Tiny but deep and rusting scratch! Help!

[Deev]

Not long after picking up my second hand Leon 2 I discovered a very small but significantly deep nick on the paintwork of the back hatch - I only noticed it because with the constant wet and road salt hammering it had started to very slightly rust bubble!

On the recommendation of the guys in the Leon 2 specific forum I asked Chips Away to take a look at it and he scraped it out and painted it - not invisible but a great improvement - but pointed out that because it had already started rusting he could offer no guarantee on the repair. How right he was... little more than two weeks later it started rusting again!

Any ideas where to go from here? I'd rather not fork out on a full hatch respray, but at the same time I don't want to leave it to develop a lovely rust hole over time! Typically the nick is right on the window edge where all the water rests...

Help!

 

[Daffy]

If you have used chips away then you have tried the paint repair method. I would guess rusting would therefore be covered by the warranty. if not get another chip repair guy out. You have a black car and they should be able to make it invisible if they had done it right the first time, it only needs a rust cure tretment before painting to prevent the rust re-occuring.

 

[Deev]

A couple of people have mentioned warranty but that's not going to cover paintwork damage - which this nick obviously is! Chips Away pretty much said that no matter what they do they can offer no warranty that it won't rust again so I think it's pretty pointless throwing more money at them...

 

[WeeJase]

how much do these companies charge for this service?
i have 2 stone chips on the leading edge of my bonnet that are down to bare metal,and rusty.they need doing asap.

 

[Daffy]

Chips away are a franchise and some are better than others, some are shockingly bad and you may have had one of those. Some talk a load of shite while others will know what they are on about. I thought the paintwork/ bodywork warranty was valid if you had used appropriate touch up to safe guard it. Are you sure that the panel has not had work, are you the firts owner?

 

[Deev]

how much do these companies charge for this service?
i have 2 stone chips on the leading edge of my bonnet that are down to bare metal,and rusty.they need doing asap.

Chips Away quoted me £70 for an "invisible" repair, or £40 for a chip touch up. Since he didn't offer any kind of guarantee against the rusting he kinda convinced me to go for the £40 touch up repair (what a salesman!) with a view that if it did rust again I hadn't wasted much money and I could invest in a better repair...

 

[Deev]

Chips away are a franchise and some are better than others, some are shockingly bad and you may have had one of those. Some talk a load of shite while others will know what they are on about. I thought the paintwork/ bodywork warranty was valid if you had used appropriate touch up to safe guard it. Are you sure that the panel has not had work, are you the firts owner?

No I'm the third (!) owner... The panel looks pretty straight though - like I say just something has nicked the paint deeply through to the metal.

 

[Danril]

Deev, can I ask which franchise you went to for this repair and the name of the guy in charge.

I ran over a brick this morning that somehow managed to take out my cap for jacking the car up and then span about putting three scratches on the passenger side. I was doing ~2mph out of the lane where the communal parking is so it had time to bounce away and then back on to the car. DOn't ask me how it happened exactly, I have no idea! One of them is quite big, about 2-3" and is pretty noticable with a bit of dinting with it (although I can't tell if that's just with the scratch being there deviating the light).

You're quite local to me and I've found a Chris Schofield in Barnsley and Hitesh Patel in Batley.

The guy from Batley is quite close to where I work but if he's garbage then I don't want him anywhere near my car!

I've barely had the thing a fortnight and I couldn't run over it the stone in the way to make it do what it did again if I tried. Really bad luck. I'm gutted!

 

[Deev]

I don't know exactly which franchise it was that came out but it was in Bradford and the guy wasn't Asian so I doubt it's either of those guys.

Unlucky bit of damage there mate... I hope you get it sorted

 

[Danril]

Thanks Deev.

I've got a pal who is head mechanic down at Harratts Volvo and he's hopefully going to be giving me the number of the guy they use to do touch ups etc so I'll hopefully get it sorted.

I saw him this weekend for him to fit a new temperature sender for me and he mentioned him as I have a slight dent in the bonnet which was there when I bought it. He said it was an easy pop out job; now I need to find out if he does paint too!

