Well now. Noticed it when I got out of work last night.




At first I thought it was just an accident. You know, someone's purse dragging on my hood, but then I noticed another just as big key mark on the other side of the hood. I then went through a cycle these emotions in about 15 seconds.

Any idea how to take care of this? I don't want it to start to rust, since it's pretty deep. Would touch up paint do the trick?

On the extreme side, how much would it cost to get the whole hood repainted?

, Jurrell

 

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..Park it in the same place again....lay in wait with a Smith &Wesson.....aim for the *****

 

UGH! That is horrible! I'm so sorry to see that

 

Ughhhhh. Sux Man.

Sorry to hear. I'm going through similar crap myself. I know how you feel.

 

You might be able to buff most of it out, depending on how deep the scratch goes. If it's down to the metal, you will definately want to do something... some touch-up paint and clear-coat... to keep water and dirt out of it. Because you have a metallic paint, it's never going to look like new... metallic touch-up paints never lay the metal flake down in the exact same way as the factory sprayers. Hand polishes like Meguiars Scratch-x might help too to minimize the look of the scratch, but they aren't going to remove it.

It may take a professional-strength buffer to do the work... something that isn't good to have in the hands of a non-professional. I'd find the best detailing shop you can find and ask them about it.

I think that a bonnet respray is about $400.... maybe more, maybe less, depending on the shop you use and the quality you can expect from them.

 

I go out of my car to park my car in the very back of the parking spaces, wash it with it's 40* out too keep the salt off the paint, and something like this happens.


I don't like people any more.

 

 

from the pic I'm seeing, it kinda looks like the edge of the 3M protection film, do you have that installed on your car? I guess I'm thinking that cuz you said it was on both sides.....I hate finding new scratches/dents on my ride, especially when I didn't do them!!!!

 

Jurrell, what's the chance it was a zipper on someone's jacket, leaning over from both sides to peer into the cabin?

 

Thank you for this information. I think I'm going to lay some painters tape on the marks temporarily until I can pick up some touch up paint at the dealer.

 

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...any video panning the lot?.....not hard to set up.....

 

It could be possible, but I think it might of been a key. There was paint flakes at the very top of both key marks. Like a upward movement of the key.

No 3M tape on my car, I wish I did have some on though.



Here's the same key mark from a different angle


and the other side of the hood. It's harder to see.

 

I don't blame you. I was at a friend's a couple of weeks ago who was having a party and there were kits there who were running around playing tag and I didn't even like the fact that they were near my car so I had to move it. Just watching them was giving me anxiety!

I wonder if you had a clear bra, would it help in situations like this? i.e Would it make it harder for someone to scratch your car? I would think so...might be a good investment for the future...

 

Bleh...this makes me sick to read. I am so sorry. This happened to my VW Beetle last year, and the most frustrating part is that there's not a thing we can do (Meaning...there's not a person we can whack in the head for it I say whack in the head because I'm trying to be nice)
I feel your pain...I just got an '08 OB/B Mini and would feel just as you do.

 

It might have been Zod

 

Disgruntled co-worker?

 

Very sorry to hear. Honestly, if the scratches are rather deep, just bite the bullet, and get the hood repainted, because then you will at least have peace of mind that the hood is back to perfect condition.

 

Apparently the "keyer" wasn't too angry with you because if that is indeed a keying, they weren't very deliberate. You can usually tell in which direction the keying occurs because of the depth of the initial cut. Also since it was only only the bonnet, and not front to back, it's less costly to fix.

I don't think you're going to be happy with doing touchup. You're going to see a line of touch up paint--no way will you match the existing metallic flake.

Bonnet respray would be my suggestion for the best fix, then set up some motion sensitive cameras and lighting near your car to catch the perpetrator. Course you could ask a body shop to see if they can sand the scratch out too--depending on how deep it is.

One of my good detailing friends has a young neighbor who speeds through their complex. One day he yelled at her to F**ing slow down. The next day, his car was keyed with F words all over his car--sides, hood, trunk---had to repaint his entire car, and no proof that she was the culprit.

Your situation could have been a lot worse.

Richard

 

My car is chili red and had a similar scratch by my wiper vents.I was able to hand buff out with a product called "safe cut" from the wax shop. It isn't noticable now-maybe this can save you some cash?

 

URGGGG!!! Why are other people so jealous of our MINIs?

I can't help you with pricing on a repaint - but when my Cabrio was keyed from front to back - DEEP - it was close to $3K to get fixed. I realize yours is not that bad but still...it stinks and MEAN PEOPLE SUCK...

Donna

 

iI believe that somewhere on this site was something about a paint pen? I never ascertained whether iit worked, but look under one of the othe rheadings

 

So sorry to hear about your misfortune. It sux that we have to deal with these types of crimes. As OG says, be thankful it wasn't a lot worse.

Not that it diminishes your loss in any way, but those marks don’t look like keying to me. They look more like someone leaning or sitting on the bonnet and sliding off with something sharp on their pants or something similar. Keying in public places is usually a front to back motion along the side of the car so that it looks like the perp is merely walking by. If getting caught isn’t a concern then the marks are often on the hood (or trunk when applicable) and are back and forth. If your right that the marks go from bottom to top, then maybe someone was leaning against it and stood up? I don’t know, it just doesn’t make sense to key a car vertically like that. Good luck.

 

I know what you mean. Seems to me that the harder you try to keep something nice, the more enjoyment some butthead gets out of ruining it. Fortunately most people aren't like that.

 

Anybody who would key somebody's car has some serious 'issues' to deal with.

 

try to use the new turtle wax ICE in paste did miracle for me