Reworking plastic panels (deep scratches)

John_H · 05-05-2009, 11:21 AM

Since scratches in plastic are often deep enough that sanding tends to produce "wells" in the plastic panels (that would need to be filled in with the appropriate plastic filler) are there alternatives?

I was thinking an appropriate heat gun could probably make the plastic more able to flow under pressure without burning the clearcoat or the paint. With the proper tool selection, it could even be possible to reduce the blemish to an acceptable level without repainting.

Since most body shops are used to dealing only with metal, plastic rework isn't as mainstream as with standard metal body panels. If there are resources, I'd love to know more.

**jwight** · 05-05-2009, 11:45 AM

These folks might be able to give you some info: Plastic Repair | Car plastic panels | Dash | Classic Vinyl Repair and Upholstery of Wilmington, NC | Auto, Car, Boat, Vinyl Repair

NuBiker · 05-06-2009, 09:52 PM

Hiya John H.
My wife just last week scratched her passenger side rear quarter panel. We dropped the car off today to get a new q. panel. I will let you know how much it costs when we get the car back. Hopefully this Friday.

John_H · 05-07-2009, 06:52 AM

A new rear side panel is just over $150. The painting is about $200 more (custom paint). Add a little labor for the panel handling and the scratch can be expensive.

I've been wondering how an iron would work. There'd be nothing quite like driving down the road with a burn-mark on my panel in the shape of an iron.

It just seems like there's a better way.

chieftmc · 05-07-2009, 06:59 AM

I know this won't help you John, but I have the Rally Red (solid color throughout) and "someone" took a nick out my right rear quarter panel about the size of 1/2 a pea !

I took some 1000 wet/dry paper and smoothed the area out pretty well, then clear coated (don't cringe) using a "rattle can". Looks pretty good and you can't tell unless you're looking for it

[gotta LOVE solid color panels]

jimvw57 · 05-07-2009, 10:20 AM

I have some scratches from the darn snowblower just below the bumper on the front left and rear left corners. (Black) I ended up using a Testors paint pen and filledin the scratches with paint and then rubbed it out afterwards. it is far from perfect but is much less noticable. The scratches are about 4 inches long and would show up after washing as the edges were white from the cut plastic.

mvaldes · 05-07-2009, 06:06 PM

I've "patched" scratches in my metallic red and in the black tridon with the OEM paint touch up kits (which includes clearcoat.) For stock colors they work pretty well. I'm sure I could find the repairs if I was looking for them, but otherwise they blend in nicely.