more track rash. Any repair short of respraying the hood will look just as bad as the scratches.

OldGuy

The top one looks like its through the paint. if thats so then you need a repaint. The second one looks like a repair. but if you have to fix the first one might as well have both of them. Scratches on the clear coat can be wet sanded at 2000 grit and then fixed with a paint correction system. Those things are getting so good I am not afraid to wet sand my cars and fix scratches with gloss-it.com products or similar.

MarkD

and yet another opinion... touch it up and track it. Repaint when more damage is incurred.
IMO the touch up with make it less obvious. It will never blend in, especially on a metallic.

Another possibility would be to repaint now and clear guard the front end to protect it from track damage.

Sorry for the bad luck!

Q

hehehehehehehe
if that little baby is upsetting you, rethink the regular track days

give it a quick brush touch - to protect the metal- and leave it until you have all your track stone chips repaired.

malcolmd

Thanks for the imput guys.

Looks like a bit of a touch up, and get used to increasing imperfections. Ahhhhhhgggggg!