2008 - Current Dodge Avenger The new Dodge Avenger gives a sporty look to the often drab mid-sized sedan class, with the possible future option of AWD and a performance engine upgrade.

*Cry* My best friend dinged my door!

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old Oct 21, 2007 | 04:06 AM
  #1  
JBattley's Avatar
JBattley
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 46
Likes: 0
Default *Cry* My best friend dinged my door!

2 Weeks, 5 hours, 22 minutes after I picked up my car from the dealership, I arrived at my best friend's place, everyone jumps out of the car. She goes to get some stuff from her car, and I hear a small "katunk" sound. I turn on the spot and ask - did you just hit my car...

She says yes, and starts to look sorry, I panic and flip open my cellphone to get some light and I see the scuff mark on my door. I want to explode. If she was some random woman in a parking lot - I would have had her in tears begging for mercy from the heavens, with a verbal lashing of course, and a demand for insurance information.

But she is my best friend, and I love her to bits. I need your help removing this scratch, all I can find online are shops willing to do it.

Anyone have suggestions?


[IMG]local://upfiles/75410/47E0A855FCD84C87AD1B1577B1B6AA50.jpg[/IMG]
 
Reply
Old Oct 21, 2007 | 01:02 PM
  #2  
markio's Avatar
markio
Rookie
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 67
Likes: 0
From:
Default RE: *Cry* My best friend dinged my door!

Is it dented too? Hard to tell in the pic. If it is just scratched, go get a small thing of touch up paint. ( I got mine from dealer for $11) Put a very SMALL amount on the brush and fill in just the lines of the scratch. Try not to get in on the surrounding area. Get it as smooth as you can with the brush, but careful not to use too much paint. Another way to apply the paint is a medical syringe. Yes, a syringe. It gets in the small scratch, and doesn't get on the part the needs no paint. Let it get good and dry, so wait like a day. Then if you want buff the area with a cloth buffer, and wax the area. Should look pretty good, and noone should even notice. Cheap too.
 
Reply
Old Oct 21, 2007 | 01:13 PM
  #3  
futil's Avatar
futil
Veteran
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 333
Likes: 1
From:
Default RE: *Cry* My best friend dinged my door!

Yup.. I can help you with that.. You wont even notice it when you're done..

Firstly I want to say I soo know how you feel as my car was like that when I went to pick it up from the dealer.. only the scratches were about 1 foot long and there were 4 of them.. I was so pissed off.. They offered to fix it but I didn't want to leave the car there for another minute cause they clearly were not taking care of the car and I could see them parking a Dodge truck on it when I came back the second time.. So I buffed the scratches out myself.

I cant totally tell from the picture but is there a depression or is that just a big *** scratch? Im going to continue typing thinking this is a scratch and by the looks of it it looks like a clearcoat scratch which is a lot better than a deep scratch.

If you bring the car to a paint shop/auto body shop and it is just a clearcoat scratch they will just buff it out the same way I explain later (Using a power buffer) and charge you over $100.. So I would totally recommend doing it yourself since all it takes is some patience and work.

You can buff that scratch out easily using a good clearcoat compound and a simple hand microfiberbuffing pad. It should take you about 10-15 minutes of hand rubbing but the scratch will be gone when you're done.
If you want to invest in a power buffer you can do that as well but just be carefulby buffing then checking your work frequently.The hand buffer will obviously take a lot less time and energy.

I already wrote up a scratch removal guide located here.. well its kind of a guide..
https://dodgeforum.com/m_993597/tm.htm

Here is what was in the guide (Save you a click):
When I first looked at my new avenger from the dealer I noticed 3 scratches just behindthe driver side door.. (And a semi emptycoke bottle on the passenger side seat).. The dealer told me they would buff it out before the car was prepped and ready for pickup but the scratches were still there when I came back to pick up the car.. So instead of leaving the car there to have the dealer fix it I decided that I would try and remove them myself since the dealer clearly was not taking proper care of the car while it was in their lot.

I purchased a few different clear coat compound products and after washing my car I tried them out.. They all sucked except for one which removed the scratches and made the scratches totally disappear.

Since I have noticed that the paint and clear coat used on the Avenger seems to scratch easily I figured I would write up a few tips for removing scratches for anyone that would like to try removing scratches themselves.

You can tell if you have a scratch that is just in the clear coat or if it is a deeper scratchby running your finger over the scratch.. If the scratch is smooth to the touch then you have a clearcoat scratch,if you feel roughness or can see the primer/bare metal then obviously your scratch is deeper and will require a different method of removal/repair. If you have paint from another object (Such as another car) that has rubbed off in a collision without any deep scratches then you can treat that as a clearcoat scratch as itcan be removed the same way.

Clear coat scratches can easily be removed by cleaning/washing the scratch areaand using a good clear coat compound. Basically use a soft microfiber cloth ormicrofiber buffing pad, apply the clear coat compound to thecloth/pad and work the scratch. You canrub in circlesand occasionally following the scratch line. In about 5 minutes of rubbing the scratch should be gone.You can also use a power polisher/buffer to remove the scratch which will take less time but you should take care tobuff for a short time then check the area as you caneasily buff off your clear coat if you don't pay attention, or worse.. your paint.
I have had excellent results using Gliptone's Clearcoat compound (Step 2). ( http://www.autobarn.net/gliptone-clearcoat-compound.html) It did not scratch the finish at all, removed theexisting scratches and polished the entire area.


Deep scratches can be filled by purchasing touch up paint and filling the scratch with the touch up paint taking care to not paint too far over the edge of the scratch. You may have to apply multiple coats using the small included applicator brush to fill the scratch. after you have let the paint dry, you can use the same buffing method above to smooth out and blend the new paint with the rest of the car's surface.
 
