My apologies for making my first post to this site under such unfortunate circumstances, but I'm hoping to get some advice from veteran MINI owners concerning scratch repair.




As you can see from the image above, this scratch is either the product of an unfortunate mistake or the intentional act of some soulless bastard. Regardless of the cause, my wife and I would like to get this scratch fixed immediately, but due to tight finances we will probably have to wait a few months until we can save the estimated cost of getting it repaired.
So here's my main question: Will waiting a couple of months to get the paint fixed do irreparable harm? If waiting will be bad for little guy, we'll probably bite the bullet and get the poor guy fixed as soon as possible. However, my wife and I have already, in half jest, have named our new MINI DB Cooper due the amount of money he 'steals' from our checking account each month. That's not to say that being able to drive such a wonderful vehicle isn't worth every penny, just that we'd be very grateful to know if there is an option that will buy us a bit of time until we can comfortably afford the repair.

On a somewhat related note, my wife and I, like many of you, have developed a nearly irrational level of attachment to our baby since the first day we drove him off the lot. After driving a beat up Ford Escort for the last seven years of graduate school, it represents the first nice thing that we've been able to do for ourselves since graduating. However, we're beginning to experience a great deal of dissonance with our MINI owners enthusiasm since we're now afraid that it may become a magnet for expensive repairs at the mercy of any careless idiot or vindictive jerk looking to vent their frustrations with life. At least when we drove a beater car we could leave it parked in just about any circumstances with little to no concern. I'm sure that 10 years from now it won't be an issue, but it's hard for us to reconcile keeping the little guy in pristine condition if we're going to have to pay a couple hundred dollars each time a scratch or ding appears. Do any of you more experienced MINI owners have any philosophical thoughts after having to deal with this issue?

 

Well, it's obviously "the intentional act of some soulless bastard". It shouldn't hurt the car to leave paint that way for a while, though that will be very hard to do.

About the only thing I can do is sympathize. I have an 86 Madza pickup I often drive when I would rather be driving my MINI, just so I can park it without worry. The envy in worthless arseholes does seem to be directed at MINIs in a greater than normal amount. One of the hazards of owning something different. I'd like to say something comforting, but unfortunately the supply of jealous idiots keeps increasing and isn't likely to change.

 

insurance?

Despite having to pay a deductible, it may be the way to go.This is considered a hit and run and will not impact your insurance.Notify them and let them file a report with the RMV as soon as possible.You will be visited by an adjuster and a claim will be innitiated. If you want to get this done yourself and bite the bullet, a light skim coat of vaseline in the area of the scratch applied with a Q tip will fight off any continueing damage until you can get it fixed.I just went through this with my car: full length scratch down the driver's side, cost me the 500 deductible to get it fixed.Do some research in your area for a reputable body shop and take it to them for an estimate which you can use as leverage for negotiating with the the adjustment company down the road.Good luck, I feel your pain. Jock

 

Is the scratch just the clear coat, through the clear coat to the base coat, or all the way to bare metal? If it is only the clear coat you can wet sand the scratch with 1500 grit paper and buff the scratch out being very careful not to sand through the clear coat. A detail shop or body shop can do this for you if you are uncomfortable sanding your Mini. If it is through the clear coat to the base coat leaving the scratch until later for repair is not an issue as long as you can stomach the appearance. If it is to bare metal, I suggest that you get it repaired as quickly as possible or maintain a barrier, such as vasoline, on the bare metal to protect it from corrosion.

 

For what I can see, that was no accident. The car was definetely keyed

You have a few options at your disposal:

Contact a quality body shop and get a written estimate. The body shop approach most likely will be to re-spray the affected panel.

However, there is a cheaper path of least resistance and I highly encourage you to look into having the scratch repair via "air brush" method. Why? Because it is substantially cheaper than a full body shop re-spray job, can be done in 30 minutes to 1 hour while you wait (Home or Office) and best of all, you will not lose use of the vehicle while repairs are being done.

Contact AEROCOLOURS and see if they have a local mobile service rep in your area:

http://www.aerocolours.com/services.html

These people can do wonders with repairing scuffs, bumper scratches, body panel scratches and paint chips.

This approach is better because you will preserve most of the factory paint job intact in the affected area. Keep in mind that full body panel paint re-sprays will negatively affect your resale value, because a re-paint implies that the car has sustained accident damage (Obviously this is not the case).


