body work

[ripper46]

I've got a smal dent and a scratch about 10cm long on the same panel (red zone on pic, you can see the dent). I figured I might get it repaired because only 1 "small" part needs to be resprayed. the door can just be taken off and be worked on. this would make the paint and the bodywork on my car nearly perfect besides some stone chips on the hood (I think its best to wait untill I can find another one in the same color in better condition , there only 60-70 euro's. So , my question , if it can be answered... for the door only, what would (approximately, ball park figure) be the cost of repairing this.
Considering a labour rate of 30 euros/hour. I'm guessing the door has to come out , then the dents has to be "hammered" out, and a respray of the read circled area...

edit: the area is under the black doortrim, so the lower part of that door. paint is metallic, dunno if that matters...

[chris98891]

well the door wouldnt have to come out to do the dent, and i feel like a respray wouldnt work because the other paint would have already weathered and the new paint wouldnt match. do you know your paint code? if so, check out Auto Visuals. They sell paint pens that are specific to your paint code and also sell clearcoat pens so it fits in. personally, id try that first as its inexpensive and less laborous. i used an autosharp pen on a few places on my black car and it looks great.

[ripper46]

I know my colourcode, and your probably right that the door hasn't got to come out, maybe its handier ot work on then?
I also considered using a pen for the stonechips, would it help if I waxed /polished the car after I did the paint pen thing, to get a smoother finish...?

edit: can't they match the paint to the present colour?

[chris98891]

im not sure how well they can match the paint, but i had a few dents in my door and i was ableto remove the door panel and get around the window and have a professional hammer them out for me. and i used the pen for all the chips on my hood and i would def. recommend a wax. the first time i did it i actually put on too much and had to get a polishing compound and cut it out. i would definitely recommend the clearcoat pen too, as i dont have it and my chips are more noticeable because they dont reflect light, they are just the flat color. but if you do get it, definitely use it sparingly and practice with it first, that was my mistake. even though some of the spots are kinda crappy up close, you would never notice them from 5 feet away.

[ripper46]

i looked at the autovisuals site, looks like quality stuff

[chris98891]

oh and i found an answer on the metallic question:
Q. I have a metallic green car. Will the AutoSharp Pen match the color of my car?
A. Metallic and Tri-Coat paints will always look different touched up versus sprayed on. When spraying these paints, the metallic flakes will spread out and lay down differently. If you touch up these paints, the metallic and pearls will look more condensed, since there is no air behind the painting process.
AutoVisuals makes your paint to the manufactures specifications, so the color match will always be consistently good.

[ripper46]

I know that certain colors are prone to fading, such as red on older cars.
Do you think my metallic grey will have changed enough to notice the difference? until I bought it, the car stood in a garage and was regularly taken to a car wash.

[chris98891]

now that im not sure about i wouldnt be much help. i dont feel like it would be that noticeable, but id hate for you to get it painted for 3-400 bucks and see that its 2 shades darker.

[ripper46]

Originally Posted by chris98891

now that im not sure about i wouldnt be much help. i dont feel like it would be that noticeable, but id hate for you to get it painted for 3-400 bucks and see that its 2 shades darker.

3-400 bucks for such a small suface

[Matra et Alpine]

If you have a professional bodyshop do the door, they will colour-match the paint perfectly using a colour-measuring instrument and mixing from their stock of colours.

If it's not deep then consider finding if any "dent repair" franchise companies are operating in your area. These are doing roaring business in the UK as they are cheap and very good

Go get quotes. If the dent can be knocked out without stripping the door down then expect ~£150. If they have to strip the door to beat the panel then add another £50-£100 Dent repair compnay can likely do it for £100 total if the dent can be reached with their special tools. Scratches and chips work out roughly £50-100 per panel versus £200-400 for full respray !

FInally remember to take into accoutn the risk of additional damage later on. No point spending LOTS of money if within a month someone will ding it again -- I've driven in Belgium

[ripper46]

Originally Posted by Matra et Alpine

FInally remember to take into accoutn the risk of additional damage later on. No point spending LOTS of money if within a month someone will ding it again -- I've driven in Belgium

that's the main reason of doubt, but now that you guys have givven me an idea about the costs... the doubt is even bigger

[my porsche]

Originally Posted by Matra et Alpine

If they have to strip the door to beat the panel then add another £50-£100

My advice, do it yourself. I had to take mine off to replace my power window regulator, took about 15 minutes. Granted American cars are very simple, so for a vee dub with some sort of service manual I can't imagine it taking more than an hour.

[johnnynumfiv]

If the dent is shallow enough, it can just be filled. If it is deep they can use a dent puller to pull it out enough to fill it, which can be done from the outside so they won't have to take the door off. But if the door gap is fine, and the moulding hasn't moved, the dent probably isn't big enough to need to be pulled out.
As for the paint, at my shop we would blend the color into bottom part of the quarter just behind the door if the dent is about a foot from the edge of the door, and depending on how far forward the damage is, blend into the fender also. Ask the shop if they will blend the adjacent panels or just panel paint that section. Panel painting on the side of the car will be quite obvious and look wrong.

As for the fading, the color won't fade because it's under the clearcoat. It's the clear coat that fades and discolors. If the paint is in good condition and shiny, it shouldn't be a problem.

As for numbers of hours it should be about 4 to do the repair and about 2 or 3 for painting and other miscellaneous things.

Btw, I do autobody work for a living.

[Rasmus]

I agree with what has been said above. My BMW got the entire hood, the trunk lid, the left front wheel arch, the lower part of the right rear door and the front and rear bumpers resprayed when I imported it. Also, some dents had to be pulled and filled out as well. There was a slight difference after I got it back from the painter, but they suggested I used some Sonax polish and some elbow grease, and it came out great. Granted, it's not a metallic paint, but it still matches perfectly. You can't see that it's a car with both 8 year old paint as well as 1 month old.

[Quiggs]

You can pop the door panel off in about 15 minutes, maybe less. Take off the lock cap, and all the trim. Remove the screws from the sides. Pull panel carefully.