If you're like me, you drive your car everywhere. But after 15 years of reliable services, dents and rust now cover my car's hood, trunk and doors. I don't want to sell my car and buy a new one, so I decided to take it to an auto body and paint shop. Not only did the shop repair the dents and remove the rust, the technicians repainted it. If your car or truck looks less than stellar, take it to an auto body shop for repairs. My blog shows you where to look for the best auto body services and how to even perform your own repairs at home. Don't sell your car. Give it a makeover instead.
Cars and trucks go through a lot in the course of their life. During this time, they may be hit by other vehicles, dented with shopping carts, scraped and scratched by non-auto objects and the paint on your vehicle can chip and flake all on its own. Here are the different types of paint repair and how an auto body and paint shop handles each of them.
Chip and Flake
As the elements wear off a vehicle's top coat, the paint underneath is exposed. From this point on, it is not hard to chip and flake the paint off. Some auto paint can be flaked off with just a fingernail when the top coat is gone and the paint itself has been exposed to high heat. To fix the chipping and flaking problem, these areas on your car may be buffed slightly, repainted and a fresh, protective topcoat applied.
Dents
Paint damage due to dents requires a little more work than just flaking and chipping paint. The dent has to be pulled out first, as much as it possibly can be depending on the size of the dent. If a panel can be removed from your car to hammer the dent out, that is ideal since the crease marks left behind by a traditional dent removal will be the first areas where paint will start to chip off and the creases will begin to rust. If the dents are quite large, the entire panel or door may be sanded down to the bare metal, repainted and recoated after the dents have been extracted.
Scratches and Scrapes
Pencil-tip-thin scratches from metal objects such as keys and nails are often filled in, unless they are numerous or especially deep. Scrapes, like the ones that cause another car's paint to leave streaks behind, have to be sanded off before your own car's paint can be restored. The severity and thickness of the scratches and/or scrapes will dictate how the paint repair technician should proceed.
Different Shops and Different Techniques Equals Different Pricing
Getting several estimates for your auto paint repair is not only a good thing for you, but also invaluable to your auto insurance company. Since some auto paint jobs can be included in the repairs for an accident, vandalism or theft resulting in a damaged vehicle, your insurance company will want the lowest estimate you can get. Ask the various auto body shops about the techniques they use as well, since some have more high-tech ways of extracting dents, resurfacing and repainting your car.
For help repairing auto paint, visit a local shop such as Franks Auto Body Inc.
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