Last but not least, any new car today, regardless of make, model or point of origin will be expensive to repair. It is just the way ot is. If this incident had happened on a cheap KIA, the cost of repairs would have been the same. Don't blame the car, blame the bastards that inflict damage intentionally on other people's property.

Best of luck and let us know how it goes.

 

Also while you are at it, you need to remove the wax from those plastic wheel arches. That really makes the car look 10 years older than it really is!

 

I personally advice against filing an insurance claim for a seemingly minor repair like this. Assuming they have a $250-$500 deductible on their policy that will likely be much more than the cost of getting the scratch repaired with a mobile air brush service (Aerocolours), if they decide to go that way about fixing it.

Also, by getting the insurance involved you risk having your premiums increased on the next policy renewal. Save that insurance for when you really need it, not to fix scratches and minor paint chips.

 

Bet you didn't know you were going to get detailing advice too! Sorry about the scratch, some people have no respect!

 

A little advise on removing the wax at this point. Please do not use anything that is silicone based to remove/conceal the wax residue until after the paint scratch is repaired. Application of any silicone based product near the area of repair could make the paint repair very difficult for the repairer (is that a word?) possibly causing "fisheye" issues with the final paint application. Just something to think about.

 

Sorry you got keyed :( Idiots.

Anyway, I would second the plug for Aero Colours. I'm about to have them do the hood of my commuter before I sell it and it's a LOT cheaper than going to a body shop and having the full work done the hard way.

 

sorry to see that...

that looks exactly like wat my wife got when she took my brand new
black Legacy (was only weeks old) to some discount supermarket (Meijir)
locally. i filled mine with touch up and wetsanded it. i can
still tell its there from some angles. Im going to have that door repainted
in a few years as i collect more wear.

If you want that completely repaired, you need to take it to a body
shop and have them sand and paint the entire panel and then
clear coat the other adjacent panels.

 

The body shop route is expensive, long and unfortunately will have an impact on resale value. When you start talking about full panel re-sprays that involve matching adjacent panels you are getting yourself into murky waters.

I would give Aerocolours a shot and see what they have to say. To my eyes the scope of the damage does not warrant basically repainting the whole car...

 

naw, if you're picky as i am there is no way i would use a
touchup service especially for a scratch that long... i'd just do the
repair on my own and just leave it (touchup and sand, polish)
or have it professionally repaired at a bodyshop.

ive seen touchups done by similar mobile touchup places. you
can definitely tell that it was touched up. by visual check and
by touch.

one reason why i didn't train for air brushing and professionally trained
for PDR. it's either PDR or do a full bodyshop repair. in betweens are
just that. if it's a commuter car that you don't really care, im sure
those touchups will do you just fine.

 

Thanks for the info folks. To answer a few of your questions, the scratch is definitely through the clear coat and into the paint. There isn't any bare metal exposed, but it looks like it is down to the primer.
I also appreciate C4's gentle ribbing about the wax on the wheel arches. Getting wax on them was the first mistake I made as a new MINI owner. The peanut butter trick works for about a week. As you can see from the picture the problem comes back if we skip the weekly cleaning.
I already got the scratch checked out by my insurance company. The estimate they provided was just under our $500 deductible. I'll probably get it fixed in two months, but I guess the real fear that something like this will happen once or twice a year.

Just to summarize your feedback here:

In the short term:
1) Put a light skim coat of Vaseline on the scratch until we can get it fixed.
2) Avoid using anything that is silicone based to remove/conceal the wax residue until after the paint scratch is repaired.

Repair options:
1) Just bite the bullet and take it to the repair shop. Pros: It will look like new. Cons: it will affect the resale value of the car.

2) Use an "air brush" service like AEROCOLOURS. Pros: it's is substantially cheaper and more convenient so I could probably do it sooner. Cons: it will not fully restore the car's paint job.

3) Try to fix it myself. Pros: cheapest quickest option. Cons: I have no experience with how to do this and don't look forward to using our new car as a guinea pig.

So this leaves me with two questions that hopefully one of you can address.

1) If I use the Vaseline, will the residue cause problems if we use an airbrush service?

2)If we use the airbrush service and are dissatisfied with the results, will it preclude us from taking it to a body shop to get the whole panel repainted?

I imagine that the answer is no to both of these, but I'm hoping that maybe one of you can speak from experience.[FONT=Arial][/FONT]

 

Im not sure why you would use vaseline. that's the stuff my son used
on his peepee gun right after birth ... ya know.

