rizzla

Hello everyone,

I'm a new Z owner and happy to be here! There's a small dent on my door and a few chips here and there on my '03 Z and I was wondering what the best way of getting rid of these are. They're mostly very minor things.

I have heard dry ice works for dents, has anyone tried this with any success?

As for the chips, there's a few on the front bumper. I'd probably take it to a shop to make sure it's done properly. Anyone know how much it generally costs to get these type of touch ups done?

Thanks.

travlee

iTrader: (8)

every region is different on paint costs, call some shops. for the dent, call a paintless dent repair guy

Bigsyke

No, not even remotely.

My flawless Z33 was caught in back-to-back hail storms a last week, turning every body panel into the surface of the moon. Paint chips like a light snow dusting. Insurance guy said hail doesn't chip paint, and it was probably from something completely unrelated. Even with before and after pics/video, the $500 worth of damage quoted is going straight to a PDR machine. To me the car is a complete loss. I set the car out on a hot day and tried the dry ice. Nothing.

I tried touching a ding on my Z32 and it creased it horribly. Bring it to a shop or learn to use a PDR machine/gun.

rizzla

Will probably do this, thanks.

Darn, sucks to hear that.. was really considering using dry ice, but that makes me reluctant now. Most likely will take it to a professional who can hopefully fix it up.

Syner

Where in Canada are you located?

Underscore_Hero

Maybe this will help.

rizzla

Montreal

Cool, going to check this out over the weekend! Thanks!

Syner

I'm in Alberta so I have no clue what price-point your area is at.

What color is your car? Anything with flake will NEVER match unless blended. You'll end up doing more damage than good by trying to fill the individual chips.

Where is the dent in your door? If it's on a crease, good luck....

rizzla

It's silver.

The dent is fairly shallow but it is on the horizontal "bend" near the door handle. I actually don't think it should be too bad to fix to be honest, hence why I wanted to try dry ice originally, but I think I'll get it looked at by someone.

Syner

Which silver? Regardless, I think all the 03 silvers had flake. A brushed flake will never lay like sprayed and you'll end up with a darker tint to the paint. Even a sprayed flake will vary, that's why a proper job blends over a large area.

So the dent is on a crease? If so, it will never be 100% again.

rizzla

If you zoom in on this picture near the door handle you should be able to see it. It's pretty shallow like I said so it's difficult to spot sometimes.

As for the chips, they are on the front bumper, clearly visible. I think I might be better off upgrading to another front bumper. Would I be able to find a matching color or will it still look slightly off?

Syner

Yea... you're fk'd. My car is liquid aluminum (similar bright silver) and fixing paint chips is a nightmare. Depending on the chip depth, your bumper may be fine. Fully spraying a new bumper would show some color difference, but you'd only notice it if you were actively looking for it in certain lighting and at certain angles (depending on your shop quality). If you wanted to decrease the cances of seeing it even more, you could have your shop blend onto your hood and fenders.

Another aspect to note is paint shade looks slightly different on plastic and metal. Even from the factory, you can see extremely slight variations if you look for it.

I can't see the dent in the door from the pic, so it must not be that bad

rizzla

Chips are only on the bumper so I guess I may just wait until I feel like changing the bumper to a nismo v2, or whatever I decide. Dent is hard to see and I have no proper pictures at the moment. Definitely something I want to fix though.

Thanks for the info!

Syner

No problem. Good luck with it.

davidv

iTrader: (2)

There are no short cuts for dents no matter how small. Members have had good luck with the Dent Doctor.

Tiny dings can be hidden but not completely fixed. You can fill a ding with multiple layers of touch-up paint. The final result depends on your patience and attention to detail.