Reply
Old Oct 21, 2007 | 04:27 PM
  #4  
futil's Avatar
futil
Veteran
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 333
Likes: 1
From:
Default RE: *Cry* My best friend dinged my door!

Also, If your scratch is past the clearcoat and you want to fill in the paint using markio's suggestion of a medical syringe, you can get them at any drug store asthe governmentpassed a law allowing anyone to purchase 10 medical syringes per day with no questions asked to stem the spread of AIDS with intravenous drug users who frequently share needles due to the lack ofavailability to find new ones.

Oh.. and no I do not shoot up heroin or other drugs My doctor tells me all this useless crap. Well I guess useless until now..
 
Reply
Old Oct 22, 2007 | 09:36 AM
  #5  
AvengerRT's Avatar
AvengerRT
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 6
Likes: 0
From:
Default RE: *Cry* My best friend dinged my door!

Can you feel ridges in the scratch by running your fingernail over it? Or is it more of a paint scuff (no denting, ridges)? If its more of just a scuff, you can use Mequiars ScratchX on it. Get a foam applicator (like the kind you would use to apply wax) and put a bit of the pasty substance on there. Then rub it in really well, and use some "passion". What I mean by that is you have to rub it with some decent pressure, and you have to keep rubbing till the product starts to break down, which is when your going to see results.

I used this on my 2008 avenger after I managed to tag the painted wood frame of my garage pulling in one night. My car is black too so everything shows up big time on it. I had about a 3/4 in paint scuff around the wheel well from the middle of the door about 8 inches long. Luckily it wasn't deep, and after using the scratchX on it, you can't even tell I hitanything. It came out great!
 
Reply
Old Oct 23, 2007 | 07:57 PM
  #6  
JBattley's Avatar
JBattley
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 46
Likes: 0
Default RE: *Cry* My best friend dinged my door!

Using info you guys posted, and a quick trip to Canadian Tire, I used the Mother's scratch remover.

This took me about 5 minutes to do, and rewax. So happy!


[IMG]local://upfiles/75410/34CBA89B9943475EA911C20A2B6D454A.jpg[/IMG]
 
Reply
Old Oct 24, 2007 | 12:26 AM
  #7  
silvercoupe97's Avatar
silvercoupe97
Uber Moderator
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 2,305
Likes: 0
From: Colorado Springs, CO
Default RE: *Cry* My best friend dinged my door!

I know how you feel bud. The only difference was my, then, girlfriend got my car dinged on the front fascia when I let her drive my car and she parked it in the crowded area of the parking lot. You guys know what I'm talking about. I was pissed! She never drove my car again.

Sorry about your original news, but good to hear that it was only surface transfer. Her surface and not yours.
 
Reply
Old Oct 24, 2007 | 12:52 AM
  #8  
futil's Avatar
futil
Veteran
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 333
Likes: 1
From:
Default RE: *Cry* My best friend dinged my door!

Glad everything worked out for you.. Most of us know the feeling

I never tried Mother's or Mequiars ScratchX. I just bought a tube of Mequiars ScratchX yesterday and will try that out on my next scratch cause Mequiars makes awesome products and I want to see how it does in comparison with some of the others I tried. I heard people saying good things about Nu Finish Scratch Doctor but when Itried it for my scratch I couldnt get it to do anything.. It was like I was rubbing water onthe car.The second one I tried was the Gliptone which is whyI was recommending it.. Not because it was the best but because it worked well and did what it said it woulddo..

Oh.. Silvercoupe97, Im right there with you.. My wife is barely allowed to be a passenger in my car.. She can just dream about driving it cause she has a long history of saying "Im sooo sorry! I didnt mean to flip the car over" .. etc.. or getting to have her explain to me what happened in the ambulance.. Soo.. Screw that.. ActuallyI didnt even buy her a new car yet.. She can drive the couch. Actually I caught her falling off that too..
 
Reply
Old Oct 24, 2007 | 12:59 PM
  #9  
SueK's Avatar
SueK
Professional
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 247
Likes: 0
From:
Default RE: *Cry* My best friend dinged my door!

Thank God it was just that. I did the same for my friends car and saved her some money. I bet you're friend is breathing a sigh of relief.
 
Reply
Old Jun 21, 2008 | 07:44 PM
  #10  
albertaavenger's Avatar
albertaavenger
Registered User
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 26
Likes: 0
From: Edmonton
Default RE: *Cry* My best friend dinged my door!

yeah that sucks but dont feels o bad in the long rune dude@!!! threee days after i bought my car my best friend burnt the roof with her cigarrette and when she threw it out it came back in and burnt the back deck . i didnt freak out or even want to although i was like oh **** jessica u burnt my car but i was l;aughing as to not make a bad situation worse its just material my friendship worth more . but theres more!!! about a montha go my grampa had a heart attacdk so iw as driving my gramma to the hospitol in edmonton and um well her smoke kinda flew back in and burnt a noce hole in my leather seat this one pissed me offf soo ffriking much although i did not find it right away i was mad inside obveosely did not say anything. couple more.. a month after i bought my car sumeone kickd my drivers side fender in and scratched my hood up and the bumper and kickd my passenger side door and scratchd mirror up ... ive got more when my mom borrowed my car for a week wen i was in vancouver they made frequent trips to edmonton and bingo and well a bingo dabber now covers my rear carpet drivers side rear floor any suggestions on how to get that out????? but anyways ive kept a level head about all this i (finally got the ext fixed claimed it on vandalism since i have a low deductable . it cost 3,500$ !!!!) so try not to get to excited wen u get a lil scratch they happen think of my story wen u start to get pissed theres ppl way worse of lol
 
Reply



All times are GMT -4. The time now is 10:42 PM.