Paint repair of scratches from road debris

[alexhbrock]

Took delivery of my white LR mY last Saturday and as I was driving down I-95 a couple of days ago a piece of debris fell off the back of a pickup and bounced right into my bumper causing several deep scratches as seen in the attached pictures. There are no impact dents, just several scratches through the paint. It really sucks...the car was just 3 days old and I had an appt to get ppf done in a couple days.

Having purged myself of all the curse-words for that driver (95 remains the absolute worst highway ever) I took the car to a Tesla certified paint shop in West Palm Beach for an estimate on repair. They cautioned me that the repair bill was going to be high due to the labor involved in de-activating the car (battery? electronics?), removing the bumper and then reconfiguring the distance sensors when installing the freshly painted bumper. In all the estimate came out to be $1,825 for these scratches.

I guess what I'm looking for here is a little validation or comfort that this seems high and to look elsewhere? Or if its not and seems reasonable, please let me know. First time Tesla owner here so I'm in unfamiliar territory here.

 

[Lozzy]

I think you can get a whole new bumper already painted and installed by Tesla for less than that. The piece that is scratched is plastic so rust won’t be an issue. Someone will chime in that knows the specifics better than me,

 

[habanero69]

Took delivery of my white LR mY last Saturday and as I was driving down I-95 a couple of days ago a piece of debris fell off the back of a pickup and bounced right into my bumper causing several deep scratches as seen in the attached pictures. There are no impact dents, just several scratches through the paint. It really sucks...the car was just 3 days old and I had an appt to get ppf done in a couple days.

Having purged myself of all the curse-words for that driver (95 remains the absolute worst highway ever) I took the car to a Tesla certified paint shop in West Palm Beach for an estimate on repair. They cautioned me that the repair bill was going to be high due to the labor involved in de-activating the car (battery? electronics?), removing the bumper and then reconfiguring the distance sensors when installing the freshly painted bumper. In all the estimate came out to be $1,825 for these scratches.

I guess what I'm looking for here is a little validation or comfort that this seems high and to look elsewhere? Or if its not and seems reasonable, please let me know. First time Tesla owner here so I'm in unfamiliar territory here.

I had this guy fix my Model S TWICE where the garage door moving down scratched my bumper WAY WORSE, and he was able to fix in about one hour and you can never tell. About $100-200 was all it cost.

https://fixmypaint.com/


Might want to give him a try if able.

 

[jcanoe]

If you want to touch up the bumper with touch up paint (I recommend Touchupdirect.com) the Pearl White Multicoat is Tesla paint code PPSW. When applying touch up paint to the Tesla Model Y body panels there is a primer coat, a base coat, a mid coat and a clear top coat. I don't know if you would need the primer paint tube as the bumper is plastic. I can't recall if the front and rear bumper cover factory paint includes the mid coat (the mid coat is milky colored semi-clear and contains the metallic flakes.)

I believe that Lozzy is correct, you can contact your local Service Center, ask them for a price on a replacement bumper cover (the bumper cover can be ordered in your Model Y Pearl White Multicoat, Tesla paint code PPSW.)

You already know what repairing and painting the existing bumper cover is going to cost.

 

[Mike_TV]

Have the same color and with the black plastic bumper underneath the paint any minor scratch shows through significantly with the Pearl White Multicoat.

As others have said I would try to find a local mobile touch up service first.

 

[Lockerbie]

Would a PPF protect it? Just wondering...

 

[jcanoe]

Would a PPF protect it? Just wondering...

Bugs, sand and small smooth pebbles; yes. Birds, larger stones and debris falling out of pickup bed; probably not.

 

[73Bruin]

Anyone have any experience with the blue PPSB paint? Tesla's kit seems extremely pricey for touching up a tiny rock chip about 1mm in size. I saw a link to the Dr. Colorchip kits on the Model S forum. No real price savings, but they do sell paint refills for about 1/2 the price of the regular kit.

 

[Scarecrow]

Before PPF I had rocks chip the front bumper on pearl white metallic all the way through to the plastic. Then had a cart cause similar damage to yours. I went to my preferred shop and got a similar estimate ($2,300 with insurance or $1,700 private). A reputable shop will remove the bumper and replace all the fasteners, which drives up the labor and materials. I believe the pre-painted bumper from Tesla is $900-$1200. Problem is availability. I found a body shop that would blend the just the damaged area. It was $400 and looked flawless. I did have to take it back for overspray correction, which they happily did. Overspray is a common issue with spot repairs. The pearl can also be problematic to blend.

 

[Scarecrow]

Anyone have any experience with the blue PPSB paint? Tesla's kit seems extremely pricey for touching up a tiny rock chip about 1mm in size. I saw a link to the Dr. Colorchip kits on the Model S forum. No real price savings, but they do sell paint refills for about 1/2 the price of the regular kit.

Neither kit matches the factory pearl white metallic.

The Tesla kit is darker, almost thought it was the old light silver. Seems to have too much metallic.

Dr. Color Chip does not seem to have enough pearlescent. It fills and holds better in the chip.

 

[2101Guy]

a good spot repair shop/guy leaves the bumper on (in a case like yours, and in the driveway, uses airgun to touch up and if skilled, its 90% undetectable. Cost is in the $100 to maybe $300 at MOST, range. Be patient, shop around.

Based on those photos, PPF most likely would have been damaged at the minimum, possibly would not have protected the bumper cover 100%. But lets assume it did protect the bumper fully. Now you have torn PPF that most likely, would have needed repair.

Calculate the cost of the initial PPF install on the bumper, then calculate how much to remove old/reapply new....

