lexusboi

The underneath of my front bumper is a bit scraped from contact with cement on my driveway. Any recommendations on the best way to smooth/paint this myself? My car is black. Thanks!

picus

Is the molding that's damaged painted plastic, or just your regular old black/greyish plastic? If it's the first you can wetsand the rough spots down then touchup/wetsand/polish. If it's the greyish molding it's a little more difficult, since the color of the plastic is actually that greyish-black color and it isn't painted. it really helps if you're able to remove the trim peice. I had to do this on my car front and back, it has the grey molding so what I did was took the peices off and sanded the rough spots down then applied a plastic dye to the entire thing. I actually ended up getting them painted so the dye was unecassary. I often do this for customers and if it's painted trim it is really not that difficult if you don't mind a little wetsanding - you just need a decent amount of touchup paint and a lot of patience.

lexusboi

It's painted plastic on the IS 350. Could you a little bit more about elaborate a little more about wetsanding (supplies, technique, etc)?

Should I try to fix it myself, or take it to the body shop? Thanks for your help!

picus

Well that depends. I think 95% of the world would take it in and have it fixed or replaced. That's definitely the easier route, and odds are it won't be too expensive. If you do decide to do it yourself you'll probably have to have an initial outlay of $200 on products alone, but those will be useful for future car care. Then again it will require a lot of learning about how to do it right. Wetsanding isn't the easiest thing.

I'd say if you currently aren't into detailing or body repair then it's probably best to take it in and get a couple estimates. Realistically it shouldn't cost more than a couple hundred bucks depending on the severity of the scuffing. If you do decide you want to tackle it yourself let me know and I will help where I can. Another good place go to to learn about wetsanding/polishing is autopia.org.

lexusboi

Thanks picus for your help, I will get some quotes first and then go from there. Peace out.