[mreis171]

OK, the first blemishes on my E have officially arrived (and they were delivered by a friend no less). This guy "tapped" (his word) my bumper in my driveway, and he left two vertical white scuff marks that correspond with the shape of his license plate frame. Thankfully, his license plate bolts didn't pierce the bumper, but I don't know how/if I can get the marks out.

I have seen suggestions of Mineral Spirits to correct problems, but I don't know if that applies in this case.

Any thoughts?

 

[lon777]

You could try using a mild polish such as mag polish. Another choice would be a great mild polish called Wenol.

 

[isketerol]

Not tempted to tap this friend's car, let alone him? At least tap him for the cost of the repair.

Iskie

 

[mreis171]

[quote:70b7a202d8="lon777"]You could try using a mild polish such as mag polish. Another choice would be a great mild polish called Wenol.[/quote:70b7a202d8]

Thanks, I'll try that. I assume you can get that at a typical auto parts store like Pep Boys?

 

[mreis171]

[quote:756c02930d="isketerol"]Not tempted to tap this friend's car, let alone him? At least tap him for the cost of the repair.

Iskie[/quote:756c02930d]

Oh, I'm gonna tap him upside his head when I see him. I saw his parking job, and I was like, "Holy S***, you're almost touching my car." His response: "Well, I may have tapped it, but I checked and there's no damage."

I walked over and checked and it looked OK, but that was when his car was still parked maybe 1 millimeter from mine, so I couldn't see all that much, other than the fact that there were no puncture holes (that seems to happen a lot in this area). Then I got a closer look at the car after he pulled away, and there they were, two perfect parallel scuffs.

%@#$%@#% Ah, well. At least I got that first scuff out of the way. I'm sure there will be many more over the years, especially since I park it in a very crowded parking deck everyday.

 

[hambone]

'helmut feels your pain'! sorry to hear about it...

if it is in the grey painted area of the bumper i would try a product called "GT 88". it is a scratch remover that is applied with a clean cloth. after removing the scratch ( or most of it ) you will have to re-wax with a good solid wax...

i have used this product for years now and swear by it !

good luck,

 

[mreis171]

[quote:269b06c81c="hambone"]'helmut feels your pain'! sorry to hear about it...

if it is in the grey painted area of the bumper i would try a product called "GT 88". it is a scratch remover that is applied with a clean cloth. after removing the scratch ( or most of it ) you will have to re-wax with a good solid wax...

i have used this product for years now and swear by it !

good luck,[/quote:269b06c81c]

Thanks a lot. So the wax won't build up on the bumper and become difficult to remove?

At first, I tired this generic "Scratch Out" product that I used to use on my Chevy Blazer, and that left a really bad streaking pattern that took over an hour to get out.

 

[krix]

I got a little more than "tapped" last night at a red light. The screws of the other driver's plate frame pressed into my bumper and left perfect impressions, along with the edge of the frame and some scuffs.

I'm still waiting for the adjuster to call.

 

[dougola]

I'm so pissed at myself. I was sitting at a traffic light and didn't have enough foot on the brake, crept forward and tagged the guy in front of me. He didn't have a problem as he was driving an '88 Caravan, not his car, that looked to be on it's last legs anyway(not that there's anything wrong with a Caravan, I have one, too). Now I have a dimple and scratch on the right front. ant help on an easy fix? I was thinking that there might be something like that quick vinyl fix as on T.V. that would work on these bumpers. :twisted:

 

[krix]

FWIW, what I found out from the body shop was that because the plastic is texturized, it can not be patched or otherwise repaired. It has to be replaced. The good news (for me and my fenderbender, anyway) is that it's actually a plastic cover on the bumper that received the only damage and only runs about 50 dollars plus labor (my total estimate came to $140).

Of course, the larger pieces (like the front bumper) will most likely be more.

Anyway, just relaying the info from the shop I went to. This texturized plastic can't be repaired without it being glaringly obvious that a patch was done, and might wind up looking worse than the original ding.