Hi, well i'm new to this club, actually i've been on here many times but i finally registered today. And i've been reading post about damaged rx8's and i got a story too...

Well, i was at school one day and after leaving my car in the parking lot for a few hours, when i can back, i found a door ding (no paint chipping) on my passenger side freestyle door. it was horrible! then i went to a wedding early august and right a above my first ding, there was another from an SUV (no paint chip either). i was pissed off right there. then i found a very very small ding on passenger side front door under the door handle. Oh man, just thinking about it makes me angry. Also, i drive to stockton to see my girlfriend and i get rock chips on my front bumper and hood. and out of nowhere, i got paint scratches (3) on my door (passenger side). I touched up one of the scratches but there are still 2 that are deep. So much stuff is happening to my passenger side door area. it makes me cry thinking about my baby scratched and dinged like that. Well, i'm wondering if anyone has repainted paint scratches. i have a blue rx8 and the dealership told me that if i get scratches, i would need to repaint the whole panel (i.e whole door, hood, bumper). Is this true? and how much would it cost to pop out those dings? i live in the Bay area in california so if anyone has had this problem, please tell me about your experience and if you fixed it, how much did it cost?

I must be a bad rx8 owner to have all this stuff happen to my rx8. I'm planning on getting a repaint for the hood, front bumper and passenger door and also my rear bumper due to a scratch near the license. I'm gonna get my car healthy looking again! hopefully soon.

Well, i just though i should share this. one last thing, a rock hit my windshield and now i got a small crack on my driverside where my head would be. So yeah, any advice would help me out greatly! thanks for your time everyone.

~Jon

 

Sorry to hear about the dings. I have a few tiny dings that are barely noticable, but I know they are there and it kills me. No one else can really notice them. people have no respect for other cars.

as far as rock chipping goes, stay away from SUVs and trucks/trailers on the highway.

don't know about how much it's cost to paint

 

Well I don't know about scratches, but I had chips from an egg impact repainted and the shop had to repaint the entire trunk (egg mark was right at end of spoiler) and most of the right front fender (for egg mark on top of fender). They can't simply repaint only where the trouble spot is because they need to blend and mesh the colors in so there is no noticeable difference at all. My results are great and look as good as it was new.

For the small dings, there is a quick fix from what I hear from my friends. I've never used it but there is a product that pops out small dings and dents and I've heard it works great. It all depends on the size of dent of course.

On my old Acura Integra a rock came flying out from under a truck on the highway ( I never ride behind trucks anymore), and left a fairly large crack (about the size of a quarter if not a bit bigger). I had to have the entire windshield replaced for $400. If it's small enough I think there is a product that you can just have it filled in for very cheap. It's up to you though.

And in my opinion you're not a bad RX8 owner! All these things don't seem to be your fault. Unless you are parking extremely close to the cars on your passenger side :p . I hope I helped.

 

Oh yeah, to repair the two small egg impacts, it cost $1000. Half was covered by insurance for me. Repaints definitely are pricey.

 

My experience with repainting is that the colors may match well initially, but the new paint will probably age differently than the factory paint. Thus, in the long run the car ends up looking worse than it did with the small scratches or dents. Nowadays, I'm very cautious about repainting large sections of the car. The damage has to be pretty bad before I'll go that route. Touch-up paint when done well can be quite effective.

I keep my cars a long time. The aging effect won't be so noticeable if you don't keep your car very long, although if I were buying a used car, I would stay away from one that had been partly repainted because I would assume that sooner or later the different aging effects will become apparent.

 

The dent poppers sold on late-night TV are similar to those used by the paintless dent-repair pros. In their hands, the gadget is very effective.

Insurance companies love the chip-filling resins because they stop crack propagation (more serious damage) and full-replacement claims. That's why they waive the deductible on your "comprehensive coverage" so the professional chip repair costs the owner nothing! I wouldn't mess with doing this one DIY. (I also wouldn't use the guy with a tent set up on a streetcorner on Saturday afternoon, either)

 

We actually spoke to the dent removal guy as he was getting a small ding out of my driver's door and he said those "pop a dent" things are pretty useless. He said that even though they might get the dent out, they leave it really wavy and sort of cause more harm than good. He just uses little stick things to work the dent out and did an amazing job.

 

Hey Rhawb, can you recommend a place here in Orlando to get this dent removal done? I have a small one above my door handle on the drivers side. Ya really got to look to see it but I know it's there. I have no idea how it got there but I'd like to see if it can be fixed.

 

Do a google search for "dent wizard." I've used them a few times on my wife's volvo and they've done outstanding work. One of the dent's was even on a body line and was creased and I cannot notice it at all, even 1 foot away! Sometimes if you get to actually talk to the technician ahead of time, you can work out a good price for cash.

 

^^^ He posted quicker than me haha

There used to be a place in Winter Park called Dent Wizard, I don't remember if they are in the same spot (they used to be across the street from the Winter Park Village) they did some work on my last car and it looked good as new.

 

Yep, locations in Winter Park and Orlando. :D Thanks guys! :D

 

I recently used DentPro to get a ding out of my passenger door. It's not 100% better but it is at least 90%. The rx 8 has some weird cross braces in the door that makes dent removal more difficult. It is harder to get the tools in with the braces in the way. It takes some patience. Good luck.

 

I don't have any answers for you, but as far as your windshield goes, I would get this taken care of as soon as possible. It doesn't take them long to start running, and if the crack gets to be longer than 6", they will have to replace the windshield. A lot of insurance companies will waive your deductible if you get it repaired rather than replaced.

 

Yeah, the Dent dude gave me the same warning about those "pops-a-dent" kits. My ding isn't bad at all, but like all die-hard 8 people, just knowing it's there hurts big time. Reading the initial post of this thread by CruisingBlue almost made me cry. CruisingBlue, I feel your pain. What kills, kills, kills me is that my ding is on the passenger side rear mini-door, and the dent dude couldn't reach it with his tool because the interior sheet metal is too reinforced. Dammit! Does that mean there is no paintless solution for dings on the mini-doors?

 

I tried pops-a dent on my 626. 2 dents are less noticeable after using it. It can pull the dent out too far leaving a humped effect. Also takes alot of trys with the puller to achieve mediocre results. I would'nt use it on my 8.