Keyed....why

[R Evolution1]

Hello, this is my first post.

The car that got keyed is my moms 2004 Chevrolet Venture color is Navy Blue Metallic. The following pictures show the damage. :(

This is the left sliding door
http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/668515.jpg

This is the hood
http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/668514.jpg

This is the front left quarter pannel
http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/668513.jpg

Left sliding door again, a little further back
http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/668512.jpg

Hood again, different spot
http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/668511.jpg

I have some tools that I think might get the job done but I just want to verify first.
The tools I have include 1500 and 2000 grit Meguiars Sanding Blocks, a Rotary buffer with W7006 and W8006 pads.
I also have M83, M80, M02.

So how do you guys think I should try to take these scratches out.

Oh, btw, I havent tried wet sanding before, so im gonna practice on another car first.

[Michael Stoops]

I'll leave the advice to those who are far more familiar with wetsanding than I am....I just can't get over the fact that some low life scumbag would do something like this - and to multiple surfaces of the car!! What a.....er, this is a family site, I can't say what's really on my mind.

[scrub]

Nor am I an expert, but these scratches appear too deep to level out with wet sanding. Plus factory paint doesn't have much film build to play with.

You might could try touch up paint in several coats (to get even with the surrounding paint), then level and buff.

Good luck and sorry to hear about this.

[R Evolution1]

If I do apply touch up paint, will I also need to apply a little bit of clear coat on top of it?

[dfrady]

I had one of my vehichles keyed one time, they started at the head lights and stopped at the tail lights, it's very, very, very upsetting. In the end i ended up haveing to have my vehichle painted.

[scrub]

Originally posted by R Evolution1
If I do apply touch up paint, will I also need to apply a little bit of clear coat on top of it?

I wouldn't think so.

[R Evolution1]

I have like a 5 oz bottle of touchup paint that we got from the dealer when we got the van, so maybe I will try my best to cover it up using your suggestion.

Thanks scrub.

[Jimmy Buffit]

The rule of thumb is: if you can catch your fingernail in the scratch, then there is too much paint gone.

Application of the touchup paint is tricky, get an artist's fine brush...

Good Luck.

[hawaiibrad]

You have two choices. Clean/Polish a littel and try #7 and see how much you can cover it. you may suprise you self once you wet the fresh scratch. (This will remove the whiteness that you see in the scratch)

If it is to deep and still noticeable(cant live with it).... No color touchup pain.... Absolut NoNo if your no thought you base coat there no point in putting base on clear.... You can proly get away with useing laquer based Clear as pen or brush. and wet sanding it level(ezest after full cure of about a month+) Remeber that laquer based Clear is going to be much softer and may not bond verywell to the catalize finsh that is on the car. I can also be becues it was not preped properly. Hard part i have found is at buffing stage when i have finaly gotten out the scrates in the orig. CC i have buffed out all of the paint that i had put in. You could also go and buy half pint(~$30) of CC and catalist(~15) mix small quanty together and apply with artist brush. cure a week sand and buff. This is what a pro detailer would do. :bounce

Oh one other thing... touchup paint never ever match if it a metalic esp. when applied with a brush(only good with itsy bitsy chips and even the there usual still noticable) Metalics are :coolgleam looking but a PITA.:wall:

[scrub]

Take a look at this link. Repairing Chips & Scratches (http://site.bettercarcare.com/articles.php?articleId=27)

[RDVT4ME]

Same thing happened to the guy that bought my 98 mustang cobra. They keyed every panel on the car. His insurance covered a complete repaint, although he had to pay his deductable. The car looks great again!

[WaspHunter]

Sorry to hear about the damage. Some of th panels don't look too deep though, so you might be able to polish a bit out.

Some insurance companies will actually just write off a car that's been keyed across multiple panels. Especially if something was written with the scratch. I'd hate to give up my old car for a new one, but the option might be there.

[R Evolution1]

Thanks for the linky scrub, I will try to repair this weekend. I will be sure to take pictures and post my results.

[scrub]

Good luck. I'm sure you'll do great work.

