themundy

Last night we had some serious thunderstorms and my neighbor had a "screen tent" on his deck that was made out of aluminum tubing...needless to say, he didn't secure it (smart guy he is) and it decided to blow around our neighborhood....after it crashed into the front of my house, I (in all my wisdom) doceided that I would go outside, grab the thing and toss it in an empty lot (we live in a new construction neighborhood).

So long story short, I opened my garage door to go outside and grab this damn thing....I ran out grabbed it, then a gust of wind grabbed it as well and blew one of the metal poles off through it across my yard and it slammed into my C300's trunk.....of course it didn't even touch my VW that was parked on the side....

Now I have a dent that looks like two interconnected shopping cart dents...with a significant (1.5" long and deep) scratch in the center.

Any recomendations on how to fix this????....I really don't want to have the whole trunk resprayed...the car is on lease and would prefer a "quick fix" that looks "ok"....it looks really bad now because the white of the scratch really stands out.

C43AMG

Look in yellow pages for one of those paintless dent repair guys.

rs1985

not going to ask ur friend to pay you back ?

jorantes

he didnt claim he was a friend... he only said "neighbor"...

themundy

Ya, this guy is not a friend....not a bad guy, but not the brightest bulb.

The tough part is that I am the idiot who opened my garage door....I would have been better off letting it crack my siding...then asking him for money...

I am getting an estimate from a paintless dent repair shop today....hopefully it is under $200...

rs1985

post a picture maybe ?

themundy

I wish I took a before picture. I just stopped by a paintless dent removal shop that my local MB dealer uses....the guy fixed it for $90 while I waited...these guys are amazing...you can't even tell that there was a dent.

He applied touch up paint to the scratch...which looks ok...from 3 feet you can't see any issues....but now that I know that it is there I will be looking for it all the time. He quoted around $200 to respray the entire section of trunk...i'll probably hold off on that since it is a lease.

He mentioned that I should apply touch up paint every few days...just layer it to get the paint to the same level as factory. Do you guys recommend this?

narky

Sucks. Glad to hear that it worked out "okay." Truly sucks to have to pay for the idiocy of others though.

I think the touch-up every few days idea is sound. Makes sense to me. I'm sure your dent-repair guy doesn't mean continuously for the entire lease term though. Pretty sure.

And you say it only costs $200 to paint the trunk? The whole trunk? If so, I might have some creative ideas... Hmmmmmm

RickP330

Yeah,
He wants you to do this to build up the layer of paint inside the scratch to be even with the paint. Problem is that by the time you do this you will have a bump of too much paint on the area surrounding the scratch. You need to take a sanding block with 600 grit wet paper and quick and easy take the top of it off, then switch to 1200 right away and make the whole area smooth. Then you will have to rub out the area around to get the shine back. For instance if you are talking about a 2" scratch you could be talking about buffing out a 8 or 12" diameter area around the scratch.
RickP

themundy

Ya, he suggested adding paint only until it is even with the factory paint. I didn't think $200 was too bad....If I owned the car I would have done it.

themundy

Thanks. I'll probably just leave it as is and learn to deal with the imperfection...

rs1985

seriously
if i were u i talk to ur neighbor

Krytech

Man that is brutal, I'm glad to hear it worked out. I too recently was on the receiving end of something not-so-soft to my C350. Once you know it's there, it's all you can do not to look at it...

4matic

haha i hate the way things turn out sometimes...what are the chances of that damn thing flying off the deck and hitting your benz? haha i am glad everything ended up alright though...and i definitely understand that since it is leased...you didnt paint the whole trunk...200$ is a good deal though...going to make any little innuendos to your neighbor about what happend the next time he is out in the yard? haha

cjh.

Sorry to hear about the damage. Of all damage a storm could cause...
I think you should send the bill to respray it to your neighbor.


+1. If I had a white C, I think a black hood, roof, and trunk would look good.

narky

That's exactly what I meant by "creative ideas." Not so creative after all, I guess? I already have the black hood, thanks to the Pano Roof option. Just gotta do the trunk and hood. Two problems:

1. I don't want my car to look like a cop car.
2. The car/paint is essentially brand new (< 5 months)

I might do a few photoshops first to check it out, and even then, wait until I gather enough rock chips in the front. I already have a few on the hood, so maybe soon?

jstaneff

One potential visual issue is that the hood/bonnet laps over top of the fenders/bumpers. That means you'll have a line somewhere on the hood, or it will look strange. Since the A pillar also meets the hood at the same point, you could just paint the whole thing, then you'll have a disjoint with the doors. I think the 204 does, for some colors, look great with the black roof and maybe deck lid, but ....

themundy

The "neighbor" in question was outside last night when I pulled up from work....He saw me and I swear he ran in the house as fast as he could....I bet he saw all of this go down from his window that night...I can't wait to see him again. I'm not going to ask for money, but I am sure going to make him feel like an #$@%.