curb damage on bumper - my heart bleeds

[n0stra]

Today as i was going out i noticed something on the side of my back bumper, someone or something seems to have curbed it while passing. It freaked me out and almost completly destroyed my day.

So now im wondering what the hell i should do to remove it. Ive just ordered alot of stuff like #80, #7, dual action polisher, scratch x, clay, complete NXT series and so on but dont know if it will fix it since i have no experience with the material.

Anyway here are some pictures of the damage. Its taken at night (since its midnight over here) so i had to use a flashlight so the damage in some pictures looks alot worse becaus of the reflection in the scratches. It also seems from the pictures that the edge of the light got some scratches. Any suggestions on how to completly fix this would also be appreciated.







Most of the scratches are not noticable when i touch them, but at one end there are a couple of scratches that i can almost feel with my fingernail.

Is this possible to fix with a dual action and some polish and scratchx in a manner that it looks as if its dissappeared or do i have to get someone to sand it down or do i have to get it painted?

This car is my baby, even though its full of dust atm since all the snow has melted, and it pains me to look at it....

Btw, the bumper is made in black plastic, has a white primer, black metallic paint and clear coat on top (nighthawk black pearl OEM honda paint)

[Magic]

I think it's gone to far down to polish, so a re-paint is in order if you want it perfect.

Another option:
Would be to use some Meguiars products to really make in un-noticeable.

I used this process on a customers vehicle that didn't want a rotary on her car..

Cleaned the area
Applied Scratch by hand (3-4 well rubbed applications)
PC and some #83 with a 8006 pad
PC and some #80 with a 8006 pad
2 coats of wax

You almost had to know they were there to spot them.

Good Luck

Magic

[n0stra]

how un-noticable are we talking about ? Im love my car as ive stated earlier but im not a freak either so i can live with it as long as i dont see it or notice it unless im feeling it up or something

Just want the scratches to go away and to be able to look at it without that big blemish. When i saw it, it was like i got a punch in the stomach. Feeling awful....And since im a student im not exactly loaded with cash either. Paintjobs here in norway are expensive as hell. To paint a car completly costs about 4500USD.

[Michael Stoops]

First off, sorry to hear about your baby getting hit like that.

Is the white we see in the scuff paint transfer from the offending vehicle, or is primer showing from under your paint? If it's paint transfer then you can probably do quite a bit to minimize the appearance, and possibly get rid of the transferred paint completely. You will be left with some fairly deep scratching though, but it the spot won't stand out so badly.

If it's primer showing from under your paint, then a repaint of the bumper is your only choice.

[n0stra]

Not sure if its paint from the car or not since i dont know what it looks like. I tried to brush of some of the dust and stuff ontop of the damage with a microfiber towell as you can see in the pictures. Havent tried to wash it or anything since its late night over here and im sitting up all night thinking about this annoying thing.

When i get my stuff i guess it wont hurt to try out scratchx to see what result i can get. If not i guess theres no other solution than to rob my piggy bank, save up some more and use my tax return on a paint job.

Btw, how should i go forth to fix the small scrapes in the clear plastic on the lights? Should i sand i down and use plastx or something? Or try to cut the scratches or use heat or something?

Tried to search everything to find similar damage to these, closest i could find was some scratches made by a dog wich looked surprisingly good afterwards even though you could se alot of the white primer in the scratches.

[mis3]

It happened to my CLK320's back bumper a few months ago. It was a hit-and-run when I parked on the street. It would cost about $800 CAN to repaint the whole bumper. My MB service adviser (a friend) said since it's only the bumper, it"s not worth the money; it would be scratched again eventually. He referred me to someone who could fix it.

I called the guy and he came to my house, sanded down the scratches, applied the paint locally and blended in the color with the rest of the car. He even applied a layer of clear coat. It costed me $125 CAN and it was perfect.

