Deep scratch in drivers side fender? To fix or not to fix? Touch up Paint?

[RichTJ99]

Hi,

Some a$$ scratched my fender. I would say its close to a key & about 5-6 inches long.

I have an idea of who it was (one of two people). I know theres nothing I can do but holy crap, I park so far away from other people just to make sure. When it got scratched it was about 8 feet from the nearest car.

Anyway, forgetting the who & where (which really pisses me off), how can I touch it up? Should I touch it up?

It is deep (down to the primer) & I dont think it was completely accidental (ok I am getting past that). I am afraid to use the OEM touch up paint & make it look worse.

Should I use the touchup paint (if so, what is the easiest way to do so)?

Should I leave it alone?

Thanks
Rich (who might as well have parked as close as possible instead of as far away as possible)

[Phrost]

It will have to be professionally re-done to look perfect again.

But for a temp fix, just get your paint code and have an aerosol can or touch up bottle made. Spray/dump a little paint onto a piece of cardboard, clean the area, then carefully put paint into the scratch with something fine like a toothpick.

A cheap fix shop would probably
1. Wash car
2. Apply paint via method above
3. Buff whole area to level out paint
4. Apply clear coat via method above
5. Buff whole area to level out paint again
6. Wax

[Quattro]

the above post is good, very deep scratches are hard to fix without a complete sand and respray. I used a mothers scratch remover and it helps light scratches, but not deep.

Touch up paint does help, sometimes if its not applied directly you can see some excess.

My recommendation is take to a body shop see what they tell you besides cplete repaint, maybe light sand and above post would be a temporary fix till down the line when you repair other parts or can't bare to see the scratch.

[RichTJ99]

I will stop by the audi dealer tomorrow to get some touch up paint made up. I will try the toothpick method.

Im so damm careful where I park. I really feel this was deliberate.

[KMHPaladin]

A deep scratch can be improved with touchup, but it won't be perfect. I was actually able to do a passable job on my grandfather's GMC Yukon bumper after someone gouged it in a parking lot. Several scratches a couple inches long by about 1/8th" tall, down to the primer. I built it up using a matchstick, and while the result was not seamless, even scratches that wide were hard to see from a few feet away.

This article has helped me many times on different cars. I do my own version of it - I don't start off with pencil eraser sanding for example - but it's well worth reading to get an idea for the basics. And FYI - the article has three pages, but for some reason you only see pages 1 and 2 at the bottom. Just hit "Next »" from page 2.

http://articles.autopia.org/articles...ratches-1.html