# DIY? fix deep scratch on jet black 535i m-sport



## chibmw (May 9, 2012)

Hey all. I had an unfortunate thing happen to my new 535 M Sport the other day. Someone had bumped into my rear bumper and left a very small dent where the screw hit my bumper and then a few other deep scratches. One scratch is particularly deep. Others, as seen in the picture, aren't as bad.

Now...I've taken my car to a few shops and they all want between $450-650 to fix the bumper and get it looking brand new again. However, this involves them taking off the bumper and sanding the whole thing down and then repainting it. To be honest, I am not sure how well they can reattach the bumper and I just feel like my car won't be the same after this. They all claim they can't do anything without removing the bumper because of parking sensors and whatnot. One shop offered to do it for $300 if I spend the time taking off the bumper and just dropping it off at their shop for sanding/painting.

Anyway, here is what I will be doing this weekend. I'm set on this so I am asking for some help and maybe even some talking out of it if the idea is just downright terrible 

I plan on getting all the tools necessary to fix the bumper myself. The original paint, the HVLP paint guy, wet sanding, clear coat, etc. The whole 9 yards. My approach would be the following:

1) mask the area off around the scratch so I don't sand/paint the surrounding healthy paint and parking sensors

2) sand the area around the scratches

3) fill the scratches with some sort of a filler (still research this one haha) and hopefully keep applying this and sanding it down until everything is smooth and leveled.

***is there a good/effective/easy way to get rid of this tiny dent? or am i better off filling it with the above filler? ***

4) apply primer, then apply paint as many times as needed, sand it, do it all over again until it looks good

5) apply clear coat

6) wax it/buff it out so it can blend in with the rest of the bumper


Now...the above steps are oversimplified and are much harder than I envision. Could anyone give me any hints/ideas/products I should use? Anything at all that would be helpful?

I am not expecting to make my bumper look amazing and straight out of factory after all is said and done, but I would be happy with a good job...so it is hard to see from a few feet away. I just want the scratches gone so light isn't bent there. Then some touch up paint with a nice clear code and a good polishing job...hopefully will get me looking better than it is now.

Please tell me if I'm crazy for even thinking about doing this. I'm fairly handy with tools as I've been working on cars and truck my entire life, so I know what I'm doing (sort of).

Appreciate all the help, fellas. Thank you!!


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## chibmw (May 9, 2012)

I should point out that one shop also offered to fix the whole thing by masking off the sensors and sanding down the surrounding area and then blending it all in with the rest of the bumper. The guy said he can't guarantee the work because the paint might start peeling away because he can't cover the whole bumper and paint won't stick well to where the parking sensors are. He wants $200 for this. That isn't hard to swallow and I thought about doing this...but the whole paint might start peeling away thing is scaring me.

Can I do this and get a desirable result myself? Or should I not even attempt it? That essentially sums it all up 

And I do see that there is a STICKY post here about deep scratches...however, the pictures from the original post seem to be gone...I'd love to see the damage and then the results this person got so if anyone has the pictures, I'd greatly appreciate that!


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## [email protected] (Jun 28, 2012)

I can understand DIY on an old beater, but doing it on a new car? 

Sorry, just pay the pros to do it properly.


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## the-pm (Sep 27, 2011)

You are crazy, I am not quite sure why you think an amateur (no offence) bodge will be better than a professional doing a bodge!

If you want to bodge it then fill in the scratches with some touch up paint, it will cost next to nothing, it will not look great but might be ok on a black car. Worst case you can take it to the shop and let them do it properly.

The other alternative would be to get a SMART repairer to come to your home. If you find a good one they are ex-paint shop people and use the same techniques as a paint shop, the guarantee their work so if it starts to peel they will come back and sort it out. It will only peel if they do not prep it correctly or they fill the gap between the bumper and the parking sensor but a sharp implement around the parking sensor will sort that. I have used SMAT repairer before for minor issues and they have been great.


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## chibmw (May 9, 2012)

Thanks for responses, guys. I am not saying/thinking my bodge will be better than that of a professional. I just want to try this out to see how good I can get it, and if I mess up...I'll just take my car to the shop and have them do it.

And they want to sand down half the bumper, no matter how they decide to approach this....and I'm hoping I can get away with sanding down just the part around the scratches.

I really can't see how bad I can mess this up, given it's a black car and given I get the same paint and use a professional gun to paint it and then coat it and buff it out to blend it in with the rest of the bumper. It has to look better than it does now.


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## chibmw (May 9, 2012)

Can it be done or no? I want to try...but if it can't be done, then someone please tell me so I don't even waste my time on this. I don't see it being too difficult. I'm not performing heart surgery here


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## csmeance (Dec 10, 2007)

chibmw said:


> Thanks for responses, guys. I am not saying/thinking my bodge will be better than that of a professional. I just want to try this out to see how good I can get it, and if I mess up...I'll just take my car to the shop and have them do it.
> 
> And they want to sand down half the bumper, no matter how they decide to approach this....and I'm hoping I can get away with sanding down just the part around the scratches.
> 
> I really can't see how bad I can mess this up, given it's a black car and given I get the same paint and use a professional gun to paint it and then coat it and buff it out to blend it in with the rest of the bumper. It has to look better than it does now.


If you want the repair done properly, it's best to let a bodyshop (a reputable one) repair the bumper. The shops were correct in teling you that the bumper needs to come off and the senors and trim removed to fix it. By sanding down only one area of the bumper and repainting it, the paint won't blend with the old paint.

The paint is 2-stages, a base color and then a clear coat on top of it. If you sand down the scratched/scuffed area and paint it with the base, and then the clear coat, you'l have areas where the paint is layered base->clear->base-Clear so you'll have 4 coats of paint and some will have Base-Clear-Clear with 3 coats of paint and it'll all look uneven and probably won't even match!

When the body shop does the repair, they will use a computer and mix up the paint exactly to match your paint. As well they will repair the dents/scuffs on the bumper and completely refinish it. Spending as much as 650 dollars for this at a reputable place isn't unheard of.

If you want to save some money, I suggest you just use some touch up paint and blob it into the affected areas and call it a day. If you aren't happy with it, you can always have it redone professionally since I HIGHLY doubt you have paint spray guns, the mixing tools and refinishing tools that the shops will have.


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