Ezkill

Ughhhh...great at detailing and paint care but not very knowledgeable about fixing deep paint scratches. I'm hoping someone can chime in about the best way to repair this. Not really looking for an economical solution just my best option. I'd like to minimize re-spray as the damaged area is not that large. This damage came with the car when I purchased it and was disclosed by the seller. He did not inspect the car after picking it up from service and he is 100% sure it happened in the last service he did with the car at the dealership.

Options(as far as I know).

1)Mobile paint repair guys - Hesitant to do this as I've had it done on my wife's car and while it was fine, it wasn't what I'd call a 99% repair. Probably not in contention.

2)Live with it - Not an option, sick of looking at it.

3)Dr. Colorchip - Not good for scratches. I've done this before on an old car and unless this has come a long way it's going to look horrible. I guess it might be worth a shot since it's so low on the vehicle.

4)Scratchwizard - Like Dr. Colorchip but with fast dry body filler included that you can chemically smooth out using a fluid. I DID order a kit from the but the color that came is nowhere close to Carrara White, it's very grey and it's a terrible match. The refunded me my money. An option I guess would be to use their filler and the Dr. Colorchip paint although I'm not sure if that's going to work well at all. The Dr. Colorchip paint I have that I used to fix a tiny rock chip in front of the rear wheel is about perfect.

5)Bodyshop - Ughhhh I talked to the guys that do repairs for a dealership here and they literally want to spray half the bumper. Said if they don't it will peal in 6 months because of the Porsche clear coat. Never heard of anything like this. I'm a little hesitant to spray half the bumper over this damage. Not sure if I'll ever sell the car or if my wife will just take it when I decide to buy something else. Anyway generating a carfax on this and spraying half the bumper seems a little aggressive.

The paint on this car is picture perfect and factory fresh except for this one little flaw. I can't even justify polishing the car yet because quite simply it doesn't need it. This car was driven 6k miles by the previous owner and 100% garaged. It has never even seen rain.

Any input would be welcome. Picture of the damage behind rear drivers side wheel:

beden1

Find a better body shop. IMO, that will need the entire panel re-done and blended with adjacent panels. I wouldn't be looking to half *** the repair if it were my car.

Ezkill

I'm not looking for a half-assed repair. The body shop does all the repairs for a huge dealership in Los Angeles. They wanted to respray half the bumper over that. I was trying to figure out if that was reasonable or too much. I think what you're saying is that you would not only re-spray the whole bumper but also adjacent panels.

The cost here is not an issue. I'm not looking for a cheap solution just the best solution. If I ever sell the car I expect a future buyer to either paint gauge the car(as I did) and also look at the carfax.

Edit:

I should be more clear. I'm debating all of these options because I want to fix it where I can live with it and have as little impact on the car as possible. Right now I can see this from 20+ feet away because it's black on white and it catches my eye. I would probably be fine with this if it was a 2 footer instead of a 20 footer. Having a good shop fix it is a fine option but spraying multiple panels for this scratch might cause more harm then good. That's why I'm evaluating all these options. The cost doesn't factor into the decision.

Linnm

Get the best body shop in town and paint the whole panel

Philster

It's possible on some colors to blend it without painting the whole area. I've had the corner of a used MDX (black) blended for about $150. The technique is much like airbrushing. Most premium used car dealers have someone they use and can refer you to. I was genuinely stunned at the blend and how seamless it was.

I don't know how long it was destined to last, but it held up and was invisible for two years that I had the vehicle.

Worth a shot, in my humble opinion.

Something like this (jump to 1:40 for the scratches):

workhurts

A) It's a bumper. Do not 'blend' into any other panel. That's just crazy.
B) Bumpers get painted all the time. Yeh, it may devalue the car a little but so will the million rockchips you collect.
C) Most body shops will want to paint and blend the base into the rest of the bumper and re-shoot the entire thing with clear. At least that's what I've been told.

Me? I'd attempt touch up. Not sure how well it works on plastic. If that didn't work then I'd put a sticker or decal on it The way I see things, do the least invasive repair possible and one you can live with. Maybe the bumper will get scuffed up again and force your hand. Kind of like polishing, use the mildest product you can. See what you can live with in stages.

beden1

The airbrushing technique is interesting but the guy working on the gray car should have masked the entire area surrounding the damage to protect from overspray. That was a half assed job, IMO.

beden1

I didn't realize it was his bumper.

PhilD

X2 If you want the best job get the bumper resprayed by a good body shop. Personally I'd be tempted to try filling it with paint and wet sanding it, then polishing. If that doesn't work you are only out a little time and can still get it resprayed.

niner niner seven

Look for my recent thread on paint touch up. Id get the exact touch up paint from porsche (20$ish) and go from there what the above poster said re wet sanding etc.

Ezkill

Doing the quickset putty and paint was always an option. I'm handy enough that I don't mind trying it, that's why I ordered the kit. Felt that low on the car with that angle reflecting mostly off the ground I could possibly turn the annoying 20 footer scratch into a 2 footer. Might be good enough.

Ezkill

Yes, I saw your thread. I'll probably just go pick up some paint from Porsche and use it in conjunction with the putty. It's too deep and long to just fill it with paint. I've done chips before using the same method as you did(not with a pencil eraser). I've also done a few with Dr Colorchip and Langka which is kind of the same thing but relies on a solution instead of sand paper.

The problem was, and still is, that all the long straight scratches I've seen repaired on light colored cars are still fairly visible. The saving grace here might be that the damage is so low in such a hard to see area and thus the repair might be enough.

niner niner seven

I am wondering if you can clean out that scratch to the point where there is no blackness to it ? Once you attempt that try the same paint as your car from Porsche and just apply coats to fill it entirely in then do the wet sand (obviously pencil is too small for this) then buff it w the maguires. This is likely a budget of 35$ so its worth a try. If that doesn't work can always try another method.

After completing some attempts at it, YOU may always tell its there but doubtful anyone else and maybe it will pass for the 2 feet rule ?

Ezkill

The bumper underneath is black unfortunately. The black color is the actual plastic of the bumper.

I'm just glad I'm not off my rocker in thinking that spraying like half the bumper over this is a little excessive. As a poster above also pointed out there is no harm in trying a DIY since if I fail the worst case scenario is a bodyshop will get the car anyway. Might try it this weekend if time permits. Already have most of the weekend blocked off to clay/polish/wax one of the wife's cars which has picked up a lot of micro scratches from the place she washes it.

niner niner seven

yes I would just try it, I had about 5 to 10 rock chips but as I fixed more of them I became better at it and I was surprised at the results of coating and then wet sanding. now you cant even tell there was a rock chip. its all about filling in that scratch and then sanding it down, take your time.

post the results so we can see etc.