New owner with a few questions
 

Hello,

I just purchased a new 2020 ES 350 F Sport in Obsidian and I have a few questions that y'all may be able to answer.

First, what vent visors would you recommend? I have some in channel WeatherTech visors on my Camry and they're great, but they don't make any for this car.

Second, I had a rock come up from the road on the interstate yesterday and put a small scratch in the hood. The dealer recommended a body shop close by and they want $1400.00 to repair it. I know I could get the touch-up paint from the dealer, but I'm worried that kind of repair will show worse than the scratch. Any ideas as to how I could fix it and what about a hood deflector to help with that in the future?

That's all for now. I have other questions, but I'll wait on those for now.

Thanks

If the scratch is deep enough to have penetrated through the clear coat, the only repair that is going to restore the finish to "as new" condition is going to be to refinish the hood.

The quality of such a re-painting of the hood can vary significantly depending on how good the shop is, but you should be able to find a shop that does excellent work for a price much lower than $1400. Generally, I'd expect that you should be able to get the job done for somewhere in the $500-700 range.

Depending on the color of your car, how well the shop can do with blending in the new color will be critical. That will be especially true if you have a color that is a multi-stage pearl. Even many 2 stage metallic colors will require a skilled paint technician.

Typically, the shop should be able to minimize the area with new paint by spotting in new paint in at the location of the scratch, and, then, they should be able to feather in new color in an area that extends out a bit from the scratch. Then, they would put down new clear coat on the the entire hood.

For future protection against similar damage, a quality installation of paint protection film is the best option. To get good protection, you want to get a package that covers, at least, the full hood, full front bumper, and full front fenders. You might also want to cover more area, including the mirrors, the A pillars, the door handle cups, and the door edges. Such a package done with high quality film and with a good warranty will not be cheap, but it will offer great protection.

Good luck.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/4PCS-Window...9/303144339464


Are these the "Vent Visors" you are referring to?

Talk to a couple of body shops on your own. You'll find a reasonable solution. I second application of (PPF) paint protection film, they absorb small projectile damage. It's expensive but works well and lasts. Black show swirls from dirt, washing, etc more than any other color. I strongly recommend ceramic coating for the paint while it's in new condition. You can do it yourself. It's much harder than the paint. About $70 from Amazon. BTW Weathertech is the way to go because they are beveled into the door. The only other type I would use adheres to exterior frame paint of windows

some pictures of the rock damage would help us give you more accurate information. Window visors i would steer clear, messes up the weather strip if its the one that clips in, and if you get a cheapy kind, wind noise up the wazoo.

Thanks for the suggestions. I have attached a picture of the scratch. It's high up on the hood about 8" from the windshield where it also put a couple of tiny chips. The windshield damage is very low and really hard to see so I'm not as worried about it.

As far as the windows deflectors, I don't want to get anything cheap and defiantly don't want to stick anything on the paint. I guess I'll have to wait until weathertech comes out with something and re-evaluate then. I am aware of the increased wind noise though as the same thing happened on my Camry when I installed them.

I will check a couple of other body shops, but how can I know weather they will do a good job. I think I'd rather live with the damage than get crappy work done.

I am looking into PPF and Ceramic coating. Does the ceramic coating go on top of the PPF? I found a relatively local place called O2 Window Tinting in Snellville, GA that provides tinting, PPF and ceramic coating. They get rave reviews on Google, but does anyone have any direct experience with them or can anyone suggest a good place to get it done in the Metro Atlanta are?

Thanks for all the replies so far.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...21545d2b49.jpg

Those look plenty deep, far more than an easy fix. If you bring it to a shop, have them remove that quarter too.

LOL. Yeah I just put that there for scale.

The scratch is at least down to the primer so I knew it wasn't going to be an easy fix.

I have the Paint Protection Film covering the front section of the hood only. My 2019 F-Sport came with it and the film does a good job of protecting from rock chips. From your description of the location, what I have would have done you no good.

In my opinion, only refinish the hood if you intend on having PPF installed immediately thereafter on the entire hood if that is possible on new paint. Not sure how it is in GA where you live, but in South Florida where there seems to be perpetual construction everywhere, whenever I am on the turnpike or any highway, I 'm dodging big gravel trucks like a jockey maneuvering around horses in a crowded Kentucky Derby. It's inevitable that you will get rock chips as much as you try to avoid. I just touch them up carefully and get on with life. Eventually, if the hood and/or bumper gets bad enough from too much touch up, then I would refinish.

I’ve been checking around a little about PPF and so far I’m getting prices of around 3500 for the full front end. That’s a little hard to swallow right now having just dropped a hefty down payment on the new car.

I know it wouldn’t have helped in this situation, but what do y’all think of ceramic coatings instead of PPF at least right now?

those costs are much more reasonable coming in at around 1200 or so.

is a professional application of ceramic much better than a diy solution? I would think it is.

how are you doing the touch-up?

Don't think Ceramic coating will protect from rock chips. The elements, yes. But not rock chips.

As for touch up, I use the factory touch up from the dealer. Now, my car is white and the touch up is a two-stage. I only use the base coat for such a small area. Also, I do not use the applicator brush that is part of the tube but instead use a tooth pick to dab just enough to fill the void.

There are other products on the market such as Dr. Color Chip I've read good reviews on but never tried it. Others may have an opinion on that.

Touch up is not perfect but neither is spending $1500 or so to repaint the hood only to get another rock chip the next week or month. Now that will certainly piss you off. Not trying to be pessimistic, just realistic.

There are many youtube videos and threads here on Ceramic. Pro application is best for a car that needs paint correction.(polishing). Otherwise, on perfect paint, you can do it yourself every 2-3 years and save a bundle.

What color is the car?

He said in the OP Obsidian.

I must not have been paying close enough attention.

If it is obsidian, that is good news.

Non-metallic blacks, like the obsidian, are unquestionably the easiest colors to work with when doing paint repairs. If the OP has a shop refinish the hood, the shop should be able to spot in a minimal amount of new color where the scratches/chips are, and there should not be need to blend that new paint out very far from the scratches/chips. That should result in lower cost, and it should be easy to get a perfect color match.

Also, with the obsidian, with proper technique, it may even be possible to get an acceptable repair with touch-up paint. Non-metallic blacks are the only colors for which doing so might work. The OP might want to have someone who has some skill in working with touch-up paint give that a shot. If such a repair is satisfactory to the OP, that is great. Worst case, if it isn't satisfactory, he can still have the hood re-finished.


Also, you might not want to ignore the damage to the windshield. Small chips in the windshield can spread into large cracks. At a minimum, you should probably have one of the windshield repair/replacement companies take a look at the windshield damage and give their opinion as to whether it is the type of damage that is likely to spread into a large crack.

Also, check the terms of your insurance policy. Damage like that, both to the hood and the windshield, should be covered by the comprehensive coverage. Most comprehensive policies should have a lower deductible than collision coverage. Some will even have a $0 deductible, and a comprehensive claim should not have any effect on your future insurance premiums.