So I came back to my car the other night and found this on the driver's side door. It's over six inches long and not too deep, but deep enough that degreaser (recommended by the dealer) didn't do much beyond making the scratch slightly less noticeable. The dealer says I have to get it repainted (something like $800)... is there anything else I can do before that? Getting both doors repainted for that kind of sucks...

 

sucks dude

 

That doesn't look too deep. Maybe it can be rubbed out or airbrushed.

For the record:
In 1991 my minivan got it's driver's door keyed after it was less than one month old (who's jealous of a minivan?). I carefully painted in the scratch but ithe damage was obvious. I didn't have the door repainted right away because I figured, where I live, someone would eventually run into it so it would get fixed when I got the door repaired. 17 years later, it's still there. Moral of the story: Just get it fixed.

 

That sucks but definitely get it painted

 

sorry to hear that dude..

i got my car keyed at a football gaem but on both sides.. 2 lines from front lighta to the rear tail lights 2 LINES! people are HATERS!

Be careful what shop you take it to! if any possible way get it rerpaired by the factory.. i went to the place my insurance told me to go and they did such a crappy job even got paint on my leather seats.. well little freckled. they charged my insurance 3500 just to paint it.. they said pearl white takes several coats..

None the less crappy job.. just be careful where u take it!

 

Run your nail against it. If it clips your nail then you can't do much about it. Check if it's down to metal or primer. It doesn't look that bad in the picture though. Can't really tell without looking at it in person.

If it hasn't gone past the paint then fine wet sand and polishing might help. I'd leave that to the professionals though. Check out www.autopia.org for detailers in your area.

 

Damn jealous ********!!!

 

I tlooks like it can be buffed out.

Some of it will still be there, so have insurance pay for it.

 

Thanks for the help guys, gonna see if I can get it buffed and polished. As for insurance I think the amount will fall under my deductible, so don't think there's any point bringing it up with them

 

:-/ sorry man

 

I have an air brush that I use that works pretty well, I paid about $70, it takes a little practice though.

At least they did not run the key all the way down the car, my dad's 77 DeVille got keyed that way and it was deep too.

Those people should suffer some serious consequences...

 

I thought about using touch-up paint, but I'm thinking because of the clearcoat and the fact that it's metallic paint, it would look pretty obvious.

 

Too bad you don't live in Iowa...I would do it for you for the cost of materials! I work at a bodyshop. I would blend the doors for ya if wetsanding and buffing didn't work. Good luck!

 

How about you get those giant side stickers and put them so they'll cover the scratch

 

The best solution to keying is comprehensive insurance with a low deductible.

 

Death to all lazy/broke/jealous SOB`s!!Had an accident at a parking also last week.Someone tried to leave the parking , broke my clear corners and left...100$ Loss for me!

 

damn.. jus buff it outtt dude.~ im sure u can buff it and cover it up reall well. ~ bring it to a high detail shop. or do it yourself if yourgood at buffing.

 

Lol, you wouldn't happen to have a cousin in Los Angeles, would ya?

Haha and as for the stickers, that'll be my last last resort!

 

I don't, that I know of anyway...sorry man

 

damn, i feel your pain. I don't understand the mentality of vandals, it makes no sense to me.

 

i work at a used car dealership and we routinely have 3rd party guys come in and do dent repair, wheel repair (curb rash), and fix scrathces. a look in the yellow pages or a call to a used car dealer will get it fixed up. i park my rx8 far enough away from the "others" to help curb the people away from doin something jealous. or wetsand or buff. touch paint will look SHITTY and wont do your car justice.

 

I am so sorry to hear what happened bro. Some people are just haters. I had one of my previous car keyed before. I cant understnad why peple are not even careful when opening doors, they just hit them right agaist our cars because their ones are either ugly or cheap. I intentionally park on far side of the parking lots away from the crowd just to avoid dings and keying.

Now I am paranoid to the point of having a video camera in the car

 

Where were you when it got keyed, because a lot of places have security cameras in their parking lots and you can always ask the security guy to find you the video if you tell him when it happened. I use to work at a grocery store and they did that a few times.

 

As said, let a pro do it. My process would be to clean, add touch up paint, PC with light cutting pad to blend in, polish sealent, then finalize with wax.

 

I was actually in a relatively nice area at a bowling alley at night. There were only about five or six other cars in the parking lot, and I parked my car far away from the others and even right under the street lamp! But damn, I had a bad feeling something was going to happen that night... I even triple checked that I had locked my car lol... guess I should have gone with my gut.