Respray or live with it?

BBursey · 07-31-2012, 02:37 PM

Hi -

I got my first door ding the other day - and unfortuantely, it's in the plastic bumper cover. The dent is half the size of a thumbnail and not very deep, but the paintwork on the car is very nearly perfect otherwise. The paint appears "smudged" from the impact, but not broken and neither is the plastic cracked. (Sorry, but I can't get a photo that does it justice.)

I got quotes this morning from reputable shops and now I'm a little torn on how to proceed. To repair, they've proposed to blend a base coat at the damaged area and then re-clear the entire cover. That's going to cost me ~$600.

Part of me thinks I should retain the factory paint and not touch this up unless / until it gets damaged further, but the other part of me wants the car back to looking new and again try to keep it that way.

Thoughts on the value of factory paint with a small door ding vs. a repaired bumper that looks like new?

Cheers,
Bryan

pinmagic · 07-31-2012, 02:43 PM

Inevitably, with a situation like this, the "solution" is worse than the problem. The repair shop will screw it up, and you'll wish you had just left well enough alone.

Red Bread · 07-31-2012, 02:45 PM

See if you can get a professional airbrush person to repair it, lots of times, PDR folks will know a good airbrush guy. I've never been happy with blended resprays.

BBursey · 07-31-2012, 03:01 PM

I guess that's a risk too. The shop I'd use is one that's highly regarded locally and, from what I've read in reviews, does a great job or, on very rare occassions, makes right any wrong. But, still something to consider...

Cheers,
Bryan

BBursey · 07-31-2012, 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Red Bread

See if you can get a professional airbrush person to repair it, lots of times, PDR folks will know a good airbrush guy. I've never been happy with blended resprays.

My PDR guy did send me to a touch-up place, but I really wasn't impressed with cleanliness / organization around the shop. He gave me a quote, but I don't think I'd let him work on my car. Unfortunately, I don't know of any other air-brush folks around town.

Cheers,
Bryan

Red Bread · 07-31-2012, 03:09 PM

Yeah, sounds like the right call on that. Either call a few other PDR guys, or just learn to live with it.

bmw1racer · 07-31-2012, 03:27 PM

Live with it... The $600 could be better spent elsewhere, IMO.

rking117 · 01-28-2013, 10:54 PM

not sure but you might be able to get a dentlesspaint repair tech to fix ti for less than $100.00

Uptempo80 · 04-17-2013, 06:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Red Bread

See if you can get a professional airbrush person to repair it, lots of times, PDR folks will know a good airbrush guy. I've never been happy with blended resprays.

I was hit in the rear bumper on March 13th by some sloppy lady with no car insurance driving a haggard 1996 Nissan 240sx.
I filed an insurance claim to get the damage repaired and the car was taken to my local BMW dealership...and the same body shop that repainted panels on a VO 1M. So I went there and they know me from the BMW CCA, and they stressed that the paint won't match perfectly beforehand probably because I told them how concerned I was about the paint match on the phone 2 times prior to dropping off the car. After 11 days, the car came back and the new bumper fitment /respray was terrible. Paint doesn' t match (they were right).

I plan on getting rid of my car now.

jkoral · 04-17-2013, 07:06 PM

I spent $650 having the same thing done to a scratch on the front fender. I went to one of two top shops in the area (who work on much more expensive cars than my 135i), so I wasn't concerned about the work at all.

I'm glad I did. I've totally forgotten about the deep scratch. You can't tell the fender was painted, it's perfect. I'm used to cars getting more and more "character" as they age, and I can handle the little "road rash" that comes with being a daily driver, but that scratch made me almost physically ill seeing it as I walked out to my car for the 2 weeks I had it. I have no regrets.

I did worse damage to a previous BMW that was about 10 years old and had about 100K miles (I was original owner). This I did not get fixed. The difference was my 1er had about 12K miles at the time (IIRC) and was pretty darn close to perfect.

