Car backed into me in parking lot
 

This happened a couple months ago but I've been wanting to talk about it. I'm pretty fortunate because the damage is minimal: no body panels need replaced, I just need my rear bumper repainted. Quarter panel has paint damage too, but it's probably best to leave it how it is.

http://i.imgur.com/YT8iI9t.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/xWgUGGq.jpg

I had some touch up paint on hand that I use for rock chips. It's obvious that the damage is too bad for a touch-up repair. But since the bumper needs resprayed anyway, I may as well practice using touch-up paint. The result: extremely crude. I basically made it worse than before.

http://i.imgur.com/tqA9lb8.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/2CRLQlY.jpg

I regret messing with the paint, I should have left it alone. My question is what to do now. The following seem like the only options:

1. Leave it how it is.
2. Cover it up with something. Decal, plastidip? Not interested in wide-body.
3. Get it resprayed. This will cost around $500-600. But I know that white pearl is very difficult to match. I've received quotes from a couple body shops, and both say they handle pearl paints all the time and it would be no problem to color match (I don't know how honest they are being). A local body shop told me they need to repaint the whole bumper, while Carstar says they would do a spot repair. Both shops offer "lifetime warranty".

Option 3 might be the obvious answer, but probably not the correct one for me. I live in a college town with terrible drivers. Just during the past few months here, my GF has been rear ended twice while completely stopped, once at a red light and once at a stop sign... It's just a matter of time until someone messes up my bumper again, so why bother repairing it?

If I ever did get it resprayed, I'm afraid that the color match could turn out horrible. I've searched some old threads, but people's answers vary a lot. Some say the SWP paint can never be color matched and repairs will look terrible. Others say given a good painter, the color can be matched even better than factory. If anyone here has had pearl paint repaired before, I'd appreciate to hear your experience.

I don't think you made it worse. It looks less noticeable to me (at least from what i see in the pictures), but i would get it repainted/fixed by a professional body shop.

I say respray, these bumpers tend to come mismatched from the factory anyways. Just go to a place where they guarantee to spray it as many times as it takes until it gets your approval.

Actually, it looks better than before.. From far it is not noticeable, when you zoom in... you end up noticing.

I am first interested on how the crash happened. You were nose in, in the driveway and when the car backed up on you it was reversing from the left side (assuming your left while sitting in the car)?

Here is what I suggest.... sand off the touch up paint. Mask of the area of the impact so you don't sand too much the good paint. Keep on sanding until the impact is visible (basically starting over).

Once you do that, if the scratches are deep.. cover it with bondo or a resin. Once this is done, buy a sprayable can of your paint match (AppliedColor has some, I think).... spray the impact. Sand with fine grit paper. Apply another coat and level it. Once this is done.... if the gloss is not there, maybe get a gloss (clear coat).

At the end, compound and then polish.

Submit me the result :D

Don't listen to him housecat, :). He obvious doesn't know that if the paint was mismatch from the factory then the car won't be sold... Mabey in his world ;D

^good advice.
It doesn't look so bad. Looks like a water stain.

Maybe it does look better, but I ended up sanding away a lot of the factory paint in the process which I was displeased about. But again, it really won't matter if it get's resprayed. That's just part of painting.

The accident happened while I was driving through an aisle of the parking lot. There was nothing blocking our view between us. Her car was parked in a lane and was not moving as I was approaching, and I didn't see her reverse lights on. It seems she started backing up while I was already behind her. After I felt the impact on my car, I stopped and got out to see what happened. The damage was so small that I was almost considered not making an insurance claim and letting her go. Until she started blaming and bad-mouthing me and wanted the police to come make a report (they couldn't do anything because it was a private lot). She started arguing about how she has back-up cameras that can see everything and it's my fault for driving too fast for her to see me. At that point I just stopped talking to her, she's the kind of person that there's no point arguing with. Besides, the insurance companies decide who's liable, not us. I actually wish I was driving faster, because then I would've dodged her car. I was really driving pretty slow trying to avoid accidents. In the end, her insurance company took full responsibility and sent me a check.

