Scratches inside the hood
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Joined: Jan 2020
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From: Nj
mclaren 720s
Scratches inside the hood
Hey guys. odd one. was cleaning the engine bay of my ‘20 G63 and i removed the heat shield that is clipped on inside the hood to clean (no idea why i did that but was bored i guess) and noticed a few (alot) scratches where the heat shield was covering on the paint. must have been a prior PDR job that was done where the guy was removing a few indents on my hood so he went from the inside of the hood and messaged them out. he did a very good job but did notice he scratched the inside of the hood where his tool must have rubbed against the paint as he was messaging and pushing the dents out. alot of time has passed since then and you cant see any of the scratches since its being covered by that silver heat shield which i clipped back on. i would send pics but those clips are very hard to take off.
question is should i repair the scratches and get them resprayed or let it go since no one can even see them since they are covered by the heat shield? i dont think moisture or water gets in there so not sure i should worry about rust. thoughts? the scratches aren’t visible to anyone, not even when hood is lifted up. dont think the inside of the hood is very prone to rust anyway. thoughts??
question is should i repair the scratches and get them resprayed or let it go since no one can even see them since they are covered by the heat shield? i dont think moisture or water gets in there so not sure i should worry about rust. thoughts? the scratches aren’t visible to anyone, not even when hood is lifted up. dont think the inside of the hood is very prone to rust anyway. thoughts??
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2020 G63, 2021 E450 All-Terrain Wagon
Hey guys. odd one. was cleaning the engine bay of my ‘20 G63 and i removed the heat shield that is clipped on inside the hood to clean (no idea why i did that but was bored i guess) and noticed a few (alot) scratches where the heat shield was covering on the paint. must have been a prior PDR job that was done where the guy was removing a few indents on my hood so he went from the inside of the hood and messaged them out. he did a very good job but did notice he scratched the inside of the hood where his tool must have rubbed against the paint as he was messaging and pushing the dents out. alot of time has passed since then and you cant see any of the scratches since its being covered by that silver heat shield which i clipped back on. i would send pics but those clips are very hard to take off.
question is should i repair the scratches and get them resprayed or let it go since no one can even see them since they are covered by the heat shield? i dont think moisture or water gets in there so not sure i should worry about rust. thoughts? the scratches aren’t visible to anyone, not even when hood is lifted up. dont think the inside of the hood is very prone to rust anyway. thoughts??
question is should i repair the scratches and get them resprayed or let it go since no one can even see them since they are covered by the heat shield? i dont think moisture or water gets in there so not sure i should worry about rust. thoughts? the scratches aren’t visible to anyone, not even when hood is lifted up. dont think the inside of the hood is very prone to rust anyway. thoughts??
Thread Starter
Super Member
Joined: Jan 2020
Posts: 551
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From: Nj
mclaren 720s
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From: NC
2026 G63
Probably unlikely to rust since it's on the inside of the hood and covered by the heat shield. I wouldn't worry about it. As they say the enemy of good is better, and chances are something else will get messed up if you try to fix it.
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From: Nj
mclaren 720s
i like that . i would have saved alot of money thinking like that! good man
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3phase-4pole
If the scratch is deep enough to expose the metal it may develop surface rust at some point. good news is its not visible outside which means you can DIY paint it with a satin finish spray can and it will give you peace of mind for under $10.
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From: West Yorkshire, UK.
G350d, Rover Mini , Abarth 500, G230, RS4
or since it’s scratches, I choose nail polish to touch up on my cars and the brush is handy to get in the scratch.
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Joined: Jan 2020
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From: Nj
mclaren 720s
i would have thought surface scratches wouldnt get rust there especially since its covered, doesnt get wet and its super hot there with engine.
i thought about DIY but i always worry if someone sees a major touch up job upon resale (if they actually take the multi clip heat shield off) they may think something more serious happened there and i would need to explain it away. versus just them seeing alot of surface scratches which is obvious from a metal PDR tool scratching the edges while messaging out small indents from behind. who knows.
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Joined: Jan 2020
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From: West Yorkshire, UK.
G350d, Rover Mini , Abarth 500, G230, RS4
thx. removing that heat shield is a bear. those clips are very tight and hard to get off. almost broke them.
i would have thought surface scratches wouldnt get rust there especially since its covered, doesnt get wet and its super hot there with engine.
i thought about DIY but i always worry if someone sees a major touch up job upon resale (if they actually take the multi clip heat shield off) they may think something more serious happened there and i would need to explain it away. versus just them seeing alot of surface scratches which is obvious from a metal PDR tool scratching the edges while messaging out small indents from behind. who knows.
i would have thought surface scratches wouldnt get rust there especially since its covered, doesnt get wet and its super hot there with engine.
i thought about DIY but i always worry if someone sees a major touch up job upon resale (if they actually take the multi clip heat shield off) they may think something more serious happened there and i would need to explain it away. versus just them seeing alot of surface scratches which is obvious from a metal PDR tool scratching the edges while messaging out small indents from behind. who knows.
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Super Member
Joined: Jan 2020
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From: Nj
mclaren 720s
didnt take pics before i inserted the heat shields back on. they are very difficult to take off without breaking the actual clips or ripping the heat shield. Just picture light surface scratches... almost looks like sandpaper rubbed again the paint in essentially one spot.
my friend owns a very large body shop. he also, like others here, advised to leave it alone. he said spraying the inside of the hood to cover the light scratches could generate more questions from someone than answers. he works on alot of G’s in my area. He said those heat shield never ever come off so no one would see them nor does the hood rust since its aluminum... he even said even if the hood was not aluminum, that area would not be prone to rust given placement near engine which wouldnt get much moisture.
will listen to others and leave alone. i cant blame the PDR guy since he did a flawless job on removing 3 noticeable indents on hood (probably from someone leaning on the hood or factory/port miss) and they were very hard to get to from the inside to message out. it’s annoying but will never be noticed.
my friend owns a very large body shop. he also, like others here, advised to leave it alone. he said spraying the inside of the hood to cover the light scratches could generate more questions from someone than answers. he works on alot of G’s in my area. He said those heat shield never ever come off so no one would see them nor does the hood rust since its aluminum... he even said even if the hood was not aluminum, that area would not be prone to rust given placement near engine which wouldnt get much moisture.
will listen to others and leave alone. i cant blame the PDR guy since he did a flawless job on removing 3 noticeable indents on hood (probably from someone leaning on the hood or factory/port miss) and they were very hard to get to from the inside to message out. it’s annoying but will never be noticed.
