My car door hit cement/kerb today- what to do next?

[JaCe]

Today at Balmain my mate opened the door and didn't realise the kerb rose up and hence the door hit the kerb (just the tip/corner) and it scraped the white paint off the door.

Here are some pics:




It's just the very edge/corner and you can see the shiny silver metal from underneath.

It isn't visibly noticeable but my only concern is whether or not this could lead to rusting or some other kind of damage in the future. Should I apply touch up paint or do I need to do something else?

[Mitch]

touch up paint should be fine mate aslong as you give it sufficient time to dry mate

our cars are W37 white

[BR14AN]

Jace,
I got autobarn to mix up a touch up (nail polish style) W37 paint for my car.
Worked well on a small chip like that one.

Just an option

[aspir3]

Touch up paint will help a little. If you do nothing it will rust very quickly.

I personally would get it fixed properly as it would drive me crazy as i would know it was there even if you could hardly see it.

I also would not worry about the cost because i would get my friend to pay for it as it was him who did it.

[ofey]

Use a low grit sand paper to sand back a little then use touch up paint to coat. Do many many thin coats rather than one thick coat.

[JaCe]

My mate said he's happy to pay any costs incurred to fix it up but I have no idea how much something as small as that would cost.

I put a little drop of touch up paint (from the Mitsubishi touch up paint I bought previously). The amount exposed is literally smaller than a fingernail- the brush tip (similar to the old white-out ink) is about 4x the size of the exposed metal. You sure the sanding is necessary?

I'm assuming I can't go to the car wash in the morning (about 11 hours time) since it requires 24 hours to dry.

[aspir3]

Jess because it has got back to the metal it will need a full respray of the door to fix it properly. This will be a primer, undercoat, colour and clear coats. Unfortunately that is the only way you can fix it properly and that will probably cost $300-400.

[JaCe]

Surely a small chip can't cause that much damage.

(ps. sorry I edited previous post- didn't want to have 2 posts in a row)

[aspir3]

Surely a small chip can't cause that much damage.

(ps. sorry I edited previous post- didn't want to have 2 posts in a row)

Unfortunately yes a small scratch will cost just as much as a large one to fix because to do it properly you have to paint the whole door. You can not match it in properly with just a touch up.

White is less noticeable with touch up then other colours but you will always see it and know it is there.

Looking at you pictures carefully it is not just on the underside but on the front as well.

[JaCe]

I'm not worried too much about the appearance since it is seriously small and on a corner (like you said white is not going to be that noticeable in colour matching) especially since when the door is shut, you can't see it.

The only thing I'm trying to watch out for is the door rusting/having other random issues like that later on.

I'll have a closer look at it in the morning. You're right though, it's got a slight bit on the front and underside on that corner tip.

[bd-850]

My mate said he's happy to pay any costs incurred to fix it up but I have no idea how much something as small as that would cost.

if thats the case, i think the only way to fix it is a full custom Respray


But that sucks

[bye2u]

doesnt look too bad, lucky the car isnt lowered..

[JaCe]

ps. I should add that when I say 'mate', he's also my manager at work (i.e. the guy I report to)!

[PYLee]

time to score a promotion !

[bd-850]

time to score a promotion !

+1