It was not a collision, but a scrape event. There does not seem to be deformation of the area. Areas damaged are the front of the wheel well (including a small part of the passenger door), and the trailing area of the wheel well. Paint is scraped off. Just cleaning this is not going to restore this to "new" condition which is what "she who must be obeyed" wants. Is this area of the car some short of plastic or is it metal? Any idea what the dealer is going to charge for this? Do I have any other good options? An independent body shop perhaps? I live in the Little Rock area, just in case someone has a recommendation.
i think it's metal. i had a similar issue when i scraped my pick up truck while backing around it. cost me about $150. but i let them blend it, not paint the whole thing. i can't tell unless i look really carefully.
Behind the wheel is part of the vinyl bumper wrap. Can be painted but they'll want to do the whole thing. Front and above the wheel is metal. A lot depends on the paint you have, the pearl and metallic colors are a bitch to match and blend and most shops won't even try. If its not an insurance job they might be more willing to work with you on cutting corners. Just remember this type job takes a lot of time.
They spray the damage area, dilute the remaining paint 50% with clear, spray a little further, repeat two or three more times. It's quite effective. The curved body panels change the color tone normally, and the "fade out" paint repair mimics this
mine is clearwater blue (light). they paint the damaged are and slowly paint over the good area and taper the spray as they move the gun, so there's no definitive stop line. generally, they like to paint an entire panel, and even then, they'll sometimes tell you they need to paint the entire side or something to get it to match. better explanation, thanks!
Thanks guys. I'll get an estimate from the dealer and a body shop this week. Found a dealer on Angie's list that's getting good customer reviews.
