Deep scratches: What to do?

CFDE2 · 04-03-2006, 05:41 AM

Greetings,

Was not a good weekend for me. I parked my truck at work thursday afternoon. Worked three shifts in a row. Left work Saturday morning. Parked my truck in my driveway. At around 1:30 p.m., went to my truck to get my sunglasses for a walk. Entered through my passenger side door. Guess what I found? The left side of my truck had been scratched and scuffed up.

The front fender has a scratch from the headlight to the door. The last 12 to 18 inches is very deep, down to the metal. Under my sideview mirror is a long scuff mark. The my rear fender is the same as my front, with the last 12inches being deep. There are two different scratches.

What are my options? Paint the whole fender, use touchup and buff out, etc. Any suggestion would be helpful. I am going to a body shop today to see what they say. The truck is a 2006 KC, Red Brawn. Picked it up 2/10/06. The truck was built 12/05. Pissed me right the F*** off! I even filed a police report just in case I claim it on the insurance.

I expect to get scratches, but I would prefer that I did them versus some A**HOLE who did it for jollies or accidentally and did not tell me.

**konigfritz** · 04-03-2006, 05:51 AM

You should probably sand with wet sandpaper, prime ,sand , Paint, clearcoat.

I don't know if nissan makes spray cans of our paint, but any local auto paint store should be able to match it. Body shop bill will not be cheap. Materials won't cost much but hourly labor will be high. Sucks! good luck.

*TitanFan59* · 04-03-2006, 08:39 AM

Hate to hear it but if it's down into the tins you need to seal it back up and paint it.

rcantu · 04-03-2006, 10:01 AM

Look for those paintless dent repair people. Some of them especially if they visit dealerships can do scratches using airbrushes. Not sure on the cost. If it's at your deductible or more then I'd just get it totally painted. Sorry that someone jacked it up. I'd be just as mad or madder.

GO_VOLS! · 04-03-2006, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CFDE2

Greetings,

Was not a good weekend for me. The left side of my truck had been scratched and scuffed up.

The front fender has a scratch from the headlight to the door. The last 12 to 18 inches is very deep, down to the metal. Under my sideview mirror is a long scuff mark. The my rear fender is the same as my front, with the last 12inches being deep. There are two different scratches.

What are my options?

Tell your wife that she has no proof and that the girl is only a friend!

DESERTDOG · 04-03-2006, 04:37 PM

ouch that sucks! i wold try the dent guy

BigJeesh · 04-03-2006, 04:39 PM

I hear ya bro!!! My truck got a few scratches on Sunday and two of them or down to bare metal...Sucks, these were my own fault. Tied the dog up in the bed and used the old lashing I had from my F250. Problem was that the rope needed to be shorter to keep her in the bed. Got home from some errand running and she tryed to jump out of the bed after a cat, hung herself and scratched the **** out my side fender. Good thing the dogs ok, although at the time I wanted to kill her!! I bought some touch uo paint from the dealership...applied a couple coats to bulk it up, then wet sand w/ 1500 to smooth it out...the cut and buff...almost cant tell a thing! Those dealership "Perfect ToucH" style places do good work, but it will cost ya about 100-150 bucks depending on the size and quanity of scratches. GOOD LUCK.

TXTitan05 · 04-03-2006, 04:46 PM

You will need a professional to refinish and clear coat the panel. Although partial refinish can be done and blended within the panel, the entire panel will need to be clear coated. The reason for complete clear coat is due to degredation if not done complete. Paint is measured in Mils. If you do a partial clear coat, the edge of the clear coat where the Mils are the thinnest will be noticed in time due to UV rays. Also all moldings and trim will need to be removed and reinstalled for proper adhesion of the paint. When a trim piece is taped off, this leaves a small area for future delamination and paint peeling.

rico387 · 04-03-2006, 08:37 PM

Unfortunatly your truck will have to spend some time at a body shop. If it is all the way through the basecoat just get it fixed right and be done with it.

rico387 · 04-03-2006, 08:43 PM

BTW-if you did a triple it means you are a glutton for punishment. 24+out the door baby.

CFDE2 · 04-04-2006, 05:19 AM

Well, I went to the dealership yesterday. Their body guy looked at it. I have two options: 1). The will wet sand it for $99.00 (employee discount, wife works there). They said for the most part I would be the only one to notice it unless you really looked at it. or 2). The truck goes into the body shop for the whole job (i.e. stripping, sanding, etc) I have a $200 deductible which is great! Except for the fact that my wife and I have a 10% reduction on our insurance due to "no claims". If I make a claim, I loss that 10% reduction for three years. That comes out to a $200/year increase in my insurance for three years. What to do.

If I choose the "wet sand" route, should they clear coat it for me?

As for my triple, it was 38 hours straight (my two 14 hour shifts along with a 10 hour OT shift in between), not 24. And yes, I am a glutton for punishment but OT is OT. Have to take it while I can.

TXTitan05 · 04-04-2006, 06:49 PM

Quote:

If I choose the "wet sand" route, should they clear coat it for me?

If they choose the "wet sand" route, it only works on surface scratches. A panel usually has 6-8 mils of paint which includes about 2 mils of clear coat. Again the surface scratches must be minimal. If you can feel the scratch with your finger nail, it is too deep and must be refinished.