# Small bump but looking horrible :( Any tips?



## ashmo (Apr 23, 2012)

Had a very small slow reverse bump into another car after only having my TT for a month, I've tried to fix the 2 scuffs myself with some colour match paint but its looking crap so far 

Instructions Said

1. Wash Area - Which I did

2. Using the wet fine sand paper sand down the area - Which I did very lightly

3. Apply the paint - I done 3 coats and left to dry

4. Now I'm at this point (1 day dry time) it said to wait 2 - 3 days before polishing or anything but I don't think this is polish over?

Any tips to flatten it out so its looking a bit more even?

Before I wiped the dirt way - Not to bad
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/41/img0313ku.jpg

And after  
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/856/img0314ic.jpg


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## Hoggy (May 8, 2002)

Hi Ashmo, Oh dear.  
Best left to a Pro I think or start again with 3000 grit wetndry. Leaving it to a Pro will be best.
Hoggy.


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## tonksy26 (Jan 31, 2011)

If your not familiar with touching up then you should attempt it IMO. Looks like you've made it worse I'm affraid :?


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## ashmo (Apr 23, 2012)

hmmmmmm just tried to finnish it off now with the G3 Compound and re-polish its so crap don't think the paint match is very good, should I sand it back off and get some proper VAG spray paint instead?

Can't justify £80 for a tiny bump and not having my car for 3 days :/ I just paid £150 to get the front sills re-done not 2 weeks ago 

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/839/img0315rl.jpg/


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## Phil_RS (Mar 2, 2010)

Unfortunately I have to agree with the above comments. It looks like in needs sanding down and painting again.

Alternatively in you want more of a DIY you could look to get a second hand bumper in the right colour to fit


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## Phil_RS (Mar 2, 2010)

ashmo said:


> hmmmmmm just tried to finnish it off now with the G3 Compound and re-polish its so crap don't think the paint match is very good, should I sand it back off and get some proper VAG spray paint instead?
> 
> Can't justify £80 for a tiny bump and not having my car for 3 days :/ I just paid £150 to get the front sills re-done not 2 weeks ago
> 
> http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/839/img0315rl.jpg/


That's looking better but like you said it doesn't look like the right colour match. Where did you get the paint from? Surely it will also need a lacquer?


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## ashmo (Apr 23, 2012)

Got a kit of eBay gave my body paint colour so it should be an exact match.


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## robokn (Feb 21, 2006)

Step away from the car your doing more harm than good, FACT

Right harsh truth over, I would get a body shop to look at it as it need professional work, not you my friend you look as ham fisted as I am hence why I pay for people to do the jobs I can't as it will work out more in the end.

Harsh reality but true


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## muld77 (May 10, 2012)

Looking at the damage that will be a *insert swear word here* to repair completely (guess it depends how fussy you are) DIY, judging by the pictures it's pretty deep so no amount of paint layering will hide it completely. Also you haven't mentioned what clear coat you are planning on applying to it afterwards?

As has been mentioned that colour match is terrible, even if you do use the paint code it will be a slightly different colour depending on the condition of your existing paint and will certainly need blending in to be a good job, I doubt you have the expertise or equipment to do this (no offence, just basing this on your existing effort ).

Also bear in mind that if by some miracle you do manage to do a good looking job on it how long is it going to last? Are you going to be confident about protection in the long term, if that rusts you could be looking at a rather expensive bill for a new bumper.

A GOOD body shop will want between £150 and £250 (depending how bad it really is) to do a complete bumper respray which is the option I would go for personally, where are you based? Think of it this way, if you had a mechanical problem would you try and guess a fix for the sake of a couple hundred quid? TT's aren't super cheap to run so a repair bill of £200 should be something expected from time to time.

Looking at second pic it does look a lot better, you could get a quote for a touch up, however most companies offering this service tend to not like it when people have had a go at fixing it themselves as it created more work.

Hope you don't think I'm having a go here btw, just trying to convince you the best course of action (IMO of course).


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## LordG71 (Jan 10, 2012)

Hey Ashmo, I agree with the others, go get it looked at by a body shop. However, hats off to you for having a go. Unless you try you are never too sure...but a have attempted the holy-grail of jobs - paintwork. Unless you do this day-in-day-out then i would stop before the job for the body shop job gets bigger.


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## ashmo (Apr 23, 2012)

Ye took it to my local body shop today they quoted £120 for it :/ I can't justify that for a 2mph bump and the fact is that when I bought the car I had both front wings re-sprayed and a large scuff on the rear offside corner done for £130 60miles down the road...


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## ScoobyTT (Aug 24, 2009)

Try them again then...? :?:


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## Gone (May 5, 2009)

If the worst case scenario is you have to pay £200-300 to have the bumper sprayed anyway, you might as well spend £20 on some paint and grit paper and have a go yourself. What better opportunity to learn a new skill to save yourself a few bob in future? Good effort trying!


