Repairing scratches on plastic fender
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From: Ohio
2003 E320
Repairing scratches on plastic fender
What is the best way to fix scratched plastic fender? Scratch is fairly small, and the car isn't shiny and new. I wonder if I can do a decent job on plastic with a touch-up paint tube.
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Mercedes-Benz
Re: Repairing scratches on plastic fender
Originally posted by Gethen
What is the best way to fix scratched plastic fender? Scratch is fairly small, and the car isn't shiny and new. I wonder if I can do a decent job on plastic with a touch-up paint tube.
What is the best way to fix scratched plastic fender? Scratch is fairly small, and the car isn't shiny and new. I wonder if I can do a decent job on plastic with a touch-up paint tube.
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Joined: Apr 2003
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From: Boston
'05 A4 1.8TQM6
I acutally just did some "body" work to my bumper. A few months ago, I scraped the right front corner of the bumper into the garage 
took the paint right off, down to the yellow color of the plastic. I tried a little bit of touch up, but didn't work too well. For some reason, MB's touchup doesn't exactly match the body paint.
Anyways, was shopping at Home Depot yesterday and was in the painting section. I looked at the spray cans and came across "Rustoleum" Auto Paint. Brilliant Metal Finish (closest thing they had to the brilliant silver). For $4, why not.
Went home, cleaned the area, covered up the surrounding area and went to work. I first did a light even coat and let it dry for a few minutes. Then, I put a deeper or "wetter" coat on top of that. I let it sit for a half our, came back and took off the coverings around it. I must say, pretty darn close match...jut a tad lighter than the bumper silver. I may spray it again with another deeper coat to see if it will match closer. But for $4, it was worth it. Now I don't have to look at the darn yellow plastic. I'll take a pic later today and let u see.
took the paint right off, down to the yellow color of the plastic. I tried a little bit of touch up, but didn't work too well. For some reason, MB's touchup doesn't exactly match the body paint.
Anyways, was shopping at Home Depot yesterday and was in the painting section. I looked at the spray cans and came across "Rustoleum" Auto Paint. Brilliant Metal Finish (closest thing they had to the brilliant silver). For $4, why not.
Went home, cleaned the area, covered up the surrounding area and went to work. I first did a light even coat and let it dry for a few minutes. Then, I put a deeper or "wetter" coat on top of that. I let it sit for a half our, came back and took off the coverings around it. I must say, pretty darn close match...jut a tad lighter than the bumper silver. I may spray it again with another deeper coat to see if it will match closer. But for $4, it was worth it. Now I don't have to look at the darn yellow plastic. I'll take a pic later today and let u see.
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From: Boston
'05 A4 1.8TQM6
Originally posted by Gethen
Too late to get the "before" picture as well as "after", I guess.
Too late to get the "before" picture as well as "after", I guess.
The spot will look lighter than it is from the flash of the camera. It's pretty close to the bumper color...I think I'm going to give it another coat sometime.
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From: Boston
'05 A4 1.8TQM6
~Alright, got the before and after here...have a few shots.
Before:
after:
anything better than that yellow spot, but like i said, the flash makes it look worse than it is.
Here's the can of stuff I used:
Before:
after:
anything better than that yellow spot, but like i said, the flash makes it look worse than it is.
Here's the can of stuff I used:
Last edited by GDawgC220; Mar 4, 2004 at 04:48 PM.
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From: UK
SL55 AMG
After 138k miles and 10 years, the car's ready for a front-end respray anyway - there's a ding behind the turn signal light, the front bumper is peppered with stone chips and so is the strip beneath the headlight. The guys in the body shop will have a good laugh anyways.
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From: Boston
'05 A4 1.8TQM6
Originally posted by blueSL
After 138k miles and 10 years, the car's ready for a front-end respray anyway - there's a ding behind the turn signal light, the front bumper is peppered with stone chips and so is the strip beneath the headlight. The guys in the body shop will have a good laugh anyways.
After 138k miles and 10 years, the car's ready for a front-end respray anyway - there's a ding behind the turn signal light, the front bumper is peppered with stone chips and so is the strip beneath the headlight. The guys in the body shop will have a good laugh anyways.
So I don't know if i want to spend 1000 on just the front end...do you guys think this is too high of a price, could I do better somewhere else?
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Joined: Jul 2002
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From: UK
SL55 AMG
Sounds OK to me, based on what I paid here for my SL600 to be resprayed. Thing to remember is that silver is very difficult to match, even the same paint has problems because of the effects of sunlight and pollution.
You need to think about how long you are going to keep the car to know whether it's worth the cost of repainting. No idea what that car is worth but here it would be less than $5 - 6k.
If you do have it resprayed, remember the paint is very soft for a few weeks, so take extra care to drop back from the cars in front.
You need to think about how long you are going to keep the car to know whether it's worth the cost of repainting. No idea what that car is worth but here it would be less than $5 - 6k.
If you do have it resprayed, remember the paint is very soft for a few weeks, so take extra care to drop back from the cars in front.
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From: Boston
'05 A4 1.8TQM6
Honestly, I don't know how much longer I'm going to keep the car, but I use it as my daily driver for about 50 miles per day, just to and from school alone. It's in great condition (mechanically), body is starting to show some wear, but in good condition. Interior is still beautiful like day one, no wearing, tearing. Leather is still supple, all perfect.
only parts really sticking out are the bumper and hood with the rock chips. other than that, no rust spots (some bubbling underneath panels which you can't see if u don't look for them). but I'm heading towards driving this thing till it quits. So I"ll have to think about it and get some second opinions...the place i go to for car work now is a independent and they do restoration, body/paint work and have won awards over the last 50 years for their work. So I'll ask them and see what they think on it.
Thanks man.
only parts really sticking out are the bumper and hood with the rock chips. other than that, no rust spots (some bubbling underneath panels which you can't see if u don't look for them). but I'm heading towards driving this thing till it quits. So I"ll have to think about it and get some second opinions...the place i go to for car work now is a independent and they do restoration, body/paint work and have won awards over the last 50 years for their work. So I'll ask them and see what they think on it.
Thanks man.