Here was the damage on her car.
http://i.imgur.com/9ZW7eHP.jpg

The scratches on my car aren't deep enough to need any filler. In fact, I think my rallyarmor mudflaps helped prevent some damage to the paint, because they stick out from the car. In the past, I've painted a spoiler, mirror cover, and spot repaired a fender and a bumper with aerosol paint (I know; HVLP spray guns are the way to go, but I can't afford an air compressor and gun). The results were shoddy, so I'm afraid to touch the BRZ paint. I'm afraid I'll make it look even worse, and then I'd be wasting around $50 in materials and several hours of labor to attempt to spot-repair ($80 if I buy a can of 2K clear). Maybe it would be better to save that money to get a professional to repair it.

I found [ame="http://www.amazon.com/2014-Subaru-BRZ-Spray-Tricoat/dp/B00NIVAG3O/ref=sr_1_2?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1426790132&sr= 1-2&keywords=37j+spray+paint"]this spray paint[/ame] sold by ScratchWizard. I think it contains both the base coat and pearl in one, because the color code is 37J/EH6. Didn't find any aerosol paint sold by AppliedColor.

=p thank you friend.

Okay, its really hard to analyse from the picture. I will start by the bottom top of your post.

The link you posted for the spray, its great :). Make sure you get the clear coat as well. Level it with the current paint on your car and it will look better then professional. If you get a fish eye.. poke it with a toothpick or sand and re-apply.

From the physics and insurance point of you, since the corolla was stroke from the back and you from the side, therefore the fault goes to the corolla. There are many scientific validations and insurance point of view follow the same policy.

Anyways, people with foul mouth and hard head will stay like that forever. People need to respect other and when something happens to deal maturely with it. I guess not everyone is educated at the same level ;). Not judging, just saying.

Save up and bring it to a professional, since if you don't feel comfortable doing it to your car. Most likely you'll fail as your aiming to fail. However, if you aim you'll succeed, you'll probably do it better than a 'professional' since there is no such thing as a 'professional' in painting a car. They don't use extra tools or magic tools ;). They just know what to do.

But they do have spray guns, paint booths, and experience. I'm an amateur with aerosol cans and a dusty garage! I'm not convinced that there is "no such thing as a professional in painting a car." However, I am convinced that I would paint my own car with more care than anyone I ever hire. I'm just limited in tools and experience.

Option 2 :D

[QUOTE=Mikeez;2177079]


Save up and bring it to a professional, since if you don't feel comfortable doing it to your car. Most likely you'll fail as your aiming to fail. However, if you aim you'll succeed, you'll probably do it better than a 'professional' since there is no such thing as a 'professional' in painting a car. They don't use extra tools or magic tools ;). They just know what to do.[/QUOTE]



Ha ha, Mike that is the very definition of a "professional"!
And of course they use extra tools. I don't have a full paint shop in my laneway (although it would be nice sometimes).

Offtopic, but I wonder if Leno has a full paintbooth in his garage?

Painting just takes practice. Every time I do some painting on one of my bikes, it comes out better. You can get surprising results with a little time and patience.

That said, I won't do anything but small touchups on my car :P

=p, okay fine. They would have experience, but you don't need more tools than what you can afford.

[quote=Tcoat;2177602]
;).. well they have a enclosed (dust free) garage where the paints are applied and better tool.. though everything can be done home right ;).

[quote=Mikeez;2177820]=p, okay fine. They would have experience, but you don't need more tools than what you can afford.

More then just a dust free shop and if I was a car painter I would starve to death (I really suck) but ya in theory everything up to brain surgery can done at home.
Just some things I like to leave up to the pros that really know what they are doing and have the tools to do it right.


http://www.surfersam.com/funny-pictu...colon-exam.jpg