I've heard a bit about the curse of the silver.....


I go to leave for work this morning and I have been parking my car in the garage all the time to avoid any damage due to the 100 kids on the street that play hockey all day.

The garage door opener only lifts the door 2 inches and then stops, so I am trying to figure out what is wrong. I open the other door and somehow I didn't put the parking brake on and my 2 week old rx8 has rolled back into the garage and now had 2 scratches on the bumper.

I am in shock and not happy with myself, not a good thing to wake up to in the morning. My first response is to have it fixed right away. My second response is to say that it's the first thing that makes my new 8 not perfect anymore and that is okay.

Not happy at all right now. Is there a good way to fix a couple of stratches on the bumper without paying an arm and a leg?

 

How big are the scratches? Post some pics.

 

touchup paint...

 

I would say none, the paint is a dick to match, touch-up doesn't really help and the advise I got from all the body-shops I went to for minor stuff either says just leave it or repaint the whole bumper.

 

I bought my RX-8 from a dealer in Chicago, and when it arrived off the transport, it had damage to the bumper (not just a scratch, but more of a "rash" about half and inch wide and 1 1/2 inches long).

I was irate about it, and immediately went and got some estimates. To repaint the bumper (I don't think the estimate was for the entire bumper, just to fix the scratch), it was $275.

Well, I sent the estimate to the shipper that damaged it, got a check back for the estimate... but I have not taken it in yet. The initial shock has worn off, and now I don't know if I'll even bother to take it in. I just figure the damage cherry has been popped, and now I don't have to be so neurotic.

 

I'm in a similar situation. Last weekend I was trying to park in a SUPER small parking garage in Georgetown and I scraped the right front corner of my front bumper. There is only 1 scratch about 3 inches long that I need to cover up with touch-up paint. The problem is I wanted to get a new bumper at some point, although I was planning on doing it in a year or 2. Now I'm thinking of still switching the bumper even though the initial shock has worn off.

 

Same thing for me last weekend.... My brother-in-law was taking an empty propane cylinder out of my trunk and it slipped out of his hand and bounced off the bumper - left paint and scratched it. I got the paint off, but it's a deep scratch.

Also, 2 hours earlier that day, I parked next to a pole and didn't tell my passenger in time to be careful opening the door, so it collided with the pole. At first I didn't see anything and considered myself very lucky, but my brother pointed out that at a certain angle, you can see a small crease from the pole about 3 inches long. Arggghhhh. He said the ding guy would prolly do more damage trying to fix it, so leave it be... At least the blemishes are in places I don't look at all the time...

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Canadians love hockey.

Won't help your current situation, but it's something to think aboot.

 

a couple weeks ago i parked my 8 in my garage like normal except something side tracked me and i forgot to put up the brake (never happened before). Anyhoo, i'm trying to be confident in my garage parking skills so I always try to just walk to the door and close it because i'm always in far enough, ALWAYS.

So i got out of the car, headed over to the button and pushed, as the garage door is coming down, i look over at my car and it doesn't look like it will clear, i rush over to the car, see that it is about 1ft to 18" out of alignment and make a run for the garage door, it was like slow motion "Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo" I make it to the garage door opener and hit it about 1ft or so away from destroying my trunk I pooed myself.

 

how bad are the scratches, Zaino's ZPC can remove scratches pretty well, but not deep ones.

 

ON the scratch subject:

Before you have any body shop screw up your car, go buy a bottle of Meguiar's Mirror Glaze #7 - it's a product for "glazing" the paint of a car - buffing out fine scratches, swirlmarks, etc. Best product ever for your situation.

Take clean terry washcloth, dampen it slightly (very slightly, I might add) and with your car parked in the shade and the paint cool to the touch (can't stress that enough), rub the mirror glaze into the finish around the scratch, and then rub in the direction of the scratch. The polishing compounds in that product are super fine and will do a great job of either entirely removing or at least well hiding the scratch. If the scratch is through the clear coat, but only into the color, it will likely remove it entirely (to to the point where you won't see it anymore, anyway ... you may be able to still feel it); if the scratch is clear through the paint and into the primer (a contrasting color showing) there's not much to do, but the Meguiars will still make it look less bad at least.

Try it - works like a charm.

On the subject of self-inflicted harm, I managed to, in one afternoon:

1) Bang my guitar case HARD into the right front corner of the car, in the fender just back of the headlight - big old dark scratch mark and a little dent. ****!

2) Drop a 12 pack of beer (thankfully cans - if it had been bottles, I'd have likely taken my own life!) so it bounced off the front fascia just below the right headlight, and 6 inches where just minutes before I had whacked it with my guitar case. Left a big long (3"!) dark mark down the bumper. ****!

Out came the Meguiars, the rag, and a couple of beers. 15 minutes later, the only damage remaning is a little, nearly invisible dent in the fender from my guitar case, and a bunch of dented cans of Miller Genuine Draft.

Try the stuff - it's magic.

 

i scratchec my bumper the first time i parked my car in my old garage, on the night that i picked her up. i was furious. i had been driving my 86 plymouth gran fury, which is long as hell, but still somehow managed to pull too far forward, even while being extremely cautious with my new ride, i ran into some 'objects' stored at the far end of the garage. the scratches were fairly small, but i was pretty upset. now, i dont even think i can see them anymore whch is strange.

 

The MGD or the maguires?

I found the first blemish Monday when I was washing mine. Tiny little white/bluish spec where some jackass must have opened their door into my passenger side 'rear' door. It should buff out. Didn't really try since it was getting dark and about to rain when I washed it.

 

Well the scratches aren't so bad, now I've noticed that the garage door skinned all the paint off a small 1/2" section right above the light for the rear licence plate. So it is that dark grey plastic colour. I am going to take a pic and bring it back for some indepth analysis.

It is a beautiful day today and this is all I can think about. I had about 3 changes to go into the garage yesterday evening, at which time I might have noticed my car, but I didn't...

 

the exact same thing happened to me when i first got my beamer back in 1998. i was really pissed. but, eventually i accepted it and it didn't bother me so much. to this day i still have a slight smudge where i the touch-up paint is. **** happens in life, but your attitude is what determines whether it obstructs your happiness or makes u stronger.

 

I go to the store and park my cars nearer to Neptune than to anyone else in the parking lot! Ya just don't know when some welfare recepient will scrape together enough change for a gallon of gas so they can drive their grandmother's old Dodge Aries K-car down to the grocery... and park that rusting, dented, dust, ripped-up heap right next to my car.