Honda Car Forum

Hello,

I'm new to this group but I had a question that I am hoping someone
can help me with. I have an 05 Honda Civic.

Here's the story:

This morning I was driving to swim practice and decided that I would
park on the curb. I ended up trying to cut in too close to the curb
and scraped passenger side of my front bumper. The scrape isn't
horrible. It looks like one small area (about one inch tall and half
an inch wide) and then a 2 inch line from where the car continued to
scratch the curb. However, the paint did come off and now the black
part that is underneath the paint is exposed. The bumper is not
dented from this, there is only the scrape.

I would like to have the scrape repainted at an auto repair shop.

Can anyone give me any idea about how much this is going to cost?
I realize it is difficult because no one can know for sure unless they
take a car to have an estimae but I am hoping that my description
might help.

I would also like your opinions on repainting it with touch up paint.
I know that I can get the paint from my Honda dealership. Has anyone
had any success repainting a scrape on their car without taking it to
a shop? And if so, what steps should I follow before applying the
touch up paint?

Thank you so much!
Katelyn

On Jul 4, 9:38 am, orcaab...@aol.com wrote:
> I would also like your opinions on repainting it with touch up paint.
> I know that I can get the paint from my Honda dealership. Has anyone
> had any success repainting a scrape on their car without taking it to
> a shop? And if so, what steps should I follow before applying the
> touch up paint?

Yes, I've used touchup paint ($3-5) to paint over deep scrapes on the
bumper. It works fine. Just follow the directions on the bottle. It
won't be perfect, but you can't tell from 10 feet away. I don't think
it's worth a professional job (which will probably cost well over
$100).

Bucky wrote:

> On Jul 4, 9:38 am, orcaab...@aol.com wrote:
>> I would also like your opinions on repainting it with touch up paint.
>> I know that I can get the paint from my Honda dealership. Has anyone
>> had any success repainting a scrape on their car without taking it to
>> a shop? And if so, what steps should I follow before applying the
>> touch up paint?
>
> Yes, I've used touchup paint ($3-5) to paint over deep scrapes on the
> bumper. It works fine. Just follow the directions on the bottle. It
> won't be perfect, but you can't tell from 10 feet away. I don't think
> it's worth a professional job (which will probably cost well over
> $100).

Generally, if you paint it, let it dry, then rub it out with White compound,
you'll probably not even notice it from a couple of feet away...

(orcaababe@aol.com) writes:
> Hello,
>
> I'm new to this group but I had a question that I am hoping someone
> can help me with. I have an 05 Honda Civic.
>
> Here's the story:
>
> This morning I was driving to swim practice and decided that I would
> park on the curb. I ended up trying to cut in too close to the curb
> and scraped passenger side of my front bumper. The scrape isn't
> horrible. It looks like one small area (about one inch tall and half
> an inch wide) and then a 2 inch line from where the car continued to
> scratch the curb. However, the paint did come off and now the black
> part that is underneath the paint is exposed. The bumper is not
> dented from this, there is only the scrape.
>
> I would like to have the scrape repainted at an auto repair shop.
>
> Can anyone give me any idea about how much this is going to cost?
> I realize it is difficult because no one can know for sure unless they
> take a car to have an estimae but I am hoping that my description
> might help.
>
> I would also like your opinions on repainting it with touch up paint.
> I know that I can get the paint from my Honda dealership. Has anyone
> had any success repainting a scrape on their car without taking it to
> a shop? And if so, what steps should I follow before applying the
> touch up paint?
>
> Thank you so much!
> Katelyn
>
Touch-up paint will make the scrape less noticeable, but may not last.
Preparation is key. I suggest you find a small body shop that has a
disproportionate number of fine cars being worked on. It would be a
fill-in job and shouldn't be expensive if paid cash. Done properly,
the repaint should last the life of the car.
Dan

(This account is not used for email.)

> Touch-up paint will make the scrape less noticeable, but may not last.

I used Honda touch up paint on a deep scrape on my bumper (exposing
the black part of the bumper) about 4 years ago, and the touch up
paint has not worn off or chipped. Of course it won't look quite as
nice as a body shop job, since the touch up paint won't be perfectly
smooth, but seriously it's not worth going to the body shop for that.
You'll get bumper scrapes again in the future, will you take it to the
body shop every time?