So, I went on a trip and left my car in the parking garage at work and some SOB did this to my hood. I have since put some touch up paint in the chipped areas but It just pains me to see these 3 spots when I look at my reflection in my otherwise perfect hood.

Do I have to get the hood repainted to fix this? The chips were deep like someone threw a brick at it. If I do repaint it will it look anything like factory? The black paint on this car is gorgeous. Am I better off keeping the nicks to keep my factory paint? Any cost estimates on the hood?

 

No, you don't have to reshoot the entire hood. A good touchup kit will be fine.

You have to remember that this is a cleacoat finish, so you have to use the color to fill the area below the damage, let that cure, then fill and build up the area with the clearcoat. Once cured, you should mask off the area and wetsand the damage area until it's just about level, the polish the paint down to level and then use a finish polish to bring up the gloss.

Or, send it to a shop, let them deal with this repair, but see their work first. Properly done, you'll never see it/

Regards,
Deanski

 

Well, I already filled in the chips with paint an put on the clear coat but it looks terrible because I haven't polished it back down to the level of the paint. How hard is that?

 

If you put your hand in a clear plastic baggie, run it over the area between the damaged and non-damaged area, if it feels very high, you may need to wetsand this out. As long as both paints had time to cure, it will be OK to sand. mask off the area, use 2000 grit wetsand paper. Use a good car wash soap to use as the water/lube mix for the paper. Soak the paper for at least an hour in the mix. get a wetsanding block, wrap the paper in it and with a clean rag soaked keep the area flooded with water/lube mix as you sand and check the level by feel.

Once down to almost level or you think it's level, now you have to remove the sanding haze. You'll need a polisher. Use a random orbital such as one made by Porter-Cable and a few foam pads. For polish, I would use menzerna SIP to remove the haze with a cutting pad, then switch to a polish pad to bring up the gloss. Follow by Menzerna PO85RD and a fresh polish pad or finish pad to bring it to high gloss. Then, wash the entire hood, clay it, then polish the entire hood with the P21S cleanser to blend it all in. If areas beside it look a bit dull after P21S, the do the hood with Menzerna PO85RD. Mask off the edges of the hood so yuou do not go too close to the edge where the paint is thinner. Wipe off the hood and it will look new.

It's a bit of work and if you do not have the tools or technique, let a shop do it for you. Ask your dealer and others in the PCA club in your region for info. Don't let some detail shop do this unless they have serious bodyshop background and can show you clients cars.

Regards,
Deanski

 

I think I need a pro to do this. But you're saying they can mess it up too. Geez.

 

Only if it's some hack detailer. Again, check with your local PCA region paint/body person and I'm sure they can send you to the best people qualified.

Most Porsche dealers have very good body/paint shops, so ask them as well.

Deanski

 

Not that it makes too much of a difference at this point but are you sure that was not road damage? From the pics its hard to say. Generally vandals dont make chip marks like that. Maybe a clear bra could have helped?

 

I agree that it looks that way but I would have noticed something like that hitting my hood while driving.

 

http://www.langka.com/complete-paint...pair-p-30.html

 

Not necessarily. When driving at freeway speeds, small pieces of grit will make marks without you necessarily hearing anything.

 

These were deep pits down to the bare metal.

 

Time to get it in for repairs. They can airbrush in a primer then fill the rest, level it and polish it until it's perfect and uou'll never know when it's done.

I would also take more detail pics of the area for documentation in case whomever repairs it does not fully do a good job and the paint lifts. Havent's seen it do that in many years, but there's always a first. Usually due to improper prepwork.

Regards,
Deanski

 

Your hood is aluminium. A brick would have caused severe damage. Take it to a shop. Dealer uses the best guys to repair minor damage in transit, etc. Ask them where to go if you are uncertain.

 

Similar thing happened to me:https://rennlist.com/forums/997-gt2-gt3-forum/385039-ouch-benefit-from-my-mishap.html

Best place to fix it:
http://www.sterlingcollisioncenter.com/

 

It's worth trying a DIY before you take it in. There are some very useful articles at autopia.org if you want to give it a try. You don't really need to use a machine -- it'll just take you a while longer to polish it by hand.

imo, black is one of the easier colors to touch up.