I got keyed again for the second time in less than a month. The car was in a completely different location, so I don't think there is a link. Both are deep and very long - down to bare metal. Does anyone else have this problem? Is there some way to repair this without repainting the car?

 

If the key marks are to the metal there is no good way to fix it except by a full repaint job. My girlfriends car was key'd but it was right underneath the lip spoiler where there is a shadow so the body shop was able to sand down and respray without charging me too much. He then blended the paint up to the spoiler lip.

Hopefully its in an area where they can blend in the paint, if not the entire area/panel will need to be painted.

 

Unfortunately it's not in a good area - middle of the door and front fender, and on the trunk lid, just above the key hole. This really bums me out because I really keep a car nice - always garaged and defensively parked (however I do not take up two spaces). The car looks great, so I guess some people just can't stand that! With my luck I will repaint it and have it keyed again the next day! Such is life...

 

Sorry to hear that.

 

You should be able to get the key mark above the key hole on the trunk lid done for less than the others. Its just a shame that people still cant respect other peoples property.

 

Sorry to hear that

Before a complete repaint which is expensive, I may try a 'Touch up' first and then a wax. I am sure it won't be perfect but may be acceptable, especially in white. Good luck.

 

Sorry to hear that. But imo think you should just have that part re-painted.

 

I probably will. However, it will be two fenders, one door, and the trunk that will have to be painted. I already repainted another door where an idiot plowed into me, so I guess I will eventually have a new paint job piece by piece!:p

 

Piece by piece?? I wouldn't really recommend that unless your bringing it into a really professional body shop. If you do it piece by piece and lets say the hood and side panels today and then do the rest later on the paint finish may not be the same. Guess what i'm trying to say is why not do the whole body at one time? If it's the money then i can understand but don't think it's a really good idea. Just my opinion.

 

Well it happened again today - a large deep scratch all across my hood! What is going on? This is the third time in about a month, and all locations were many miles apart. I do not live in a small town, so it could not be the same person. What is it about my car that people hate so much? Does anyone else have this problem? Pretty much the entire car has to be repainted now

 

Where in Ft. Lauderdale do you live? And where was your vehicle located at the time of the incidents?

My Fiancee and her family live in Ft. Lauderdale and all have BMW's. No keying incidents in the past 25 years they have lived there.

Either you know someone who is pissed at you, or the keying did not really happen in the first place (i.e., Do you have photo's of the keying?).

Not to sound harsh, but someone on the board posted that their vehicle was broken into, and that the theives cracked the code for the Mercedes Benz remote entry system

 

Keyed three times in a month that's crazy.
Where exactly are you leaving your car? Is it in an area that people just walk by? I go to Ft. Lauderdale, one or twice a month, and thanks god, nothing has hapened.

 

So you think I am making all of this up? Why would I? I have nothing to gain. I suppose I could have your Fiancée come over and verify it... Look, you can believe me or not, but unfortunately for me, it did happen as I stated. I too have lived here for 25 years with no problems. As far as being the same person, I think that is almost impossible. The locations where it happened are over 15 miles apart with no common thread. I think most likely someone saw the first scratch on the car, and it gave him the idea to put his own on it. Believe me, I am as baffled as you are. My nightmare now is that I have it repainted only to have it happen again...!

 

I am not calling you a liar or anything, but was merely pointing out what I did. No offense

It seems quite odd.. thank goodness it was not broken into, and not one was hurt.

As long as you have police reports for the incidents you could very well have the insurance cover the costs for a new paint job, as well as the rental car!!

 

The usual sun-fried brains of some Floridians...keying a car just because someone else already did??

I don't doubt it.

 

I too had my E220 back in 1993 keyed in both sides from front fender to the trunk and had to repaint the whole car before I sold it - Insurance covered it under vandilisim section. My 2001 VW Golf is like a black board now (its deep blue color and scratches show up like crazy) and some dude also keyed it from the front fender to the trunk on one side - Also some other guy keyed the hood - I'm not repainting that car cause its a daily driver and I only use it to go to work - If I do - someone else will key it again

 

This is exactly the reason I never drove my benz when I was in high school. I had a POS to drive there and they ****ed with that. They would have totally messed up my benz if i drove it there.

 

Don't sell bad people short. If someone is pissed off at you enough, 15 miles is not too far to follow.
What I would sell is that bad luck car.

 

I guess that is possible. Anyway, against advise to the contrary, the car goes into the body shop tomorrow for repainting. If it happens again, I guess I will just have to hire a guard!

 

If you have personalized license plates I would take them off for awhile; if it's regular license plates I would spend the $9 or so and get new ones issued. An area of 15 miles doesn't sound like a lot to me and could easily be someone that recognizes your car.

Or you could have my kind of luck: 2001 E320 that I hardly ever drive because I pamper it and always wanted it to be perfect. New Year's day I accidentally closed the garage door into a ladder which in turn fell down on to the car... both my six-year old son and wife keep keep telling me "glad it wasn't ME!"

 

Aside from a professional body shop, you may want to look into one of the places that does paintless ding removal. Some of these organizations also do paint touch-ups, with no traditional methods. Most of these places are franchises and advertise their own unique system for touch ups.

I am located in Northern California, and there is a place called "Dent Magic". On my mother's Rodeo, she had a 2" scrape all the down to the plastic bumper material. They were able to spot fix the area without painting the entire bumper. The truck is fairly new (2001), and the fix was undetectable. The cost was $25.00.

These systems usually allow the technician to sand down the affected area smooth, then using proprietary primers or similiar, he is able to build the area up quicky, then the paint is custom matched with a computer connected to a paint mixer and the color is spray on. Then they can spray more proprietary blending chemicals to even the whole repair out.

The only disadvantage is that I am not sure if the repair area will age at the same rate as the original paint. Probably not, but the over all cost is minimal to repainting entire panels.

-rob lee
'99 E320 - bone stock

 

Thanks for the information, but the car is in the body shop right now. They are repainting almost half of the car. I will pick it up on Tuesday. It should be a nice job, and the insurance company is paying for it minus $250.