I had a piece of metal fly off a plaza roof and hit the passenger side of my car in the door. Paint came off down to the fibreglass. I have tried touching up with mediocre results.

I have taken it to 4 body shops and everybody refuses to do a touch up, they want to paint the whole door.

Any special products or techniques I am not aware of?

This is an '07.

 

The body shops that you took it to are correct. It would require painting the whole door. I am not saying that the color would have to be applied to the entire exterior surface of the door...but the entire doors exterior would have to be clear coated. The color coat would be mixed and a test panel should be sprayed...and cleared so it can be determined if their color mix could achieve a "blend-able match". If the color will allow good blending ( not to dark or light on all of the angles and light sources) then they would apply and blend the color after the damage has been repaired...and then apply the clearcoat so seal everything down and NOT have a "tell-tale" area where you would see that the clear coat would show up later....if they only spot cleared the area.


Be thankful that the damage occured in the middle of the panel...because if it was close to the edge of the panel where it meets with another panel....it could often times require the other panel being sprayed also due to not having enough room to properly blend the color without causing the color to match the un-touched adjacent panel.

Removal of all parts that contact the doors painted exterior surface is a MUST. Door handle (so to speak), mirror and outer upper window seal.

"DUB"

 

"DUB" thanks for your detailed response.

I don't like the idea of painting the door and was thinking maybe I can put a decal to cover it - I can't come up with any ideas (because of the awkward location) but if anybody has any I would appreciate them.

 

Why don't you want to paint the door? Like dub said, it's only the clear coat that gets sprayed over the entire door. A good shop will match the factory orange peel and you can't tell anything ever happened. I had a door done that way on a BMW M3 and the repair is undetectable.

 

Reason is that the impression I got from the body shops that I visited was that they would "paint" the entire door and in addition have to blend in with the side body. If they can in fact only paint a small section of the door and just clear the entire thing then that would be more appealing.

What colour was your M3?

 

Metallic silver/blue. Very difficult color to match, but I can't tell it's been fixed and I'm damn picky when it comes to body/paint. Here's what it looks like after the repair.

 

Mad*Max...From your photo of the damage it appeared to be in the center of the door ...or close to it. A good painter with an "eye for color" should have no problem in painting and blending the repaired damaged area....once he achieves a good paint match. That is the tricky part...finding a painter much like myself who will take the time to tint and spray out test panels until the color is correct. I have spent several days on some colors to get them just right. Much like the painter did for "zwede". The color for his BMW did not get mixed first try and come out like that...especially on that color (silver/blue)..and I would bet that his painter did some tinting of some type to get it right. Mad*Max...I have painted several cars with damage much like yours...and it is really not that big of a deal. There is so much room til your get to the edge of the panel where it meets the fender and quarter...the only time consuming part is getting the color correct for blending.

If you choose not to get it painted...and honestly finding a decal that would work is quite a pointless action in my opinion...unless you invest in graphics and do both sides...which could cost you more than getting it painted. If your hand is steady...you can get some touch up paint and apply it to hide the damage. It may not be the right thing to do...but at least you can hide the damage from being so evident. But I would not do that either...if you know in the future that you are planning on getting it repaired correctly.

Best of luck in making a decision that will make you feel satisified.
"DUB"

 

Zwede: Thanks for posting pics, can't tell where it has been painted.

DUB: I see your point and appreciate your lengthy responses.

I am convinced that painting the door is the way to go, I'll probably take it to the local dealer who sells/repairs a lot of Corvettes. Am I correct that the Corvette takes a special paint because of the fibreglass?

 

Nope, nothing special for 'vettes. Maybe some flex agent additive for the bumpers, but many cars have soft bumpers. I'm told the original supplier to GM is PPG.