Some scratches: complete repaint, or paint fix up?

[Michael_vroomvroom]

Last weekend was a bad weekend for my baby. On Friday evening, some POS idiot children, living in a gated community 40-50 meters above the road, threw a rock down on my car passing below. Missed the windshield, but dented the hood, and obviously scratched the paint, and also the sports stripe.

Monday morning while stuck in traffic through the city, a woman bumped into me from behind, leaving some scratches.

I've asked the shop that services my ancient Audi A3 here for recommendations regarding a body shop and gotten a rough quote via my A3 shop. Quote seems fine, but my shop says the body shop will have to repaint the whole parts for it to make it look good, which I wonder about.

I see there's competent people here, so wonder if any can give their opinion on this based on the attached photos? Is he correct in saying that it is better to repaint the whole thing (hood and the panel above the bumper), rather than touch up the not so big scratches?

I can also take to Ford here, but I'm not sure if they would do a better or worse job. Maybe they'll just out source this type of job to some other shop? The A3 garage says the other guys are good ("best he knows in this city") and do a lot of work on premium cars (premium as in MB, BMW, and the likes, not premium as in Ferrari and Lamborghini).

FWIW, I will have to pay for the hood myself, while insurance will pay for the bumper.

Thanks for comments.

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[Boostamoose]

If you want the repair to be 100% perfect, it will need to be repainted. On the bumper they risk burning away even more paint trying to just touch it up. This is compounded by the fact it's right on a body line making it difficult. The vinyl stripe that took a hit would need to be replaced as well.

Outside of a repaint on the damaged pieces the next best option is to have the dent repaired if possible then touch it up. Either Dr.Colorchip or Ford match for the blue paint, and a generic gloss black for the holes in the stripe. Wet sanding will be difficult especially on the bumper, and you can't do it to the vinyl. I would do my best to fill them in with what I mentioned. Will you notice it? Of course you will it's your baby and you'll look at it every time you wash it. You have to ask yourself can you live with that at the end of the day?

Will anyone else ever notice it? I can guarantee outside of maybe a car show audience 99% of the public will never notice the touch up. You'll have two kinds of people. Those who will see your S550 and appreciate it for what it is, and those who will drop rocks on it or hit it because it's just another car.

 

[Michael_vroomvroom]

If you want the repair to be 100% perfect, it will need to be repainted. On the bumper they risk burning away even more paint trying to just touch it up. This is compounded by the fact it's right on a body line making it difficult. The vinyl stripe that took a hit would need to be replaced as well.

Outside of a repaint on the damaged pieces the next best option is to have the dent repaired if possible then touch it up. Either Dr.Colorchip or Ford match for the blue paint, and a generic gloss black for the holes in the stripe. Wet sanding will be difficult especially on the bumper, and you can't do it to the vinyl. I would do my best to fill them in with what I mentioned. Will you notice it? Of course you will it's your baby and you'll look at it every time you wash it. You have to ask yourself can you live with that at the end of the day?

Will anyone else ever notice it? I can guarantee outside of maybe a car show audience 99% of the public will never notice the touch up. You'll have two kinds of people. Those who will see your S550 and appreciate it for what it is, and those who will drop rocks on it or hit it because it's just another car.

Many thanks for the detailed reply. Will make it much easier for me to talk with the body shop and consider my options.

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