Done something retarded

jesus_thats_gre

Sup Lads,

I noticed a few hairline scratches on the driver side door a few weeks ago. I decided I would repair these myself using a home repair kit from Halfords that was meant to match the colour of my car (Ocean Blue Nissan Primera). Unfortunately I made a complete pigs arse of it and it literally depresses me everytime I have to look at it..

Is there anything I can do to recover from my complete **** up?

Cheers

Fey!

Have you pictures?

BrianD3

I know the feeling. I tried to repair some paint damage myself, even though I made a big effort to do it right and read up load on the subject it still turned out pretty sh1t. I think achieving a good match with metallic paint on small areas is next to impossible unless you're a professional or very experienced amateur.

On they plus side you are probably noticing the repair more than someone else would. Because you know exactly where to look and what part of the car to focus on.

Henry Ford III

Ring "Chips Away" or someone similar.

mike65

Post up some nasty close-ups and then we can help (maybe)

Mike.

Mr Magnolia

I know you probably want to avoid it, but getting the door re-sprayed wouldn't be that expensive if you now a good panel-beater.

ibanezjem

Repairing scratches with a Halfords kit has an obvious result. I think those products are marketed at people who have a false hope if doing it on the cheap. Needless to say the extra damage you have done to the car can be reversed and repaired preofessionally. If its anything i have learnt with a nice car is never go down the cheap route and get it seen to by a proper spray painter/panel beater. As mentioned earlier, it wont be that expensive as its only a door but it will be exactly the same colour and corrected accordingly.

The time and money you spent already could have been a nice price off a professional job.

jesus_thats_gre

So it can be reversed so? Am just thinking that my life long friends Dad used to do alot of body work and re-spraying so I might see about approaching him.

Cheers lads..

smash

Take her staright to carcraft for a fix up, about €80 or so

jesus_thats_gre

Yeah? Where are they?

jesus_thats_gre

Oh found them. Cheers lads.

MercMad

What does the Halfords kit contain and what did you do with it ?

jesus_thats_gre

MercMad wrote:

What does the Halfords kit contain and what did you do with it ?

Sorry for taking so long to reply, I didn't notice your post.

The pack contains 3 bottles:

- Grey Primer
- Ocean Blue colour paint
- Clear Lacquer

They are meant to be applied in that order. After I seen the disaster that the end result was I decided not to apply the Lacquer.

I have attached some pics of the end results. Really is tragic. I don't know what I was thinking to be honest.

jesus_thats_gre

Called Carcraft and from the brief description I gave him, he figures he it would cost something like €700

kdevitt

Did you not realise the colour was nowhere near a proper match as soon as you started?

Regardless - try someone like Carcraft - www.carcraft.ie
Send them the photos and they'll be able to tell you whether they can fix it up or not. I'd imagine they can buff most of your paint off, and touch it up properly themselves.

Edit - reply was too late. €700 is quite a bit alright. Can't see it being much cheaper elsewhere either unfortunately.

lightening

ibanezjem wrote:

Repairing scratches with a Halfords kit has an obvious result.... blah blah blah .....The time and money you spent already could have been a nice price off a professional job.

I'd say that made you feel really better Jesus...

Try this gang... Body Craft Repairs if you are in Dublin 018366692 At least you tried, fair f*cks to you.... hope you get the car sorted.

cjs

Try some G3 paste compound-youll need to rub it in hard though but its oly €7-€8 so its worth a try nd wont do any harm

jesus_thats_gre

lightening wrote:

I'd say that made you feel really better Jesus...

Try this gang... Body Craft Repairs if you are in Dublin 018366692 At least you tried, fair f*cks to you.... hope you get the car sorted.

Made me feel like a right hero alright.. Cheers mate. Will give them a go.

EDIT: I called them. On the info I gave him he reckons he would have to redo both driver side doors and roof panel because of the colour etc etc.. 500/600 quid or so.. Tis getting lower.


Could someone give me an idea where Car Craft and Body Craft repairs are. The map on Car Craft ins't exactly clear if you are not familiar with the area.

Darando

jesus_thats_gre wrote:

Called Carcraft and from the brief description I gave him, he figures he it would cost something like €700

I think the guys in Carcraft may have misunderstood what you said. €700 !!!
Your best bet is to actually go down to them and show them exactly what you did and what you want done. Only way is to have it looked at physically by someone in the trade.

btw - it doesnt have to be Carcraft.

(I know that this may involve swallowing some pride and putting up with the guys down there maybe having a laugh/joke about it)

kikel

Go on, get it repaired. it will make you feel better after a few weeks when you have forgotten about the money

lightening

[QUOTE=(I know that this may involve swallowing some pride and putting up with the guys down there maybe having a laugh/joke about it) [/QUOTE]


Yeah, they are going to fall about the place laughing. And they are going to call everyone over to have a butchers...

Darando

lightening wrote:

Yeah, they are going to fall about the place laughing. And they are going to call everyone over to have a butchers...

If they do , just say c'mon lads help me out with a discount!!!! at least i tried!

BrianD3

That's pretty bad alright. It looks like the paint went on very thick, did you brush it or spray it, from your posts and the way it looks it would seem that you brushed it on and way too thick. Was it a stonechip kit that you used? I think these kits are completely unsuitable for using on anything other than a tiny dot.

It might look a bit better if you were mask around the new paint, sand the new paint with very fine grit paper and then spray coats of lacquer on it. This will alter the colour somewhat as well as reducing the thickness of the paint. However it still won't be close to being right.

omega man

I have had a couple of my previous cars nicely fixed up at Ford crash repair
centre in Finglas (Just off m50). Mostly minor paint work jobs and always
came out perfect. prices seemed reasonable too.

mike65

I wont mock

Mike.

jayok

I would actually call into carcraft. The missus done much worse damage than that driving out between a gate scratched the rear panel, wheel arch and bumper. Cost off Car Craft to get done was €170. I reckon the quote he gave you was to cover himself in case you turned up with it really bad shape (which it is not to be fair, it just looks bad).

Carcraft are in Ballybough. As for direction it depends where you are coming from but its kinda between fairview and Croke Park. I can PM you more accurate direction if you require.

dubtom

Give this crowd a look, if you can get the original manufactorers colour for your car it should be simple enough. They give you a pen sander to remove the old paint or rust,apply a blob of paint to the affected area and just rub it away when dry with the removing compound.Then apply lacquer supplied. The important part is getting the exact same paint for your car, which should be available through nissan with the paint code for your car. I bought a kit last year for the camry and Mustang but haven't been able to get a good colour match for either, the halfords type makey up paint is not recommended.

jesus_thats_gre

Anyway.. Now that you have all had a laugh

A mates Dad (mechanic and body repair dude) told me to try some tcut and elbow grease... So my mate and I spent 4 hours scrubbing like eijits.. Guess what, its all gone including the scrathes.

Am so happy at the moment. I think I will spend the 700 on a set of alloys Anyone got any suggestions on alloys for an 01 Primera Saloon?

mike65

So thats all the lacquer gone then! Seriously theouigh take a close look in the light tomrrow and see if the surface has a hazy look where you've been rubbing.

Mike.

jesus_thats_gre

Well I didn't use the lacquer when I originally done the "repair" job.. So it was just the paint that had to come off... I plan to give the exterior a good clean and wax etc tomorrow as a final touch.. Hopefully everything will be rosey then.. Slightly dull paint is considerably better than a €800 bill tbh.

Mr Magnolia

Good stuff out of ya! Glad to hear you got it fixed on the cheap.