I talked to the guy and he told me that he went around dealerships to repair damages to the bumpers. Apparently, many dealerships used his service to prepare used cars for sales. He also told me that this would work only in bumpers. He could not blend in the color perfectly in other flat surfaces of the car.

You should ask your dealership or some car detailing shops. They should know someone who can do this work for you. Don't worry about it, it's no big deal. You are bound to have occasional damages like this in day-to-day driving.

[danielsan]

It won't help with the scratches, but a clay bar will take an outstanding amount of the paint transfer off, and that will make it a lot less noticeable on black.

As far as the bumper touchups, that is why you should never buy a car from a certain place I worked in high school...begins with car, ends in max, you put it together. The people moving cars would hit anywhere from 10-20 a day, the guys would just roughly match it, shoot it, and sell it. I imagine it could be done well by a seasoned pro with a good eye for color, but the aforementioned company's work would NEVER stand up to MOL standards....

And that's probably the best thing they did. Anyway, to avoid a good dose of libel, I'm going to shut up now.

[n0stra]

A good thing and a bad thing was noticed today when i woke up and went out to take a look in the morning sunlight. I noticed that the pictures i took look way worse than in real life. Im much more confident now that i might be able to remove most of it. Scratches looks way thinner and the color seems much more intakt. The bad thing was that the bottom of the rear light has gotten a 0,7" crack in the bottom. I guess this will irritate me so much that i have to replace it. Damn. Btw, i guess theres no way to glue this or in any other way fix it so that it looks almost like new?

Anyway, going to post a new picture later on today. Keep the good tips coming. Especially if anyone has pictures/how to's of incidents like these with a similar damage that has gotten prettey good.

[mike_svt]

A similar thing happened to my car last summer. A moron in a blue Subura decided that my car would look better with a blue stipe on the front of my bumper.

I too was devistated. Although my car was 6 years old at the time, it was the first time that had happened to me. I went home and got to work on it right away! First, I made sure the area was very clean by using some QD. After that, I used a clay bar to remove the blue paint from my bumper. Next, I applied ScratchX with a terry cloth towel 3 times to remove the scratches. I then applied #7 and topped with #20. I couldn't believe how well it turned out. I've completely forgotten about it until I read this post, thanks a lot!

[mike_svt]

OK, I was able to find the pics of my scuff. Here are the before shots:






Here are the after shots using the procedure outlined in my previous post:








I forgot to mention in my last post that I knew a blue Subaru hit me because I left earlier than the Subaru that day and it was still parked next to me! I had to squeez into my car because the other car was so close!

[Lydia]

Ya know, I betcha you can make that way less noticeable. Judging by what you said about not being able to feel most of it, I think it's probably paint transfer. Even if it isn't, you can probably still do a lot to make it look better. I have had two cases of something looking like that. One was mostly paint transfer and the other was an actual scratch. The paint transfer was on my sister's red Mazda 626 (some idiot in a white car rear-ended her very lightly and didn't even pull over). I cleaned it (of course), then used ScratchX about 7 times on it. That made it almost invisible. The actual scratch was on my Dad's ST1100 motorcycle's hard side bag. It's painted a deep red, just like his motorcycle. As far as we can tell someone scraped his saddlebag while his motorcycle was parked at his work. It was actually through the paint, and there was also some minor scratches that weren't through the pain. After about 7 applications of ScratchX and a coat of wax, you couldn't really see it unless you were looking for it, even though the scratch was through the paint (it was a very skinny scratch). So all that to say, you can probably make it look way better with some ScratchX and some elbow grease. Good luck!

I know what you mean about it being your baby. My truck is "my baby" and I felt pretty ticked off when I was washing it and noticed a bunch of scratches all the way through the paint on my metal bumper. Looks like someone took a piece of concrete and rubbed it against it. My sisters had driven it since the last time I washed it and they didn't know how it happened. I know it wasn't me. It wasn't as bad for me as it probably was for you, though, because my truck has a lot of scratches from the previous owner, plus it wasn't that noticeable.

Sorry about the long post but I thought it might help you out some...