07-31-2012, 02:37 PM	#1
BBursey Work hard, play harder 14 Rep 261 Posts Drives: 2011 135i Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Calgary, AB iTrader: (0) Garage List 2011 135i [0.00]	Respray or live with it? Hi - I got my first door ding the other day - and unfortuantely, it's in the plastic bumper cover. The dent is half the size of a thumbnail and not very deep, but the paintwork on the car is very nearly perfect otherwise. The paint appears "smudged" from the impact, but not broken and neither is the plastic cracked. (Sorry, but I can't get a photo that does it justice.) I got quotes this morning from reputable shops and now I'm a little torn on how to proceed. To repair, they've proposed to blend a base coat at the damaged area and then re-clear the entire cover. That's going to cost me ~$600. Part of me thinks I should retain the factory paint and not touch this up unless / until it gets damaged further, but the other part of me wants the car back to looking new and again try to keep it that way. Thoughts on the value of factory paint with a small door ding vs. a repaired bumper that looks like new? Cheers, Bryan __________________ 2011 135i M Sport \| COBB V3 AP Stage 1+ \| ER FMIC and CP \| BMS OCC \| Dinan Stage 3 Suspension \| Dinan High Performance Bushing Kit \| M3 Wishbones \| Modified CDV \| Clutch Stop \| APEX EC-7 Wheels w/ Michelin PSS 235/40R18 265/35R18 Tires \| Maddad Street Series Exhaust \| BMW Performance Kidney Grills \| LCI Blacklines \| Armrest Delete \| Spoiler Delete \| 28% Tint
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07-31-2012, 02:43 PM	#2
pinmagic The Only Sane One Here 61 Rep 1,135 Posts Drives: 135i Convertible Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Arlington, VA iTrader: (1)	Inevitably, with a situation like this, the "solution" is worse than the problem. The repair shop will screw it up, and you'll wish you had just left well enough alone. __________________ 2011 135i VERT SGM/SB/MOONLIGHT - ED - with every single friggin' option they offered.
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07-31-2012, 02:45 PM	#3
Red Bread Major General 4463 Rep 9,160 Posts Drives: Smog machines Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Austin, TX iTrader: (0)	See if you can get a professional airbrush person to repair it, lots of times, PDR folks will know a good airbrush guy. I've never been happy with blended resprays.
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07-31-2012, 03:01 PM	#4
BBursey Work hard, play harder 14 Rep 261 Posts Drives: 2011 135i Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Calgary, AB iTrader: (0) Garage List 2011 135i [0.00]	I guess that's a risk too. The shop I'd use is one that's highly regarded locally and, from what I've read in reviews, does a great job or, on very rare occassions, makes right any wrong. But, still something to consider... Cheers, Bryan __________________ 2011 135i M Sport \| COBB V3 AP Stage 1+ \| ER FMIC and CP \| BMS OCC \| Dinan Stage 3 Suspension \| Dinan High Performance Bushing Kit \| M3 Wishbones \| Modified CDV \| Clutch Stop \| APEX EC-7 Wheels w/ Michelin PSS 235/40R18 265/35R18 Tires \| Maddad Street Series Exhaust \| BMW Performance Kidney Grills \| LCI Blacklines \| Armrest Delete \| Spoiler Delete \| 28% Tint
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07-31-2012, 03:09 PM	#6
Red Bread Major General 4463 Rep 9,160 Posts Drives: Smog machines Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Austin, TX iTrader: (0)	Yeah, sounds like the right call on that. Either call a few other PDR guys, or just learn to live with it.
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07-31-2012, 03:27 PM	#7
bmw1racer bimmerphile, technogeek 998 Rep 3,784 Posts Drives: 2012 E82 6MT Sport Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: SoCal iTrader: (0) Garage List 2012 BMW 128i Coupe [0.00]	Live with it... The $600 could be better spent elsewhere, IMO. __________________
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01-28-2013, 10:54 PM	#8
rking117 Lieutenant Colonel 118 Rep 1,668 Posts Drives: Z4 3.0i & 320i Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: USA iTrader: (0)	not sure but you might be able to get a dentlesspaint repair tech to fix ti for less than $100.00 __________________ Enjoying an E89 Z4, F30 320i and Fiat Abarth // E85 Z4 (sold), E82 128i (sold), Fiat Pop 500 (sold)
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04-17-2013, 07:06 PM	#10
jkoral Lieutenant Colonel 1023 Rep 1,967 Posts Drives: 2017 M2 LBB 6MT Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: MA iTrader: (7)	I spent $650 having the same thing done to a scratch on the front fender. I went to one of two top shops in the area (who work on much more expensive cars than my 135i), so I wasn't concerned about the work at all. I'm glad I did. I've totally forgotten about the deep scratch. You can't tell the fender was painted, it's perfect. I'm used to cars getting more and more "character" as they age, and I can handle the little "road rash" that comes with being a daily driver, but that scratch made me almost physically ill seeing it as I walked out to my car for the 2 weeks I had it. I have no regrets. I did worse damage to a previous BMW that was about 10 years old and had about 100K miles (I was original owner). This I did not get fixed. The difference was my 1er had about 12K miles at the time (IIRC) and was pretty darn close to perfect.
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