Help! I have a '93 GS and due to its height and lack of visibility out of the rear window, I scraped my right rear side panel on a little black suzuki or something that was literally invisible to me while backing up at night. Luckilly, I knew the owner of the other car and she didn't even care (her car had almost no visible damage). Unluckilly, however, there are several fairly deep gouges in my formerly pristine green paint! I already buffed it, which made it look better but not good enough. Any suggestions? Would touch-up paint or filler work? I'd prefer to do whatever repair is needed myself, but if a professional would be better suited for the job that'd be ok too. Please help if you can. Thanks

 

Hockey, pics would make our responses more accurate, but from your description of the damage, it sounds like you went through the paint and down to the primer or basecoat (if it has clearcoat). This means you basically have 3 choices;

1) Live with it (that one usually doesn't work for me)

2) Fill in the scratches / gouges with touch up paint. If your paint is metallic, this makes it tougher than usual to make it blend in unfortunately. It will depend how fussy you are (I'm fussy, so no need to apologize for it).

3) Take it to a body shop and have that panel repainted. Usually it will run $200 to $300 per panel.
The most $$$ of the 3 choices, but the best result.


Since your buffing didn't help too much, I would guess there's a lot of paint removed, so further buffing can't remedy that. Wish I could give you better news, but I would look for a reputable body shop and get an estimate. Actually, go to at least 3, and get a few estimates, and look at their work by what they're currently working on in their shops. You can contact your insurance company ( not to make a claim ) to find out who they recommend too.If you can post pics of the damage, that would sure help, but in the absence of that, the above advice is the best I can offer. Good luck!

 

Thanks for your help! I will try to post pics but I'm having trouble with my USB ports for my digital camera. I'll pm you when I post them. Thanks again.

 

post pics of the damage.