minor scratch repair

[majic]

I was backing out of a parking space and t-boned a sienna.. it was at like 3km/h but still there\'s a pretty big scratch on my mom\'s accord (meh there was a scratch there aleady from b4) BUT the lady\'s sienna has 2 about 10-15cm by 2-4mm scratches on the PLASTIC body moulding.. she didn\'t knwo what to do so called husband yad yad yada.. exchanged information and home i went.. a little unhappy tho :(

if there\'s anything to be done they\'ll call me.. no biggie.. it was my fault.. there\'s NO dents or anything.. just the \'champagne\' paint peeled off and revaled grayish plastic colour body moulding.

so a few questions here.. how much could i expect this to cost? i know we get free tocuh up paint and i guess even for 5 bux i can get one from toyota or something but what about \'labour\'? how much time would this take? can you guys recommend someone to get an estimate or where to get this done? I kinda feel silly doing all this b/c it is really minor but i couldn\'t even run since she blocked me off :D j/k

so yah.. any input would be good.. thanks!

Ps. also should i go to her house now and take a pic of the sienna for documentation purposes so they don\'t go and scratch up the whole right side moulding? anything else i should do?

EDIT: here.. if it helps the part that got scratched was the front door bottom piece (grey)
her car was burgundy (here green) with champagne (here grey) moulding..

http://www.photo.net/photo/pcd4554/kents-corner-toyota-60.3.jpg

[Newlook]

Taking pictures of both damaged vehicles at the scene would help... Did she ask for a proper repair (such as getting the bumper repainted)? Or \"don\'t worry about it\"?

[majic]

unfortunately i did not have my camera with me.. that\'s why i\'m thinking of going over there to take a pic of the damage.. it sux but there\'s more visible damage on the accord than on the sienna :(

she said she\'d have to talk to her husband and see b/c she didn\'t know what to do..

[Melenium]

Not a clue about the plastic on the Sienna. You may want to log onto a Saturn board and ask them how they deal with scratches in their plastic \"dent-resistant\" panels. If the plastic itself is dyed instead of painted you may just be able to get a body shop to sand it down or something... who knows

As for the Accord, if the clearcoat was just scratched, go out and grab some Turtlewax Rubbing compound.. that stuff is amazing for fixing up small stuff. If the paint itself was actually scratched off you can try a paint pen.. if it still sucks the whole bumper may need repainting which is between $400 and $600 depending where you go.

[Xenon]

Originally posted by Melenium

As for the Accord, if the clearcoat was just scratched, go out and grab some Turtlewax Rubbing compound.. that stuff is amazing for fixing up small stuff.


WATCH IT WITH THIS STUFF!!! make sure it says clear coat safe... if not it will scratch the hell out of your paint and it will be near impossible to be rid of the scratches unless you repaint that area...

Believe me... I know. I tried that stuff on my Mazda3 after I got my jumbo paint chip on my hood. Scratched it up pretty bad. I used a special compund (thanks to FX Auto for that) and it reduced the sceatches, but it\'s still there from certain angles.

[Melenium]

Originally posted by Xenon



Originally posted by Melenium

As for the Accord, if the clearcoat was just scratched, go out and grab some Turtlewax Rubbing compound.. that stuff is amazing for fixing up small stuff.


WATCH IT WITH THIS STUFF!!! make sure it says clear coat safe... if not it will scratch the hell out of your paint and it will be near impossible to be rid of the scratches unless you repaint that area...

Believe me... I know. I tried that stuff on my Mazda3 after I got my jumbo paint chip on my hood. Scratched it up pretty bad. I used a special compund (thanks to FX Auto for that) and it reduced the sceatches, but it\'s still there from certain angles.

Yeah, you do have to be careful with it-- it a mild abrasive, but for occassional use on light stuff its great. It got rid of minor scratches after someone egged my car, fixed up one or two key nicks around the door handles, and great for any other minor marks. That was on my white car though. On my sisters blue Civic it helped, but wasn\'t nearly as effective (the Civic blue is similar to the Winning blue on the 3).

I\'m surprised that it actually scratched up your hood though Xenon.. I guess it may be too abrasive for the type of paint used on the 3.. maybe it has something to do with it being a Mica paint as opposed to a flat color (like the white). If it was a paint chip though it definately wouldn\'t help for that. Thanks for the warning though!