So my vete has been sitting in my garage since I bought my house. Yesterday I was off work so I decided it would be a good idea to charge up the battery and clean her up.
First off, the battery is a JOES battery and they are now out of business. But it sucks, it will not start the car and its barely a year old. So I decided to yard the vete out of my gargae into my driveway with man strength and worry about the battery later since it was starting to get into later afternoon. I get behind the car and totally underestimated how steep my driveway is. That and my dumb azz had my superduty parked at the end of the driveway blocking my ability to just let it roll into the street where it will stop until I can jump start it............... so here I am holding my car on the slope of my driveway until FINALLY I wave down a girl driving by. She jumped out and pulled the e brake for me thank god!!!!!!

Anyway- because of my stupid actions I cracked the paint in a small section to the drivers side parallel with the license plate. Its a very small crack and is un noticeable. It sucks very very bad because the paint was flawless up until my real cool effort....... I just want to seal the crack before it spreads the next time that panel is pushed in.

What can I seal the paint cracks with? Will the local auto parts store carry a matching bottle of touch up paint? Just use the paint code? I appreciate any help and hope you all get a laugh over my really smart idea.

Thanks

Steve

 

That's funny (been there also)

Love the screen name

Did you just flex the rear & crack the paint or is the rear cracked also?

 

Honestly I would do what is best for the car and have a body shop fill repair it correctly. Its unfortunate but I am sure you wont do that again!

 

Just the paint. The plastic is fine. Its aprox 2 inches across. just a nice crack and a tiny piece of paint fell off too.

 

Ya your right man. I wonder what the damage will be! its just so un noticeable and so small I think I can repair it to near perfect with the right products. Gosh I feel like a dumbazz.

 

I'm sure you'll get introduced to the "corvette tax" as far as cost.

 

lmao thanks man. very re assuring. lol I know I will get beat on a bit. Ive got a good body shop Ive taken my pickup to a lot. Hopefully they take it easy on me. its a tiny spot they would need to sand down and blend. Im guessing in the 500-700 ducket range...

 

Good luck

 

Do a search with google or put a post up here looking for a recommended shop in your area. A urethane bumper is a urethane bumper so it shouldn't be any more expensive than a cavalier unless you have a special paint. Get quotes from several different shops so you know if one is way out of line.

Also if it is hardly noticeable as it is, get some touch up from the dealer and touch it up, wet sand it and buff it. But if you aren't patient and don't know what you're doing it may not come out very good and you will still always know its there.

I would guess it would cost around $3-600 with out looking at it, $600 if they paint the whole bumper and $300 if they do just a portion and blend, but they will probably want to paint the whole bumper.

 

Dang!!! i can see how steep your driveway is in your avatar!!!

been there - done that. except i took out part of a neighbor's fence (i was only 15 at the time and in my 1st car - a '63 renault)

good luck trying to get a body shop to only paint the damage and blend.

 

Is your vet pewter? Looks like it in your avatar. If so matching it out of a touch bottle will actually make it look worse. Ask me how i know! Better to let a body shop
try and blend it in. They will probably have to paint the whole bumper though.

 

Maybe/Maybe not.
I had an idiot clip the rear bumper of my classic Vette and a body shop was able to touch up and buff the area with out doing the entire bumper. They did such a good job that it looks like it never happened.
Take it to a shop. One that does a lot of Vette business would be best.
Good luck.

BTW. A battery tender will fix the dead battery problem. With all the electronics that the modern Vette's carry, a new battery will be drained in just a few weeks of sitting.

 

Hey, we all do things that might be considered as being "dumb", but it's only some that will admit it!

 

I was listening to Click & Clack, the Tappet Brothers, one Saturday morning and they talked about folks that preferred not to start their cars unnecessarily and pushed them around. They advised against the practice and now I know they were on to something. Sorry about your luck, but it could have been much worse.

 

There are outfits that touch up bumpers for car dealers, find one local, maybe they can hook you up. I have good luck with touchup baint in my airbrush. I can play with reducing or thickening up the paint to get good matches which is what these guys do.

 

Man, I'm laughing with you and not at you. I did something similar years ago with my ski boat. I was too lazy to hook it up to my truck and pull it out of the garage. I figured I could just gently roll it out into the drive. It got away from me and nearly went sailing across the street. Luckily a guy came by and saved me as I was holding onto it.

 

pics of girl?

you guys are slipping, it took 17 posts

 

We have all been there good luck in the future

 

This reminds me of an event that happened with my first Corvette. My dad was working on his car and it slipped off a bumper jack. He ran behind it and tried to stop it. I heard a yell that I have never heard my dad make. I ran outside to find him doing all he could to keep his car from hitting my Corvette. That's one of a million reasons why my dad is my hero. I felt so bad for him. I told him he should have just let it go. Insurance would fix it. If he had gotten pinned it could have been fatal.

DADS RULE!

 

Duplicolor makes an exact match for pewter in a rattle can. Don't know the exact number off the top of my head, but it's a truck color, and can be found at any auto parts store.
I painted my ACI front splitter with it. Did a better job than most auto body shops. I even fixed an area on my front facia about 3"X3" that you cannot find. It's all in the prep, and the time you spend on the final wet sand and polish.
Before you flamers even start, if you know anything at all about paint and body work, fixing a small area with a rattle can is a simple process. And many times, unknown to you, that's exactly what many shops do. More profitable than mixing paint, taking the time to pull the car in the booth, yada yada yada......they'll mix up a rattle can of paint, and go at it. Less waist, and labor for them = more profit.