Second day of ownership...someone hit my parked FR-S!

[Diane]

Sigh some idiot scratched my parked car the day after I bought it. An auto shop tossed me a freebie and buffed out the surrounding scratches. But they quoted me around $1000 to repair the main scratch where the paint has been torn off.

The drivers around here are horrendous. I was hit by a car as a pedestrian this year, and friends' cars are damaged (while parked) on a weekly basis. I know for a fact that my car is going to get hit again in the next few months. So my plan was to apply 37J touchup paint, expect more damage to build up, and have the whole bloody bumper resprayed every two years.

The 37J touchup paint job will look like crap on a scratch this big, but at least it'll be off-white on Whiteout rather than black plastic on Whiteout. But I'm concerned that from the scratch, the paint will slowly start to crack, and touchup paint will actually make it worse. What do you guys think?

[86geek]

Shop around for another quote from other auto body shops. Or buy a new front bumper if it bothers you that much. Just my 2 cents

[jasonojordan]

Tough luck! I had something similar happen to my brz. Although it was about 2 months after getting it vs 2 days. Rear bumper got swiped by what I assume is someone pulling out of their parking spot at the grocery store. Of course no note or anything because why would people take responsibility for their piss poor driving abilities.

[MuseChaser]

What a shame, especially so soon after you got your car; I'm sorry.

I bought my '13 used from a dealership, and there were a couple chips and a few scratches on it. Some had been hit w/ touchup paint, and some hadn't been addressed at all, but I didn't notice them until I got the car home. The worst one was on the back bumper, about 4" long, and poorly painted with paint that didn't come close to matching in hue or texture.

Here's what I did..got one of those touchup paint pens from the dealership ($15?), sanded down the high spots of the previously poorly applied touchup paint (using very small pieces of 400 grit sandpaper glued to a pencil eraser.. think mini manual dremel tool), cleaned up all the spots with acetone, then dabbed on many very light coats with the pen over a period of a day or two until the paint came up to the level of the existing original paint around it. I don't notice any of them except for the back bumper scratch anymore. I did that over a year and a half ago, and there's been no adhesion issues and no rust (two of the spots were low and on the wheel well lips). Even the back bumper is much better.

Before dropping $1000 on that scratch, it's worth at least giving it a try. If you don't like the results after living with it a few weeks (the pain WILL fade... ), then shop around for another quote. $1000 seems stiff.. maybe $500?

Good luck. It's great car. Yours just has a little more character now, that's all.

[xn7485]

Invest in a dash cam and file it under their policy in the future. $1k seems a bit steep..

[nikitopo]

It looks that paint quality is still the same on the new cars ...

[PandaSPUR]

Originally Posted by xn7485

Invest in a dash cam and file it under their policy in the future. $1k seems a bit steep..

^ this. Get a dash cam and wire it up to record while car is off.

Originally Posted by nikitopo

It looks that paint quality is still the same on the new cars ...

Don't think paint quality matters here... and OP's profile states its a 2014 FRS

[nikitopo]

Originally Posted by PandaSPUR

Don't think paint quality matters here... and OP's profile states its a 2014 FRS

Oh ok, I thought it was the 2017 car.


Well, I've seen much better paint quality in other brands (e.g. Mercedes). Not one of the strong areas of Subaru. Even small stones from road can remove pieces of paint. Maybe it is also related with the fact that these colors are water based.

[PandaSPUR]

Originally Posted by nikitopo

Oh ok, I thought it was the 2017 car.


Well, I've seen much better paint quality in other brands (e.g. Mercedes). Not one of the strong areas of Subaru. Even small stones from road can remove pieces of paint. Maybe it is also related with the fact that these colors are water based.

Isnt oil based a bad idea for fiberglass?

[guybo]

I park way out in the boonies everywhere I go. Which not only minimizes the ding risk, but also gets me some excercise.

[stevesnj]

Originally Posted by PandaSPUR

Isnt oil based a bad idea for fiberglass?

I believe Subaru uses water based paint.

[soulreapersteve]

Give touch up paint a try (with the clear coat pen also!)

Don't tell anyone about it and it won't be noticeable until there's that 1 week in the year we get sunshine.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Diane

Sigh some idiot scratched my parked car the day after I bought it. What do you guys think?

Well, Diane, that's a shame ......

Look on the positive side ..... the scratch follows the lines of the car; it's on the front, so it will have company soon; you can't see it from the drivers seat.

Like suggested, just touch it up and in a few weeks, I doubt you will hardly notice it.

Don't let a little scratch wreck up your enjoying driving the car.

Busy yourself by planning a trip around the North Cascade Loop, come summertime.......

http://cascadeloop.com/


humfrz

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by soulreapersteve

Give touch up paint a try (with the clear coat pen also!)

Don't tell anyone about it and it won't be noticeable until there's that 1 week in the year we get sunshine.

Too late. Totaled after only 2 days? @Diane will be the hot topic at the next 86 Sessions meet.

...unless we can get a mod to delete this thread.