My husband thought he would surprise me and install a new door on house. He leaned it up against the garage door. You probably see where this is going. Forgot and hit the automatic garage door opener the steel door and frame came down on the MINI hitting the spoiler roof and rear quarter. I'm a MINI owner who won't even let the dealer wash my car now I have to take it to an autobody shop. I may need therapy before this is over. I have good insurance and I'm taking it to the shop that MINI recommended but people keep scaring me that pure silver will never match. Can anyone give me any tips to tell the painter or???

Here are some pics. I've since polished the white paint away but the dents are in terrible spots.
Thanks for the support
Donna

 

ouch.

yah, if those white lines are primer you need it filled/sanded/painted.
PDR can't fix that.

i would ck where your dealer recommends as far as bodywork. luckily
for me, my dealer has its own bodyshop nearby so i've yet to hear
anyone complain about color match.

the only thing about aftermarket paint is it's usually much softer than
factory.... so more care needs to be taken afterwards.

 

Yikes! So sorry!

Where are you located? You might consider getting personal recommendations from NAM'ers or Yelp.com vs. dealership for a good body shop. I took my BMW to their recommended place, and 2 or 3 do-overs later, I gave up. First bubbles, then dust, then not polished. I think they painted the car outside! There were tons of late model BMWs outside this place, but that is no indication of good quality work. They did a terrible job, and were recommended because they were pals, not because of good work!

I also had work done on my lime green beetle. The #>@( guy ordered the paint and did the panel. the color did not match, I could see it a across the street! And I was SOL, as insurance won't cover the repair again, even though patently wrong.

Maybe you could have the whole panel and not just the dings/scratches done? Although a *good* shop will blend the paint. Custom paint/vintage cars might be good referal sources too.

Good luck, and please forgive your husband. They know not what they do.

 

so, looks like poor mini44 is back to square one.

 

Hi Donna,
I have that color and hit a deer w/my 2005 MCS
and wiped out the front end.
A great shop assured me of a good match and it was.
Good luck, and sleep well.
Al.

 

I agree - try Yelp.com. I needed to find a good independant shop recently and Yelp directed me to a great place that did awesome work and I feel like I can totally trust. If I needed bodywork, I would do the same thing.

 

Phew thanks

 

Yep that's primer. My dealer is the most respected around and they say they send 5-6 MINIs per week, so they should know jet black and pure silver.
I may try crying a bit when I drop it off there tomorrow.

 

Thanks, I appreciate the help but I'm in Canada.

 

yah.... good luck with that mini44.

 

OH my gosh, my heart just sunk for you. What makes it worse is that hubby did it, so you can't really get mad. UGH!

Good luck getting it fixed, I'm hoping that the shop does a great job!

 

I'm from Canada, outside of Winnipeg. Before I moved down here to the St.Louis area, my MINI and I went hard into a ditch, no mechanical damage, no dents, but lots of scratches, and the body shop the dealer sent me to did a great job. Took them a while, but it was worth the wait.

Were are you from? From your sig. pic. looks like the Calgary area maybe.

Mark

 

Are you positive that the white marks are primer? Looking at the third picture in your post, those really look like paint transfer marks to me. Was the door that fell against the car white, by any chance?

 

The white paint did come off with a polish, except for the deep gouges,but what is hard to see in the photo are the dents that were left about a 1/8 inch deep.

 

I'm in the Fraser Valley about 1 hour east of Vancouver. I took it in to Vancouver this morning. It felt like kind of a production shop, but they do a lot of Mini's. All I can do is hope for the best. I was up late last night making it look just perfect, so they know I care.

 

Thankyou for the well wishes! I couldn't get mad, he looked like someone had died when I got home, white and sickly. There was a giant bouquet of flowers with the insurance claim number on the card. It was almost funny telling people that know me and have yet to see my car dirty in the last 2 years. Their wide-eyed gasping reactions made me realize I may be a tad bit ****.

 

Well, I got my MINI back on the weekend. I didn't expect to be so emotional but when I pulled up and the guy's tennis shoes were sticking out the passenger door and he's saying those guys and their greasy hands it kinda set me back. The pure silver matches great and they blended very well. There is still a bit of a dent if you look really close but I can live with it.
The roof however looks like crap. I hope it doesn't need a redo and will just polish out. What do you guys think?

 

Post some pics, but if you're not happy with the repair, I say drive it over to the dealership that recommended the shop and ask a service advisor if those results are typical. If the dealership feels the work is substandard, and you have a good service advisor that is willing to take care of you, he will call the shop and tell them to make it right.

Also, yes, cry a little... it's a cheap trick, but this is your baby! I'm sure you've already been shedding tears over this process, there's no reason you shouldn't use them to your advantage! I know that I cried over a ding that PDR took care of just fine, largely because I was terrified over having to have the bonnet airbrushed because Viola is also pure silver.

Good luck!

 

+1
YOu should absolutely positively take it back and have them work on it until you are 100% satisfied. This is after all, your insurance that is paying for it. It is BS, IMO, that you should have to polish out the top yourself in the hopes that it'll look good. Tell them about NAM and the recommendation or whatever-the-opposite-of-recommendation is you could give them to the entire community. Too bad you have to drive an hour again. You might want to think about not closing out the insurance claim, if that is possible. Might give you some leverage?

 

Can you get a couple shots a bit further back from the car? I think you're a bit too close with the camera. It still looks like there is white paint on your roof... you've got to be kidding me... after they "repaired" it, they left paint on the roof?

If that's the case, take it back and do so now. There is no excuse for that.