Next week: how to rebuild the engine using household tools?

September 1, 2011 5:40 AM

Someone (i.e., me) backed the family car into a parking meter a while back, causing a small dent and some cracking in the paint (photo 1, 2, 3). Body shops say this will cost about $600-650 to repair over two days (which is a hassle for my fiancée, who commutes by car). Dealer said over $1000! Main concern is rust, not the dent--this is a hand me down car from 1999. Can we make an acceptable fix ourselves? How?

I've seen some of the other AskMe posts about DIY repair of scratches and dings. I'd probably order some paint from PaintScratch (mentioned in this thread) to touch up the paint.

If we go the DIY route, how would we prep the area? Would it be sufficient, for example, to go over the existing cracks with the tip of a rat-tail file to abrade that rust away, and then prime/touch up? Or should we take more paint off than that?

The end result does not need to be showroom perfection--the car has other scratches and scrapes--but we'll just go to the pros if this is going to look like crap. Neither of us has attempted anything like this, but I'm handy, and we each have experience in small detail painting (she as an art conservator, and I with painting miniatures!)

posted by Admiral Haddock to Grab Bag (10 answers total)

Would it be sufficient, for example, to go over the existing cracks with the tip of a rat-tail file to abrade that rust away, and then prime/touch up? Or should we take more paint off than that

Yes to both. Clean up the cracked paint area, and then use 600 grit or better sandpaper suitable for car work (hit Autozone for some) and feather it out. Put some auto paint primer on the now-bare metal and then either leave as-is or paint to match.
Maybe 2-3 hours max work, and maybe $30 or so in supplies.

FWIW, the price quote you're getting is probably a complete bodywork replacement and repaint-to-match job.
posted by Old'n'Busted at 5:48 AM on September 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

Have you asked the shops what it would cost if they don't pound it out/replace the part? It seems to me like a $650/$1k figure probably includes pounding out the dent and/or replacing the part entirely, and then matching the paint exactly. If you just want them to grind and paint it, it would probably be cheaper.
posted by headspace at 5:52 AM on September 1, 2011

Seconding Old 'n'Busted - I did exactly this on two small, beginning-to-rust dents on my car last year and have had no issues w/them since.
posted by ryanshepard at 5:58 AM on September 1, 2011

The paint has clearly separated from the metal around the cracks, and there's some rust under there too. You'd have to chip off all the loose paint, sand off the rust, feather out the edges with fine sandpaper as suggested above, prime with a rustproofing primer of some sort, and then hit it with color and clearcoat. If you want to be rid of the dent, you could fill it with Bondo. You'll end up with a repair several inches across, won't match perfectly and the rust could come back if you don't do everything right.

I'd ask a body shop what it might cost to do something "quick 'n' dirty" to prevent rust. Their quickie job might look better than your painstaking project.
posted by jon1270 at 6:00 AM on September 1, 2011

I've learned a little bit about body work from having a bicyclist hit my car (true story) and the next day, having a gigantic tree limb fall on it (that was a fun conversation with my insurance company) - and also spending some time around people who restore old cars.

I think the expensive thing here is because that dent is right on a curve in the metal. Those are tricky. Since your only concern is rust, I'd follow what Old'n'Busted suggested. It's pretty small for a Bondo fix, really, and only a minor cosmetic thing, so I wouldn't even bother with that.
posted by HopperFan at 6:03 AM on September 1, 2011

FWIW, the price quote you're getting is probably a complete bodywork replacement and repaint-to-match job.

This is consistent with my experience with bodyshops, the cost to do something and the cost to do something and then paint the car to match is usually another $150-200. When we had to have a side panel replaced after the car failed inspection, we didn't get it painted to match and it cut the cost in half. On the plus side, the new panel is a much more attractive color AND we get to have a two tone car.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 6:44 AM on September 1, 2011

Old'n'Busted writes "Put some auto paint primer on the now-bare metal and then either leave as-is or paint to match."

Don't leave it at primer. The vast majority of metal primers are not sealants and moisture will go right through them and rust the metal. I don't know what the equivalent in the states is but DIY autoparts places here in Canada often have a wide range of factory colours in little spray cans. They do a much better job than touch up paint applied with a brush which is designed more for chips than large expanses of bare metal.
posted by Mitheral at 8:13 AM on September 1, 2011

Rotary wire brush to remove loose paint and all traces of rust, anti-rust metal primer over wire brushed area, bumper sticker, done.
posted by flabdablet at 8:16 AM on September 1, 2011

You can try getting a paintless dent removal shop to take a look at it to get the dent out, and find a airbrush shop to touchup the area. It will look 95% as good as new (may see some slight color variation close up in the sun or at an angle) and should run you around $200-$250.
posted by wongcorgi at 9:16 AM on September 1, 2011

while you're at it, you can probably make the dent almost invisible with a $10 can of Bondo.
posted by 256 at 9:20 AM on September 1, 2011