Paint Damage - Surface (Polish Out) or More Work Needed?

[vdn]

Travelling along a familiar road, 60 limit - the council, who never seem to fix any of the potholes, have someone attend to fix a particularly bad one and place a cone just after a blind corner, in the process of / or having fixed the pothole. No signs / no warning to slow / nothing. And so, coming around the blind corner - a cone in the middle of the road; I have no choice but to move to the right to avoid hitting it head on. Another driver approaching in the opposite lane doesn't predict my need to move over and stays put where she is, position wise. I manage to miss her completely, by what must have been a couple of millimetres - but the cone catches my passenger side. Council admit they had a pothole fix that day and that there was someone there. I have proof of the cone position and they have now passed it onto their insurance.

I've never claimed, in my life, for damage in this way... and it's just surface paint damage to my mind. Thankfully, no dents or creases. I have a quote for £500 to do a proper fix on it, which involves full respray of the panel by a known bodyshop used by local Mercedes, BMW, Land Rover, etc.

TBH, if there were a way to make it good with a simple polish, I'd rather not be doing a respray or the like. Hard to tell by the images, but does anyone informed think I can get this sorted without having a full on respray?

There's no real depth to the marks, but it feels like it's gone through lacquer. I await the insurance response.

[InitialDave]

Hard to tell without seeing/feeling it in person, but my assessment would be it can be brought back at least 90% with some polishing, possibly a bit of touch up and wet sanding of any particular deep bits.

But you've told the insurer about it now, so to a certain extent it's moot, see what they say.

[steveo3002]

if the finger swipe has improved it like the pic shows , then id be fairly sure that would buff off to a good standard

[vdn]

Thank you for the replies. Yes, perhaps it's because I'm old school... but I'd prefer to not have to have a full respray if it can be improved with a buff. I will see what the council insurance says as a first port of call.

[Robertb]

Hard to say without feeling the damage, but I'm optimistic it could be improved enough to not be noticeable unless under close inspection. As a guideline, if the scratch is hidden temporarily when you wipe it with water then it will hopefully polish out.

You might have to accept that there may be deeper scratches left, as removing them entirely would be detrimental to the rest of the finish.

Give it a go with some Meguiars Ultimate Compound, or ScratchX, its surprising what can be done with a good polish.

If you want to go deeper I'd involve a pro detailer or someone used to wet-sanding and polishing.

[SAS Tom]

I reckon it’ll polish out

[Acuity30]

If you can feel it with a finger nail, no amount of polishing will make it invisible. Can certainly be improved with a machine polish, but do you want improvement or 'as good as it looked before the damage'. If the latter, respray is needed.
If it was me, I'd take the £500 and just get my machine polisher out, but that isn't an option so I'd take the respray.

[vdn]

Thank you all for the feedback. Much appreciated and all noted!

[M28TTR]

A machine polish might not be enough, but if it was to be wetsanded with some p2000 wet and dry, then finished with a trizact 3000 disc, trizact 6000 on a D.A then a machine polish with some compound eg farecla g360 or 3m fast cut plus, it will go 99%.

Any detailer or smart repairer would be able to give you a written quote and this can the be given to the insurance, or pay for It privately if easier.

[Acuity30]

M28TTR said:

A machine polish might not be enough, but if it was to be wetsanded with some p2000 wet and dry, then finished with a trizact 3000 disc, trizact 6000 on a D.A then a machine polish with some compound eg farecla g360 or 3m fast cut plus, it will go 99%.

Any detailer or smart repairer would be able to give you a written quote and this can the be given to the insurance, or pay for It privately if easier.

And destroy 90% of the clearcoat in the process. All of that is assuming it can't be felt with a fingernail.

[InitialDave]

Section 8 said:

I guess £500 is just throwaway money to some rather

OP has already said they're claiming on insurance.

Yes, you can DIY it. Good chance I would myself.

But it's also easy to properly bugger it up if you lack experience.

[Section 8]

Acuity30 said:

And destroy 90% of the clearcoat in the process. All of that is assuming it can't be felt with a fingernail.

And? So it’s down to 10%. I doubt it would get that far down but even so I’d have a go before having paint. After all he’s prepared that it will needing respraying anyway so it’s worth a go. Chances are in a year or two it’s going back to some finance company so who gives a toss about thin lacquer from wet sanding? I guess £500 is just throwaway money to some rather than getting on your hands and knees and getting some G3 scratch remover, a couple of compounds and cloth or a cheap DA. I’ve saved 2 cars from a full side respray by going at it with the above mentioned items. 2 Range Rovers with key marks down the sides, thankfully not too deep, but being all negative before he tries, what’s that all about?

[Section 8]

InitialDave said:

OP has already said they're claiming on insurance.

Yes, you can DIY it. Good chance I would myself.

But it's also easy to properly bugger it up if you lack experience.

Dave, if you can bugger up a bit of scratch removal with some compound and a few cloths you shouldn’t even be behind the wheel of a motor vehicle. I guess I’m more of a practical person who likes a challenge rather than increased insurance premiums.

[Swoxy]

It sounds like you were going too fast - what if there was a broken down car or child in the road, would you still be blaming the Third Party.

[InitialDave]

Section 8 said:

Dave, if you can bugger up a bit of scratch removal with some compound and a few cloths you shouldn’t even be behind the wheel of a motor vehicle. I guess I’m more of a practical person who likes a challenge rather than increased insurance premiums.

Sanding was also mentioned, remember.

I'd likely do it myself.

I am not the OP.

[KingGary]

Even if it needs paint, a decent body shop would do that as a smart repair for about £200 tops. However, as others have said, if it’s just the clear coat that’s damaged, it’ll probably polish out with t-cut or similar.

There are some good guides on YouTube too. Clear coat scratches can be repaired - fill in the scratch with a fine touch up pen, so it’s proud of the surface. Then, when dry, some 1200 wet and dry on a very narrow block can be used to bring it back level, then use cutting compound, then polish. I’ve done this a few times with very good results.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl_iSYYGBiY

Edited by KingGary on Saturday 25th January 11:21