Now compare to the cost of a GOOD touch up guy fixing the non ppf Bumper....

 

[2101Guy]

Also, since the object was moving/not stationary, if you report it, goes against comprehensive vs collision. (meaning no rate increase). YOu'd still be on the hook for your deductible

 

[2101Guy]

Before PPF I had rocks chip the front bumper on pearl white metallic all the way through to the plastic. Then had a cart cause similar damage to yours. I went to my preferred shop and got a similar estimate ($2,300 with insurance or $1,700 private). A reputable shop will remove the bumper and replace all the fasteners, which drives up the labor and materials. I believe the pre-painted bumper from Tesla is $900-$1200. Problem is availability. I found a body shop that would blend the just the damaged area. It was $400 and looked flawless. I did have to take it back for overspray correction, which they happily did. Overspray is a common issue with spot repairs. The pearl can also be problematic to blend.

missed this post somehow.

Bolded part...agree on this type of solution/option. I've even had (other cars) Maaco do a full bumper respray with PPG paint for $350 total before (did that on a car with 100k miles right before I sold it as the bumper cover didnt look so bad from tiny chips which it did have, but thats considered normal wear/tear, but rather from a couple of areas that had MAJOR scuffs on the bottom front facing edge from contact over the years with parking curbs. The kind where PPF would not have been able to protect against.

In that case, no PPF and $400 total cost ended up with essentially a brand new looking bumper cover after 100k miles. That $400 got me roughly another $800 in profit as I was able to sell the car for higher price.

 

[DupaCannon]

Sorry, man. That stinks. There is no perfect solution but $1,800 is a joke. It’s even more of a joke if you were intending to install PPF anyway.

Here’s my opinion, and my rationale:

They were probably tying to do a ‘perfect’ job. Blending modern clear coat (I.e. painting an area of a panel vs. repainting the entire panel) is really difficult to do. It can be done, but can theoretically fail after so many years based on the fact that the existing and new paint never truly chemically blend.

Because of this they were probably intending to repaint and re-clear the entire bumper. You can ask them to confirm.

It’s the ‘best’ approach, but also the most expensive and still no guarantee. I’ve seen entire bumpers repainted and re-cleared that started to egg-shell after 3 years, so nothing’s perfect.

If it were me I’d find somebody who can do a decent job and make it 95% with a spot repair with the bumper on the car, then PPF that after it has cured. PPF texture never looks exactly like the original paint, but the benefit there is that it can actually hide minor imperfections, and if you were going to PPF anyway...

Yes, it could fail in 10 years if someone tries to peel off the PPF but a) that will likely not be you; or b) it will not bother anyone then because it’s likely a $7k car at that point.

I hope you get over the sting, whatever your decision. It sucks. Sorry it happened. Better things will come your way...

 

[ryanjeffords]

Ah man, I’m so sorry. I’m in a very similar boat. After seeing a dozen warnings to be careful when opening your hatch in your garage, I was in a hurry to get back home for a Tesla service appointment and pulled in forward, opened the hatch and it hit the garage door.
Two brand new chips and a few surface scratches. Sigh.

I can probably buff the scratches and touch up the chips “good enough”, but damn. Car has 600 miles.

 

[jcanoe]

Ah man, I’m so sorry. I’m in a very similar boat. After seeing a dozen warnings to be careful when opening your hatch in your garage, I was in a hurry to get back home for a Tesla service appointment and pulled in forward, opened the hatch and it hit the garage door.
Two brand new chips and a few surface scratches. Sigh.

I can probably buff the scratches and touch up the chips “good enough”, but damn. Car has 600 miles.

You can set the limit for the height of the hatch when open. Open to a height where the hatch won't hit the open garage door above the Model Y. Add an extra inch of clearance for good measure by manually pushing the open hatch down. While holding the open hatch in the desired position press and hold the hatch close button for 3 seconds, until it beeps. The next time you open the hatch it should stop at the open height limit. If you want to fully open the hatch, when it is safe to do so, you can push the hatch up until it stops. (Just don't forget that the hatch is fully open and then open the garage door. Ask me how I know that to be bad.)

 

[ryanjeffords]

You can set the limit for the height of the hatch when open. Open to a height where the hatch won't hit the open garage door above the Model Y. Add an extra inch of clearance for good measure by manually pushing the open hatch down. While holding the open hatch in the desired position press and hold the hatch close button for 3 seconds, until it beeps. The next time you open the hatch it should stop at the open height limit. If you want to fully open the hatch, when it is safe to do so, you can push the hatch up until it stops. (Just don't forget that the hatch is fully open and then open the garage door. Ask me how I know that to be bad.)

Yep. I know. I knew ALL of this...but since I normally back into the garage...it was never a concern.

I feel like a horse's ass. Now I have a decent scuff and two chip marks to touch up.

 

[73Bruin]

Yep. I know. I knew ALL of this...but since I normally back into the garage...it was never a concern.

I feel like a horse's ass. Now I have a decent scuff and two chip marks to touch up.

Have you decided to get the Tesla touchup paint or go third party?

 

[jcanoe]

I have had success using TouchUpDirect. I purchased the TouchUpDirect kit for my Pearl White Multicoat Model Y. TouchUpDirect should have the correct paint for your red Tesla.

 

[ryanjeffords]

Have you decided to get the Tesla touchup paint or go third party?

I'm leaning towards Tesla touchup paint. Why go 3rd party when you get a more direct match? Also, my chips are so small, I can literally put 2 drops of paint (one on each) and I'll be 90% back to normal.

...or I can just buy the Tesmanian spoiler and cover this whole mess up! lol