# repairing a car scrape

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repairing-a-car-scrape/756157>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [May 31, 2016, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repairing-a-car-scrape/756157 "2016-05-31T10:55:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2016, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repairing-a-car-scrape/756157/1 "2016-05-31T10:55:40Z")

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A few weeks ago, my wife scraped the front of my car. The scrape is the full length of the front left corner, about 2 mm wide and 40 cm long. As far as I can see, there is no dent or any structural damage, just a scrape through the paint all the way down to the metal. As it is quite minor, I would rather not rush to get it fixed, and would rather leave it in case there is additional damage to the front as some point. But I am concerned about rust to the exposed metal. As it happens, I have some touchup paint given to me by the body shop a while ago following some other work I had done.

If I use this paint to manually touch up the scrape, do you think this will prevent any rusting over the next couple of years? And if I do this, would it cause any complications for the body work when I finally get it done?

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**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2016, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repairing-a-car-scrape/756157/2 "2016-05-31T15:41:04Z")

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> [@Orville\_mogul](#):
>
> If I use this paint to manually touch up the scrape, do you think this will prevent any rusting over the next couple of years?

Yes.

> [@Orville\_mogul](#):
>
> And if I do this, would it cause any complications for the body work when I finally get it done?

No, presuming you would have them sand it down thoroughly first anyway.

A 40cm (16 in) scratch is fixable via DIY, however, to make it look anything less than really crappy it will require a lot of work. Here’s the [Wiki](http://www.wikihow.com/Touch-Up-Car-Paint) on automotive paint touch ups. The only thing the wiki omits is that you may need to repeat steps 7 and 8 a few times to get the painted area to blend. I actually use rubbing compound instead of 2000 grit sandpaper and polishing compound in place of 3000 grit, as I think the wet abrasive gives a better finish. Spend a weekend on the project and you won’t have to visit a body shop, and likely save $400+.

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**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2016, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repairing-a-car-scrape/756157/3 "2016-06-01T12:39:24Z")

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> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#):
>
> Here’s the [Wiki](http://www.wikihow.com/Touch-Up-Car-Paint) on automotive paint touch ups.

Thanks for the link.

Hmmm. It does sound like a lot of work, and my weekends are pretty precious. Perhaps it is worth the $400. But maybe I’ll try it first the lazy way and see how bad it looks. Worse comes to worse I will take it to the body shop the week after…