Things that go bump in the night...

[Jimswift]

Well, it finally happened. My Z4M got her first dent, care of my neighbour (I think). That, or someone randomly wandered between our cars in the reserved parking spaces. Either way, they managed to hit my car with something solid enough to dent the paint and scratch the surface.

Thanks guy.




I decided to get the car under some natural light to see what I was dealing with.





The impact object was less than an inch wide as far as I can tell. It left a light crease in the dent and some minor paint damage. I figured this would probably mean new paint this did not make me happy. I thought about it overnight and instead decided to drive 40 minutes out of town to a highly rated PDR guy. I figured it was worth a shot, and when I first saw it I was ecstatic!





You go PDR guy! Hard to see in the photo, but the dent is 95% removed. I backed out of the garage to take a look under the light... and my heart skipped a beat.





My otherwise pristine car had inspired the PDR guy to go over and above his regular job. He decided to us some rotary polisher to perform a cut over the remaining paint damage, but unfortunately he had no idea what he was doing. Below are some shots using a brinkman light on the door as I was prepping the car for surgery. This is after washing the area down with dawn dish soap to strip any wax or polish that may have remained.







I have done some minor cut/polish work before on my cars in the past, so I decided I had nothing to lose. The line-up:





I decided that since the scratches weren't too deep, I’d start off with a mild cut and try to remove the swirls. Menzerna Power Finish and a Meguiar's 5" DA Microfiber Cutting Disc w/ PC 7424XP.





Well, not bad at all for a first step! Got the brinkman out to get some light on the panel.






I reviewed the results and decided that the cut had done what I wanted, so it was onto the polish. Menzerna Super Finish with a Lake Country 5” Blue Finishing CSS pad.





Paint is 90% corrected. Still some minor damage, though hard to actually see the minor bump that remains.







Added some Ammo Skin sealant. I’ll throw some carnauba on it tomorrow once this had cured.







Time to get out under the natural light again for comparison. Well, what do you guys thinks?





Comments/thoughts appreciated. I must say, I’m pretty excited to have avoided painting the panel(s).


Edit: I guess the moral of the story is that things happen, and its amazing the results that can come from a few hours of TLC. In the end, it's all about keeping the car clean for those sunny days.

[WAMz4]

Nice work, gotta admit, I was concerned after seeing the post PDR pic. Thats an odd place for a door ding thogh.

[SD ///M4]

Originally Posted by WAMz4

Thats an odd place for a door ding though.

Door ding from a jacked-up pickup or SUV.

[itdnwiwbp]

Man, I would have been pissed. Nice work though!

[dubsesd]

awesome recovery. looks like new

[Loogey Clapp]

+1 on all previous comments. Truly a WTF moment but you did a super job of correcting what the PDR guy couldn't.

[Jimswift]

Originally Posted by SD Z4MR

Door ding from a jacked-up pickup or SUV.

Thanks everyone for the nice comments. As for how it happened, I have no idea. It did happen in the underground parking at my building and the only vehicle that parks on that side of my car is the R8. I'm guessing a golf club falling out of a bag or something?

Anyways, time to just get back out there driving!

[Aries326]

Looks like someone walked by and jabbed it with something. Falling gold club wouldn't do that.

[WAMz4]

Originally Posted by Aries326

Looks like someone walked by and jabbed it with something. Falling gold club wouldn't do that.

Well, It might if it WAS actually a GOLD golf club.

[Vanne]

Wow, man, just wow. Great job.

[Aries326]

Originally Posted by WAMz4

Well, It might if it WAS actually a GOLD golf club.

lol... Damn fingers. Tough to type on an iPhone.

The repair looks perfect. Amazing! Looks like I'll try to go the PDR route with a dent I have on my car.