ianmSC

So I bought my 2018 Carrera T used from a dealership, had it about 3 months then after washing noticed these scratches, one on the driver’s side wheel arch and the other on the driver’s door just to the left side of the handle. I asked a couple detailers and was told it was egg damage. After looking up some other pictures, it appears that’s the case. As far as options, it seems to be leave as is or repaint. I texted an SA I know at a dealer who told me to leave it, but I wanted to throw it out to the forums to get opinions here. I could go to a Porsche certified body shop and have it repainted, but would that hurt trade in value down the road? My thought would be to get it repainted, do some paint correction and then put a full front clear bra on to ensure this doesn’t happen.

If the resale damage is too high with repainting, would it make sense to put a clear bra on it with the existing damage? Just accept it and hope the clear bra prevents anything worse going forward and provides some aesthetic value too by hiding it a bit? I’ve never had one on a car so that could be a crazy idea with no chance of success too.

If the total cost of repainting (with insurance) and paint correction and clear bra is like, $2500 or $3000 or whatever, is it even worth it or just accept the damage and be done with it. The paint on the rest of the car is not in great shape (usual scratches and swirls) from washing a black car.

I’m also planning on keeping it about 3 more years, most likely. Any advice/ideas are appreciated!

Homeles

I would say repaint and then ppf. Mine is at a Porsche collision center right now. My damage was just road rash, lots of chips. Estimate came in at $3350 to paint the entire front end. Painter decided the best thing to do was disassemble the entire front end and paint each panel off the car. After 30-45 days of sitting, I've having the front end wrapped, $1700 for that.

Good luck with yours.

mikeearly

I would find the best paint correction person in your area and ask them.....

ianmSC

I went to a paint correction place in San Diego, they told me to repaint, sanding, etc. wouldn’t do anything. A Porsche dealer also told me I’d have to repaint, but I don’t know how much expertise they have.

BSO

A very long time ago, some idiot threw an egg at my car. I caught up to the sob kid and I was pissed but I held off from exacting revenge.

I washed it off as soon as I got home, but too late, the damage was done. It wasn't an expensive car but it was at the time fairly new, I lived with the damage.

The egg eats into the finish and there's no way to bring it back. Re-paint is the only option.

If you aren't keeping the car for long, ignore it.

If it happened to my car I would repair it, but then my car is newer and I plan on keeping it as long as possible.

Bxstr

If you plan on keeping it 3 more years, I would say paint correct it and then put clear film on top. It may mask some of the damage, depending on how much it etched into the paint. For example, if you put a clear bra on top of swirls, it actually hides the swirls since the sun is reflecting off the clear bra not the swirls in the paint. Probably too deep to cover it up with a clear bra, but it may help. Either way, I wouldn’t repaint. A dealer will give you a lower number on trade due to the repaint. A private seller may not care, but either way, paintwork seems to be a big deal on Porsche’s for some reason. Even with documentation of why it was done, people still care. If one car is next to another one and one has paint work and the other doesn’t, most people on Rennlist would take the no paintwork car. The general public doesn’t care but dealers will find any reason to give you a lower trade in number.

ianmSC

That’s been my concern, even if the paintwork is flawless and not done because of an accident, a dealer will low ball me big time when it’s time to trade in. Then again, paying hundreds of dollars for paint correction and then $1600-1900 for a clear bra and having it look the same would be a pretty tough pill to swallow too. I’d imagine it’ll hide it a little bit, but having never had one, I’m not sure how much it’ll actually cover up.

JB 911

Talk to a good clear bra installer and ask his opinion. He may provide info to help you make up your mind. PS I always thought about trying to cook an egg on my car(not the Pcar!) during a really hot day, but now you guys have my thinking about it...

Guaji

I would drive up to Costa Mesa and ask Moe at Glistening Perfection for his opinion. Even if you end up not having it corrected there, I would value his insight.

jimmymoO

How bad is the damage? Is it through the clear coat? Are you able to feel the damage with your finger/fingernail? If so, paint correction likely won't fix the issue. You may be able to resolve it by doing touch up, wet sand, and polish. But at this point you are better off getting the fender re-painted.

That being said, if I was you, I'd take it to a professional detailer to have them evaluate the damage to see if polish can fix it. It appears you have some pretty bad swirl marks there already so even if you plan to install PPF, you need to get rid of those swirl marks first.

EDIT: If you plan to keep it for only another 3 years. Just get a polisher to polish as much out as possible and live on.

kuma1416

PPF likely won't do much to hide that, especially since they're white divots on a black car. You can test it out though- go online, buy a small amount of 3M PPF and apply it over that area. If it improves things, then remove it and take it to a pro installer to do the whole panel ( or of you're ambitious and frugal, do the whole thing yourself. Not difficult)

usccharles

I can be wrong but I believe anytime you repaint, the resale goes down. So if the decision is based on future resale value, there is your answer.

If it was my car, since you have minor scratches here and there already from normal wear and tear, I would spend the money to have a good detailer do a complete detail work on the car and then get it wrapped. You’ll be surprised how much that will clean things up.

I had my wife wife’s used vintage car fully detailed and PPF-ed and the look of the car now is night and day.

AF330i

I don’t know if this will help you but I had a bunch of paintchips on the rear fender/hip right above where the plastic from the factory is applied (right in front of the rear wheel). I thought I was totally screwed and would need to repaint the area. I went to my body shop and they wet sanded the area and incredibly most of the chips are gone. Not sure if this would work but even if it got 80% of it is gone you might be happy with the results.

vjd3

Ask a good detailer their opinion, maybe it can be touched up with one of those Dr. ColorChip or Langka products. If it were my car, and it took 3 months to even notice it, I'd just leave it be and not worry about it. If you're going to drive the car it will, inevitably, collect a few chips and dings along the way, so making it absolutely perfect today is no guarantee against something else happening tomorrow. I am usually relieved when I get the first ding or chip on a perfect car, I feel like it protects against further damage and I stop being concerned about it. As it is now it would have a negligible effect on the trade value, but if you paint it -- even if you pay cash for it and manage to keep it off the Carfax -- they can still put a meter on it and discover it. It's also not a great idea to put paint protection film on fresh paint, as it can lift it if you have to remove the film later for some reason. It costs thousands to wrap the entire car, and you sure won't see any of that back on a trade.

Jack F

Do what makes you happy now. I would take photos before, during and after the repaint. Have PPF applied after the appropriate time. Keep the documentation. When the time comes to sell, if it comes up, you will have the paperwork.