1999 Black 35th GT

My wife was hit in our Subaru by a hit and run driver. Basically it rubbed the paint away on the fiberglass bumber but did not gouge or dent the plastic.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I could touch this up to my best ability that it is not an eyesore. It's about 1 inch long and about 1/4 inch wide.

Glenn

I always let the pros handle that stuff. When I did it I always made things look worse. Its worth the 100 bucks to me any way.

1999 Black 35th GT

All 3 estimates I got were in the $400 to $550 range. In fact the last shop recommended I try it myself first.

rrobello

so is paint removed from your car or was paint transfered from the other to yours?

if paint is removed I can give you a basic run down, but you might find it best to let a pro do it.

1999 Black 35th GT

The paint was removed. The black you can see in the picture is the actual plastic of the bumper.

I ordered a kit from Langka to try out.

Any other suggestions you might have rrobello?

Thanks again!

rrobello

well its tough to do a spot paint if you havent done it before, I am no expert at it by the way but have done it a couple of times. Ill start you off with the simplest thing you can do so as not to really F up your car if you make a mistake.

Hopefully they are as small as they look. Make sure you have the propper paint to match. Then go to a art store and get a really fine paint brush with nice bristles, shouldnt cost too much. Then Id recommend actually getting a small paint dish or something plastic with a small well that you can toss out when done to put a small amount of the paint into make it easier (does that make sense as to what I am talking about?). then clean the surface that you are going to paint really well, since it is small you dont need any professional paint prep cleaners, lightly soapy water to clean then just clean water to rinse out the soap thoroughly and dry. The key is just to make it clean and free of anything that will keep the paint from sticking to the surface. Now ideally you would actually do this by scuffing or sanding the surface to get the paint to hold even better and get a nice smooth surface to work on, but that actually takes some good skill to go that route and get a nice finish, I am going to walk you through a good touch up if you can live with it GREAT, if not then the other way of a spot paint is the only way to go, up to you when done and it can be reversed by sanding. Well now with the suface clean and dry take the brush and dip the tip of it in the paint but press it down against the edge of the well or dish, this will draw the paint up into the bristles and not allow for too much paint (that will cause spotching). Then just go at it gently dabbing the paint into the spots missing the paint, do not brush it on or try to overlap onto your painted surface. This is a long process but it works and gets the best results from touching up the needed areas. Get it thin and even across the entire unpainted surface (again do not overlap onto the painted surface of the bumper), your goal is to build up the paint to fill the "hole". Let this dry, you can use a heating device to spead this up but Ive just let it sit in the past and dry normally so as to make sure it is completely dry. Then come back to it later and do this again. Keep repeating until you get the desired results of it being the same color and flush with the stock remaining paint. Now you can stop there if you are happy with it, it should be close enough to not really notice, but after the final coat is dry and the surface and paint is even I add a thin coat of clear, again only on the surface you have been painting. Then that should be good, you can if you have the ***** wet sand it a bit (with real fine sand paper; 2000grit) to get it perfectly smooth and then polish it out with compounds working your way back up to a fine paint polish then wax.

Now again that was steps on how to "touch up" the flaws. The other process which I would recommend leaving to a pro, is the best final results and that is to start by sanding the effected area and the surrounding areas, then paint, then clear, then wet sand, then compound (harsh cut worked back up to fine/light cut), then polish, then wax.

Good luck with it, if you have questions or something doesnt make sense please ask and I will clarify or answer anything. Once it is all done if you want to go the extra mile and make it very hard to notice you touched it up, then BY HAND you can go get some Scratch X and once it is all dry (let sit several days before you polish or do this step) then rub in some scratch x over that area, remove and repeat a couple of times until you are happy with the look, this will help blend in those areas of the new paint and the old, then go ahead and polish with Meguiars Show Car Glaze then wax with their High Tech Yellow. If youd like to tackle the compounds both Meguiars and 3M have some real easy to use products if you have a DA buffer, if not just go right for that Scratch X it should work nicely. Take your time, dont rush it and be patient, you should be fine. Again GOOD LUCK!

1999 Black 35th GT

Thanks man!

I printed out your directions. I added a tiny bit on the scratch for now but I'm gonna go back and do it even better as the weather warms up.

I really appreciate all the advice. All of the art brushes my grandfather gave me are gonna come in handy after all!