detailing places
 

recommendations pls? My friend tried to fix a nick on my bumper. He touched it up, wet sanded it and now the clear is gone -.- i think detailing with some sealant would renew it or do i need to take it into a paint shop?

If the clear is indeed gone, then your friend is out $300 to repaint your bumper. Or if you feel like being a nice guy, you are now out $300. Should get it checked out with some one who can tell you for sure if the clear is really all sanded off.

Sealant can only do so much, there's not much you can do with no clear.

PS: What car is it?

man $300!? that sucks. any places you'd recommend to have it fixed? its an a3

What grit sandpaper was he using? Are you sure the clear's gone? Easiest way to know would have been to look at the sandpaper after wet sanding: if you see the color of your paint then you're in trouble.

Otherwise, a bit of Quixx or some polishing could help you can either do that yourself, or check out Autowerkes Exclusive or otherwise for detailing. Wet sanding doesn't exactly end with a shiney surface...so it might just be that your clear is still marred from the sanding.

I'm not sure I think I was 1000 or 1200. Yah I'm sure its gone. Dirt sticks to it and isn't easily washable. Only products like scratch-x removes the dirt but I'm still left without protection for the paint. The area is only about 5x5 inches though. I can't imagine this costing 300? I was thinking 150 tops.
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If the clear's gone, only way's really to respray the whole thing. With the work going into that yea it'll cost a pretty penny. Wish you luck with that, and tell your friend to use 2000 grit next time.

That said, the spots I touched up on my car were like that after wet sanding, but went away after the light polish...You're looking at a pretty expensive repair so do get a second opinion on that =S

if it's a tiny spot maybe you wouldn't need to spend $300 to get a whole bumper repainted.

mind you .. $300 to paint a bumper with an audi colour code doesn't sound realistic. expect $350+ unless if you know someone who operates or works at a body shop.

THere are shops around that specializes in blending small spots that are caused by damages from shopping carts and such. they might be able to help you out but expect $150 - $200 if it's somewhere between a finger to a palm size spot. I might be under-shooting that price as well but it's cheaper than a whole bumper repaint!

Yeah I don't see the need to repray the whole bumper. Do you know of any place that specializes in blending of affected paint areas? Google isn't helping much.
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I tried light polishing and its helped keep abit off but eventually it just returns to normal.
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Yes the risk of blending places is that I've heard some times results will not be blended 100% you WILL see that a spot is a bit off + there is a chance that the clear from the blended spot will peel. So sure you might save $ 100 now but how good the result will be and how long it will last is another question. And you drive an a3 not beater so don't cheap out. And $ 300 to paint a bumper is cheap
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You're right. $100-$300 isnt much of a difference. But ive always thought that painting a whole bumper cost atleast $800+

When i installed my lower skirt + spoiler, the place left me with a $800 bill. So I expect a bumper to be more. All this info is great but I still need a place to do it at. Some great recommendations would be appreciated.

$ 800 seems reasonable considering painting them + fitting them, it all depends if your pieces are direct bolt on to oem or if you have to do some custom work to make them fit
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The last time I had my bumper repainted, it was $500. That's how much it cost me to get my TSX bumper removed, finished (there were a few dings on it due to other cars bumping into my bumper), painted and refitted to my car. (as well as removing the stock reflectors that were attached to the bumper)

Can you post some pics of what it looks like? It's hard to gauge if it can be saved without seeing it.

pm me personally and i can recommend you a place to go to.

im more involved in the vag forums if you're worried that i'm sending you to some sketch out place : P

i just had a few friends get their cars repainted at this shop that my gf's working at and every job has came out fantastic.

Boyd in new west can do the blending and they do a pretty good job and I know they usually will take $300 cash to do a bumper job as long as they arent too busy