BENZGal

Some non english speaking fool hit the front of my car on Friday. We were stopped in traffic, and this fool just put it in reverse and backed up. He was in a company truck so I should be OK. It cracked the front grill, scratched and dented a few parts on the bumper, and broke my heart. You have to get up close to see the damage.

Question for you guys...Vic55 told me that I will never be able to match the factory paint.

Has anyone been thru something like this? I am going to be super picky about who does the work. I thought about letting the dealership find me someone?

jangy

Don't rely on the dealership. Look into a restoration shop. If you need help, let me know. It will be EXTREMELY hard to match it to the level that we care. In the past, I have known others that have been able to buy bumper covers with OEM paint done already. It takes time to get, and is extremely expensive, but may be worth looking into. That was also not on a W211, so it may not now be possible anymore.
****!! I am sooo sorry for you. It would shatter my heart as well.
On a lighter note, black is one of the easiest to match.
At least you are safe. I'd hate to think that cute body got damaged at all!!

W211 Ryda

If you don't mind the drive, you should consider Amato's. I was there a couple of weeks ago for an estimate and saw some of their quality work. Really impressive.

http://www.amatosautobody.com/index.html

jangy

Amato's is great. There is also Symbolic right around the corner. They are even better!! You should go ask to see their body shop. They re-build 3 million dollar collector cars all the time. Simply amazing.

MNG

sorry to hear about the car, my car is black..not an E55 but the dealer did a awesome job on it, now one could even tell it was painted

psk145

I was staring at the front of your car, and I didnt even notice!!

I've had Quigley's auto body in lake forest do some bumper work on my C32, and it looked fatory. They did an excellent job. They did the body work on that blue E46 M3 widebody owned by Craig someone.

vrus

Sorry to hear that Angela.

No worries though.. I had some paint work done on my front bumper & grille in Obsidian black and it matches perfectly. I had alot of high speed stone chips on the bumper so I had a body shop repaint it and you can't tell it was done.

Good luck and make sure you use a shop that someone else has already been to so you can see the quality of their work.

MARK CUMMINS

A couple of High End Shops

Huntington Beach Auto Works.......They do all of Meguiars work

Bells Auto Body in Costa Mesa They do restoration work ..

I Use them and they are so far one of the BEST I have found!

http://www.brucestrauss.com/

x-tian-230k

Angela,

If you find a great body shop they should match the paint perfectly. I was in a minor accident last year on my rear bumper and quarter panel and it came out perfectly.. Do NOT rely on the dealership as they out source another body shop to do the work. Just keep in mind, if you car has nano technology paint, it might not be a good idea to repaint a "minor" scratch as the nano paint only comes from the factory.. You can tell if your car has "nano" paint by checking the driver side door crack. If your paint code starts with a "C", then it had "nano" paint.

Good luck,

Christian

glassJAw

Sorry to hear about that Angela. I work next to a body shop named Beverly Coachcraft and they do absolutey FLAWLESS work. Call me if you're interested. I'll be able to watch over your baby while it's being worked on.

BenzoBoi

Sorry to hear about it Angela...best of luck on gettin it taken care of...

JamE55

Is what what was everybody was looking at yesterday? Wow. Sorry to hear A. Hope it gets fixed soon.

BENZGal

The door has a C040 on it. It's not a scratch, the paint is rubbed off on two spots. I didn't even noticed the cracked grill until a guy at the meet pointed it out. The car was dirty from the rain when he hit me. I didn't even see the damage until the detail on Saturday for the meet. I guess the good thing is that my paint chips on the bumper will get fixed now.

Vic,Jangy,John,Sun,Mark,W211 Ryda,MNG,psk145,
Thank you for the support. I will check into all those shops. I guess the thing that makes me mad is that the guy was so stupid. When you are stopped in traffic you don't throw it in reverse! Then he didn't speak english. I am lucky it was a company truck. I was also lucky to have people get out of their cars to offer to be a witness. It was cute a little boy ran out of McDonalds and told me to sue. He said,"geez lady does this idiot know what car he just hit." The little boy was no more than 10 years old. It was really cute.

James,
Yup...that is what everyone was looking at. I didn't even notice the grill until then.

ShelleE55

Hey Angela -

Leon has a crazy eye for detail. He noticed right away. I will see what he thinks since he already noticed where all the damage was. He is very familiar w/ the shops mentioned in San Diego.

Shelle

slammedcclass

damn this sucks. i got rear ended with 35mph on the first day taking out the car i just got my license and was so happy it was a friday and we were goin to a party. i was fine but 20 minutes later i had a big *** headache. it was so funny tho when i called my dad i was like what do i do if i get in a car accident he was like why and i told him and he was like damn its only been two hours and u already crashed WTF n hes like thats why i did not get the AMG. I was on the Stop Light at a full stop for 10 seconds and then i got hit the kid said he did not even see my car he did not touch the brakes at all he was only 17. I was so happy cuz when i asked him did the airbags hit u he was like yea i was thats what u get i was just so .

psk145

dude, use more punctuation please. Commas and periods are your friend

JamE55

LOL

Akara1

+1 for Beverly Coachcraft. They did great work on my car.

newton22

You forgot a period.

eLTURCOamg

***** you both

CynCarvin32

Beverly coach Craft is by far, with out a doubt, the best MB body shop in Southern California. I have had maybe 5 cars fixed there over the last 15 years and I have NEVER had an issue with matching paint color or quality. They are extremely skilled and will make your car look like new.

I have known the owner for a very long time and he is a great man. When you go ask for Tom and he will take care of the car and get it back to you.

They are located on Sawtelle in west LA between Pico and Olympic - right off the 405 freeway.

I would never take my cars to any other body shop. They are factory certified and this is where all dealerships say to send cars that have serious damage etc.

Your paint will be fine and it will match perfectly. My car was keyed and it looks fine... I cant even tell a difference and I am an INSANE finish care nut.

The big secret is to have the car detailed and made to look like new before you go in. That way the new paint matches the rest of the car perfectly. Black cars are picky with color as simple washing and touching can cause issues with discoloration. A black car only reall is BLACK right after a full detail with honest minor compounding. I think my SL55 looks nice right up to teh point where I remove a minor mark and realize the whole car is GREY and black only where I just finished buffing.

You can detail it after tha painting but that is more of an issue because you should not buff new paint until it has cured for a month or two. Getting the detailer to be honest about not buffing the new section of paint is always sketchy at best -- unless you do it your self.

topless in SB

Sent you email....give me a call

vixapphire

vixapphire

I have a great bodyshop guy in North Hollywood who takes care of all my paint needs. He's great on price and the work they do at his shop is flawless. I reviewed a bunch of their stuff before I gave him the first car, a Cadillac with really nice metallic silver paint, a few years ago. He repainted a portion of the bumper, which was scuffed, and when I picked up the car it was impossible to tell it had been painted. The dealership didn't even notice it when I brought the car in for service and later for trade and they did their inspections, etc. The shop is called Bellagio Auto Body, it's on Burbank Blvd. between Cahuenga and Lankershim, north side of the street across from a theatre company and a "Rent a Wreck" lot.

psk145