[RamAirV1]

Originally posted by WaspHunter
Sorry to hear about the damage. Some of th panels don't look too deep though, so you might be able to polish a bit out.

Some insurance companies will actually just write off a car that's been keyed across multiple panels. Especially if something was written with the scratch. I'd hate to give up my old car for a new one, but the option might be there.

Interesting. I think most insurance companies here would not write off any car, even if every panel was keyed. They would probably only pay for a repaint from the cheapest place around, sorry to say.

Those scratches look pretty bad to me. It will probably require a repaint of every panel affected.

Someone keyed the rear fender of my Blue Green Chameleon '98 TA. Insurance paid for a repaint but it never again looked as good as the factory paint job, mediocre at best.

Just once, I would like to catch someone in the act of doing that...........:mad:

RamAirV1

[R Evolution1]

Ok, I finally got around to doing some repair today.

The temp was around 80 ....dying.... (hey, its the pacific northwest) and it was relatively dry.

I started out by washing the car with Meguiars Gold Class Shampoo/Conditioner, then proceeded to claybar the entire vehicle.

Now To The Scratches.

With a lot of help from scruby's link, i started out by preparing the scratches using rubbing alcohol as my cleaning agent.

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/6685clean.jpg

After letting it sit for a couple of minutes I wiped with a microfiber and prepared my touch up paint.

Instead of using the brush that comes with the paint bottle, I opted to use a #1 artists brush (hope my sister doesnt find out :D ) . I poured a spoonfull of paint, well, into a spoon.

http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/6685tupp.jpg

Then I proceeded to apply the touch up paint to the scratches, it was hard to get them right on the scratches, so on many of them the paint overflowed a bit... oops.

Here it is applied to the sliding door.
http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/6685tup4.jpg

Left side of hood
http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/6685tup3.jpg

Center of hood
http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/6685tup.jpg
Sliding door again
http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/6685tup2.jpg

The metallic paint
http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/6685pallet.jpg

Then I let that dry (in the shade of course) for at least a good 2 hours. I then started to wet sand the excess touchup paint surrounding the newly filled scratch.

Here is the sliding door after wet sanding
http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/6685sandinsldor.jpg

Quarterpanel http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/6685hubsand.jpg

Hood right
http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/6685sanding.jpg

Hood Left
http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/6685hoodsand2.jpg

The wetsanding portion went well imo, (took about an hour) and at this point I was anxious to see the results. So then I prepared my rotary with a W8006 pad and some M83.

And here are the results:

Quarterpanel
http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/6685wheel_hub.jpg
Yay, it's gone. The only trace of it is a little line in the paint thats really hard to notice unless you know its there.

Can you see it?? Its the one above the second flash.
http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/6685hub2.jpg
that must have been the scratches deepest point.

Sliding Door:
http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/6685side_door.jpg
Probably the deepest of the scratches, you can still see it. But it has been repaired 80%, you can still see it very lightly if you look at it at this angle w/direct light. I can live with it :xyxthumbs

Hood:
http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/6685hood5.jpg
Yeah, Id say its 96% repaired. The picture is just after one pass with 83, after the second the scratch you see above the headlight went away.

I say it was 96% because despite all my efforts I couldent get this deep one out, its not as visible as before but if you have the right angle you can see it:
http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/6685hood3.jpg

And this one
http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/6685hoodscratch.jpg

Overall I would say that the results that I got were more than I expected, and again the scratches that are still there are only visible with the right angle/light.

Thank you Meguiars for such awsome products :xyxthumbs

Comments/Critique welcome.

[GSKTech]

All I can say is

WOW

you did a fantastic job. !

:xyxthumbs

[scrub]

Awesome. The sense of pride should feel great too. Excellent work and documentation of your work. Congrats.

[TH0001]

That looks awesome!!!

[hawaiibrad]

Looks fantatic.... Im supriesd factory paint brushed on matched so well..... almost never does... but dark color car too....

[RamAirV1]

You did a great job! That is something I never got the hang of. Still working on it for paint chips.

There is someone in my town who specializes in paint touch ups. If you want to make some extra income it looks like you can do it no problem. And metallics are especially difficult!

:xyxthumbs

RamAirV1