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## SVStu (Dec 11, 2006)

As its completely ducked can you not just mask off the remaining new paint and continue with the cutting compound till you get back to the original top coat?? It cant look any worse can it???

When I touch up the motorbike I see what will polish out first then use a touch up pen with a toothpick to apply directly into the chip/scratch. If the new paint is proud of the old wait till its gone off but not hardened and very lightly polish at 90 deg to the scratch to remove the excess and still leave some in the scratch. Then clear coat with a toothpick again.

I'm sure its not as good as a full professional respray but it lessens the scratch so your eye isnt drawn to it.

On the plus side at least its plastic so wont rust  As you can tell its not my day job  .

Best of luck whatever route you go for.


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## tom2018 (Mar 26, 2011)

The is a guide on here somewhere abour repairing stone chips, but they way its done ment that the front bumper was sanded down, he lists all the stuff you need and how to do it correctly, i would read that then have another go as having all the correct bits ou need should help

Tom


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## tom2018 (Mar 26, 2011)

Found the guide he emailed to me, hope he doesnt mind me sharing it, its by serendipitous, pm him he may be ale to advise further?

You seriously can do this yourself with great results (Easily as good as a body shop) I read a response to your inquiry about where to find paint. Was interested to see someone had this done for thirty quid!!!!! Must have been a mate or something cause there isn't a sprayer in the land who would do the job for the cost of the materials - impossible. You'd be charged about £150 minimum up to £450 cause they would want to respray the WHOLE bumper.

If your car is the same as mine (Denim Blue) the paint code is LZ5W of which there are two tones. Check in your boot by the spare wheel. There's a sticker with the code on it.

FORGET Halfords - they're idiots and only use standard paint codes, which means they will mix a standard colour, without realising there are two tones and they're very sloppy at mixing. (From experience)

Look for a local auto-refinisher who mixes custom aerosols - they generally sell body panels as well. If there's a local one, take the car and they will use a colour 'swatch' to match the tone to the original. I use A M Panels and Paints in Walthamstow East London. Sure you could find a local one. Expect to pay about £14.00 plus the cost of a can of clear coat - about £7.00. You'll also need a couple of sheets of 800 grade wet and dry and a can of grey primer. Fade Out Spray from Halfords. Don't forget, you can use this over and over again - sills for example. Wing mirrors. Lower valance, whatever.

Your job:

Your pic shows the clear coat has come away, exposing the base coat underneath. Your main problem is the EDGE of the clear coat where it is on a different level to the base coat. You need to get rid of this edge completely. Here's how;

Bucket of hot soapy water with Fairy liquid in it. Use 800 wet and dry (Open the bonnet) and sand across the edge of the clear coat until you cant feel an edge at all. It doesn't matter if you go through the base coat beside it, cause your going to re-spray it. Sand down the entire cross piece and down the sides beside the grill but don't sand below the bottom of the grill - tell you why later.

When all is smooth (And totally mat in appearance dry the whole sanded area after wiping off all the sanding dust with a leather.

Next:

Mask off the lights and all areas where you don't want over spray. Use the grey primer to prime the area overlapping where the clear coat has peeled off. You can tell by eye how you're covering this nicely. Gently use a heat gun or sunshine to dry the primer thoroughly. Then gently sand it down across the overlap until all the levels are the same. You will obviously have paint either side which will be mat cause you've sanded it all.

Get fresh hot water and soap. Place the cans in the hot water to warm up. The can you have had mixed and the clear coat. 10 mins is enough. TEST the can you've had mixed on a sheet of paper to make sure the nozzle is spraying cleanly and evenly. Use your common sense and from about six inches away spray the colour onto the primed area and slightly beyond to blend on to the existing paint and clear coat. Thin coates and about five of them until you can see uniformity between the new paint and the old. Leave this to dry for fifteen minutes approx.

You will need to clear coat the entire top below the bonnet and down the sides of the grill using the same process as for painting BUT BUT BUT!!!!

DON'T try and get a glossy lovely finish in one hit or you seriously risk a run in the clear coat. Build up layers - about 4 leaving about 5 minutes between layers. The job at this point will look mat and CRAP. But it's GREAT.

One thing - You will stop the clear coat down the sides of the grill before you reach the bumper. After you have clear coated to this area you will have fresh clear coat meeting old clear coat at the point where the sides met the bumper. You can't leave it like that. As soon as you've clear coated the sides, you use the fade out spray on the overlap between the old clear coat and the new. You have to be so careful with this as if you just spray away, you'll get a run. Just two brief passes with the fade out will be enough to blend the old clear coat into the new and create a seamless joint.

Now leave the job overnight to go hard.

Next day, the job will look like egg shell and horrible. Take soapy water and 800 wet and dry and sand the job to an even flat surface (It will go mat) Then use a light rubbing compound to buff up the shine.


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