Did someone chip my rear driver side door?
 

I noticed this today when I got to my car, before my commute home.

Not sure when it happened. It could have been today, or a few days ago.

Is this a paint chip, or something easier to fix?

What can be done about it?

The car is only 16.5 weeks old.

https://i.imgur.com/jBh0QdS.jpg

How big is it? Looks like bare metal. You will need to take care of it ASAP before the rust comes. If it is small you can take care of it otherwise you will have to take it to a body shop.

About 1/2" wide by 1/4" high.

Is this something that can be taken care of in a day? Would they have to remove the door? How invasive do you think this would be to fix?

Yes, it feels like bare metal too.

Looks like a rock was kicked up and caused that. Me, personally, I would get some touch-up paint as a first attempt. Having the door repainted would probably make it look like you were in an accident, unless that color is easy to match.

Yes, it looks like a chip that could have been caused by a rock, another car's door, or other object striking the door of your car.

As far as the best approach to doing a repair, that depends on a couple of things. Where on the door is the chip? What color is the car? The answers to those questions will have an effect on how noticeable various repair methods might be.

The best touch up kit I have ever used is Dr.Color Chip. It will not leave the blob of paint look near as badly as touch up paint dose.

Obsidian color.

12" from the bottom of the door. 8.5" to the right, of the left-most side of the rear driver side door.

There's 5 kits from $40 - $70. Which one should I get?

Can I wait for the 3 days it takes to ship? Or should I try to go to a body shop and see if they can take care of it this weekend?

Can I wash my car during this time, or should I get this chip fixed first?

So far, I had sprayed the area with a spray bottle, trying to see if it was something else, or a chip.

Is this easy to use? How easy is it to mess up?

If your car is obsidian color, that is, by far, the easiest color to match and you will have several good options for repairing the chip that you would not have with most other colors.

If you want a perfect match, you could get the door refinished. Again, with the obsidian, any competent paint technician should be able to get a perfect match. What the shop would do is to sand down the edges of the chip. Then, they would spot in new obsidian paint over a very small area, and they would finish the job by re-applying clear coat to the entire panel. This would give you a completely undetectable repair, but it will cost you about $600 (or more, depending on shop labor rates in your area). A claim on your insurance comprehensive coverage might even be possible.

With the obsidian, while it won't be perfect, you should be able to get a very good repair with touch up paint if your technique is good.

I've tried the DrColorchip product, and my conclusion was that, with good technique and patience, I can do a better job with regular touch-up paint. With less than good technique, the DrColorchip might yield a better result.

There are a couple of keys to getting a good repair with regular touch up paint. One is to fill the damaged area with paint but to be careful not to get any paint over the edges of the damaged area. And the other key is to get the touch up paint at as close to the same level as possible as the surrounding original paint. It is when there the touch up paint overlaps the edges of the damaged area or when it is at a different level that the repaired area will catch the light differently and stick out like a sore thumb. An important part of getting the touch up paint where you want it and not having it look like a "blob" is, instead of using the brush supplied with the touch up paint, to go to an art supply store and buy a very small (and inexpensive) very fine-tip brush. That is what will give you more control over where you apply the touch up paint.

The fact that the repair is fairly low also works in your favor. Repairs are much less noticeable when they are near the bottom of a body panel.

Again, for those without good technique or patience, the DrColorchip product may be a better choice, but it will not yield perfect results. I would describe what a DrColorchip repair looks like by saying that it looks like you have a squashed bug permanently on the body panel. It won't be noticeable from a distance, but you will see it if you look at a close distance. Again, with good technique, I can get a much better repair with regular touch up paint

No, you don't need to worry about rust starting in a few days, and you certainly can wash the car.

Thanks for the response.

I don't think I'd have good technique, and would probably go over the edge.

Or, I wouldn't keep it at the same level.

Thanks for posting your experience wit Dr. Color Chip.

How long would it take a body shop to do this? Within a day?

If you had a body shop re-finish the door, it would probably b a 2 day job.

The $40.00 kit is all you need. Watch the video also on their site by Auto Geek. If you decide you would like to do the squeegee technique,many use a credit card in place of the squeegee.

From your experience, how good does it look afterwards, up close?

I think I'll have enough time to go to the body shop tonight after work. I'll see what they say, and then make a decision whether to go that route, or try Dr. Color Chip.

It will not be perfect but you will be able to keep your original paint on that section of you car except for the chip.If you have a body shop redo that area they usually have to do a large area to get a nice blend. Also you may have to deal with some over spray on wheels and other areas of the car according to how meticulous the body shop is or is not.

If you are going to the body shop, I'd suggest considering another option, which would be to have the body shop try to do a repair with touch-up paint. I'm sure that they have someone who has steady hands and good technique to keep the touch-up paint "between the lines". And, even if they put a little too much paint on, they can follow up by doing a bit of wet sanding to bring the level of the paint on the repair back down to the level of the surrounding paint. Wet sanding is something that can be very effective in helping to make a touch up less noticeable, but it is something that I would recommend leaving to the professionals because, if you try it yourself and if you are a bit too aggressive, you will burn through the clear coat, and once you do that, the only option left is to refinish the panel.

As I said previously, obsidian is by far the easiest color to work with on a touch up (or refinish). If you had one of the metallic or, worse, one of the multi-stage pearls, there would be absolutely no way to get a touch up done that would not be readily noticeable, but, with the obsidian, you might well find that you get a repair that is acceptable to you, and it should not cost much at all to have the body shop do it. Worst case, if you aren't happy with the result, you can still have the panel refinished, and the only loss would be the minimal amount of money that you spent to have them try to touch it up for you.