Car scratched, can it be fixed at home ?

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cisamcgu

Legendary Member
Location
Merseyside-ish
Dear CC'ers

My daughter has got a new (for her) car, and has accidentally scratched it in a multi-storey car park.
upload_2019-8-23_11-32-7.png


Is this fixable ? Does anyone have an experience or advice ? Or does it have to go back to a repairer ? As far as I know, it is the bumper that is scratched, no metal is exposed. This is the rear bumper

Thanks
Andrew
 
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OP
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cisamcgu

cisamcgu

Legendary Member
Location
Merseyside-ish
There is also a small mark on the front wheel arch, which is metal as far as I know
upload_2019-8-23_11-39-6.png
 

KneesUp

Guru
Probably very unhelpful advice: leave it. Having a scratch on a bumper is a good thing. You stop worrying about future minor scratches, reduce stress and increase cash as a result.

Observation: Every single car in France seems to suffer from this without obvious harm.
It depends how much it bothers you. Small bumper mark someone else did; I’m not bothered. Small low down mark on bumper that I did; not bothered. Great multi-groove scratch on passenger door from narrow car park, yeah, that’s unsightly. And starting to rust. Still not got to the point where I have nothing else to spend a few hundred quid on though, so it’s just got rust inhibitor on and I’ve left it.
 

Smudge

Veteran
Location
Somerset
Probably very unhelpful advice: leave it. Having a scratch on a bumper is a good thing. You stop worrying about future minor scratches, reduce stress and increase cash as a result.

Observation: Every single car in France seems to suffer from this without obvious harm.

I would agree with this..... the first scratch always cuts the deepest, after that first one you dont care as much anymore.
Its almost impossible to keep a car free from dings and scratches these days, unless you constantly pay out for minor bodywork repairs.
When my cars have been new, i've parked way over in the corner of a car park to hopefully lessen the incidence of those parking next to me and giving me a car door ding. But it still happens.
I've also had car paintwork damaged by bird sheet eating into the lacquer and even cats jumping on the bonnet and skidding across it when its parked on my drive. Its just part of the pain in the arse of owning a car.
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
T cut most of the scuffs out. The bare plastic will need a primer and a top coat. Halfords do 2 pack touch up paints for not much money. The repair won't be perfect but it will look much better. Chips away might be best part £100 plus easily. T cut and touchup will be less than £20
 
The rear bumper is plastic. The scratches to the front should polish out with some compound . You can get some Farecla G3 from Halfords and possibly some 2000 grit wet or dry . The front scratches may just polish out using some cotton cloth and G3 . If the scratches don't polish out you may have to flat them , but be careful. Polish up with compound afterwards.
The rear bumper needs spraying .
If you are any good at spraying with an aerosol can you may be able to get an aerosol repair kit from a dealer. Phone up your nearest dealer and ask for the parts dept . They should be able to tell you what the colour of your car is from your registration number and whether they do a repair kit for that colour .
 
Alternatively, hold fire. Hopefully she won't misjudge things again but she might. Both my sons have misjudged things that don't move, I've just taken the worst out for now just in case they do it again.
 
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