I would use wax.

It might be worth a try (at your expense) to see if you can
get it air brushed. If it looks okay to you, heck just leave it.

considering that your MINI is your daily car, i can almost guarantee
that something will happen to it again. its just part of life.
if you recall, my daily driver (06 civic) got hit in the parking lot
by a UPS truck just 650miles or so after ownership... lol

 

Try touchup123.com
Easy fix............
With a little effort you may be able to effect a satisfactory repair without emptying your pocket.

with a little more effort......
A better job could be had with,
http://www.langka.com/index.cfm?page...cts.cfm&cat=78

 

It's my understanding that the airbrush fix isn't permanent, but I'm not sure. Considering you have a metallic paint, any kind of touch up fix isn't going to be easy, and please, please, please, don't take Kens advice and start wetsanding your paint.

Nobody should EVERY wetsand their MINI, use the wifes SUV! JK.

Seriously, wetsanding will leave the fixed area and it's surroundings hazy and cloudy and if you don't know how to remove them, your fix will look much worse in the end. And note, that if you aren't REALLY careful with the sandpaper, you might instill grooves in your paint that only a repaint can fix.

I don't know where the reference to Vaseline came from. If the scratch is only down to the primer, just leave it. No need to fill it in with anything.

As far as the post about the silicone, while that's true, I can't think of any silicone product one might apply to the scratch???

Fixing a keyed scratch really requires repainting. I disagree that having the panel repainted will affect resale value. I mean, how much value will you lose if you don't fix it? I'd say a lot more.

 

vaseline would remove wax. it is a petroleum distillate it just is gunky.

 

New update after thinking about ergonomics.

The S-curve of the line is immensely more along the lines of human hands vs machine. That is the exagerated curve of someone with their wrist turned fully outwards as you cannot steady yourself easily in that position while drawing.

Someone tall who was right handed walked by while he was worried about being watched. They are avoidant and jealous, angry against the machine but too much of a wimp to really do the deed ever. Probably have only one girlfriend that actually likes / liked them. Unpleasant person who fades into the background for lack of generative qualities. Age isnt obvious, but keying is very immature. Too bad in america, the is no standard of excellence for social maturity. otherwise, one could guess more accurately the age of the person. They do not really dislike you, they hate everyone and are fearful of getting caught for it. They are probably non violent. They most likely do not know you for its obivious lack of commitment in the vandalism.

Hehe.

That is my intuitive extrapolation based upon years of watching ***holes and quite a few being a psychotherapist.

 

"Someone tall who was right handed walked by while he was worried about being watched. They are avoidant and jealous, angry against the machine but too much of a wimp to really do the deed ever. Probably have only one girlfriend that actually likes / liked them. Unpleasant person who fades into the background for lack of generative qualities. Age isnt obvious, but keying is very immature. Too bad in america, the is no standard of excellence for social maturity. otherwise, one could guess more accurately the age of the person. They do not really dislike you, they hate everyone and are fearful of getting caught for it. They are probably non violent. They most likely do not know you for its obivious lack of commitment in the vandalism."

"Why, Mr. Holmes, that is amazing", said Dr. Watson.

 

Gif- did you ever get your car fixed?


octaneguy- looks like im better with touchups than you?

 

I acquired a scratch on my body color mirror housing. It appears someone scratched with a watch or some other hard object. The scratch was through the clear coat but not into the primer. I tried Scratch-X. It did nothing. I then used Quixx Repair System. First, I washed the area. Then sanded it with the supplied 3000 sanding strip. I then applied Quixx Polish #1 and rubbed it in for 2 minutes. Let it sit a few minutes then wiped off the residue, per the instructions. Then I applied Quixx Polish #2 and rubbed it to a shine. It worked! Despite the fact that the scratch was pretty deep, you have to look very closely now, and know exactly where to look, to see anything. Finally, I Hydro'd the area.

Quixx Polish #1 also instantly took off a stubborn black rub line that a couple of other things had no effect on.

 

LOVE the nickname you gave your MINI!!!

 

I've never heard of Quixx products...where'd did you buy it? Do you remember the cost?

 

Auto Sport Catalog. I don't remember the price, but believe it was around $20. The kit comes with 4 sander strips (3000 grit), 2 cotton cloths, one tube each of Polish #1 and #2. http://www.quixx-usa.com/