So I've had my beautiful Prius for about 4 months now and I finally got a mark on it. I noticed this morning that right at the edge of my left rear fender and bumper some paint had been scraped off. I have the beautiful sea glass pearl but now black marks in that area. Someone obviously rubbed against it in a parking lot. How do I remedy this? Do I buy touch-up paint from the dealer? What would the dealership itself do, change the whole piece? I'm so bummed out!
We too have a small (quarter size) dent and scrape on the right rear door. It must have been done in a parking lot. I suppose some people enjoy banging into a nice, shiny, new vehicle, when they drive a rattletrap. We didn't bother doing anything to the damage. It becomes less painful to look at after a while.
If the damage isn't too large, get a bottle of touch up paint from the dealer (color coat only--don't bother with clear coat). Using the tip of a toothpick, apply a very light coat and let dry for 5 - 10 minutes (the paint will shrink a bit). Repeat until the damaged area is level with the surrounding area. Give it a week to see how noticeable it is.
I feel your pain. While on a road trip this summer, some old fool (son was in the car) through open his truck door and etched a nice mark/dent near. Three years w/o a big blemish....
I was pretty cooked when I got back and my son told me what happened. To think the person would have so little regard for someone else property. Anyway, I am over it.
The good news, at least, is that there's just plastic underneath so you don't have to worry about rust. I would do as stream said but, in addition, get a small container of polishing compound. About a week or so after final application, you can dab a little (and I mean the barest amount) on and use your finger to gently buff it. In the alternate, make a relationship with a good body shop in your area--ask around. Repainting it wouldn't be cheap ($600+, I'd guess), but they might be willing to help with the paint application and subsequent buffing. Someone dinged my '08 a short while back--red scuffing and an very noticeable concavity in the area below the fuel cap. I went to my favorite body shop (I've gone there when people have slammed my car and brought relatives' cars there), and they just had me pay their "dent guy" $100 to get it out and polished out the rest for free. A body shop with good business sense might help you out similarly to get goodwill if you need bigger work, or to make referrals.
It is always sad when you get the first ding in a new car. The good news is that your car will still drive the same as the day before the blemish and you can stop worrying about getting that first ding.
So can anyone else advise me on the best way to repair it? Does everyone agree with Stream's recommendation?
I touched up mine (except mine was the corner of the rear bumper and it was quite a bit of the corner, and the left rear wheel well and right rear wheel well and left front bumper... <sigh>)
When we bought our 2010 Prius model 5 three years ago, the dealer promised he would add a protective coating over the hood area for free but he didn't. After 75000 miles over New Mexico roads (some as good as the best, others graveled-over goat trails) our car hood looks like it has smallpox; the rest of the car has its share of dings also. I used to try to touch-up every nick and scratch, but finally gave up. It still doesn't look too bad from a distance, and we're planing to drive it until it disintegrates, so we'll probably just let the little nicks accumulate...
Sounds to me like something may have rubbed off onto your car. Perhaps a little (little!) bit of polishing compound or a mile cleaning agent would do the trick. If not, then a little touch-up paint should be fine.
On buying touch up paint, it seems dealers charge different amounts. Where's the cheapest I can find it? Should I try online or a non-dealership store?
Ouch guys, you need to buy some 3m clear bra, either pre-cut or hire a shop to do it for you. I did it myself for under $400 full wrap, along with edge guards, it did took about 2 days to do the work. I have my Blizzard pearl for 2 years now with 35k miles and no scratches or dent on the front with clear bra. But the larger upper hood area that I didn't cover with clear bra has a small scratch probably from flying rock. Considering that 95% of my driving are on highway daily I think clear bra did a pretty good job. Also just recently I got side swiped when an accident happen in left lane came to my lane, the front end with clear bra was also scraped badly but once I peeled that tape off the paint was still brand new. One more thing, my average on highway is 51 MPG better than advertised 50MPG and majority of time I drive at 80s mph
No!!! I just found a new dent. This one is near the top of the rear door on the driver's side. Are the Prius doors particularly soft? How often does this happen?
Go to a paintless dent repair place. They can take out door dings and most any non-creased dent. Also on that bumper scuff, first see if it is indeed scraped thru the paint to the black plastic underneath. If not, then some rubbing compound will take off the other rubbed on paint. Once you get it all repaired, invest in some 3M film if you can. Mike