I'm just a bit worried about the slight denting with it. I'm not sure they'll be able to get it out, it's quite low down on the door though so not mega noticable.

I don't think it's down to the metal, although it's a bit tricky to tell, and if it isn't then at least I should be okay for rust. I put a good few blobs of wax on them nicks last evening though to be on the safe side.

 

[Deev]

Thanks Deev.

I've got a pal who is head mechanic down at Harratts Volvo and he's hopefully going to be giving me the number of the guy they use to do touch ups etc so I'll hopefully get it sorted.

Ask him how much he'd do mine for

I had a quote at a bodyshop and they said they'd need to pop the rear window out and respray the whole hatch to do it properly. They need the window out so they can take the paint back and rust treat it sufficiently. Annoying as that's apparently quite specialist and will cost so I'm looking at at least £300.

 

[Danril]

Got a text back from him last night and he only recommended a guy who takes dents out and that was Jason Hutchinson at Dents Away. You can find them online.

He didn't have a recommendation for scratches so I'm going to ring SEAT today and ask if they recommend anyone.

I need to take it to a bodyshop and get a quote I suppose so I know where I stand.

Now that I've calmed down a bit I'm not sure whether or not a mobile guy from chipsaway or somewhere may be able to do it. It's the slight denting that's with one of the scratches that concerns me and whether they'd get that out. I should take some pics and post them for opinions I suppose...

 

[Deev]

Make sure you protect it if it has gone through to the metal - especially in this weather. I'm told a coat of clear nailpolish should protect it temporarily. Make sure it's dry first though!

 

[Danril]

I think it's okay, it all seems to be white underneath with no metal exposed.. I've given it a thorough waxing just in case though.

Pulled a bit of a cheeky one, called my local SEAT dealership and asked who they recommended. Took the guy's number and organised to meet him at the Seat garage next week where he's going to quote me a price and, if I like the price and time allows, fix it for me there and then.

Given he does all the work for SEAT I'm thinking he must be pretty experienced and, hopeflly, pretty good. I just hope he's pretty cheap too!

Interestingly their dent man is the same man who was recommended to me via my mate, so he must be good.

When I get home I'll take some pics of it and post them on here.

 

[Danril]

Some images:











First one is a picture of two worst ones. The dirt doesn't really show the light reflections of the dints but the second one gives a hint of that after a wipe down with a wet sponge. The third one is the last little nick, which is just a tiny nick really. You can see that the cap you pull off to jack up the car is no longer flush on the bottom left hand side though. That is where I think the lump initially jammed, then pinged out, hit the side of the path and bounced back on to the car.

Not as bad as they could be. Do you think they're going to end up a dear job?

 

[Deev]

Ouch...

Hard to say really. I just hope your guy does a decent job. Keep us updated!

 

[Danril]

Had the work done today. He repaired the two worst ones, the other one is something and nothing so I'm going to just use the chipstick from turtle wax to cover that up every now and again.

He's done a sterling job, £80!

Pictures to follow....

 

[Danril]

Before:



After:





These pictures aren't perfect for showing the job he's done but I wanted to try and get some reflection there as it will show up any imperfections via the light bouncing off. It's not 100% perfect but it's 99% and I'm extremely happy. The smaller of the two I can't see at all and the larger I can only tell it is there because I've been staring at it for the past weeks!

If anyone would like this guys number in the Huddersfield area PM me and I'll pass it on to you. He's top notch.

I did everything I could to fit in around him though to keep my price down. He works at SEAT every week or so, so I dropped my car down there today to fit around other jobs he was doing.

 

[Deev]

Hmm... it pays to shop around... I've just dropped into another bodyshop for a quote on my rusty patch and they say that they can get away with not removing the back window and can do it for £60+VAT. Certainly better than £300! However the bodyshop said that they think it's a warranty claim after all and that it looks like an imperfection in the paint that has ruptured...

Spoken to my local dealer and they say to bring it in and they'll take pictures of the damage and send them to SEAT. I'm not holding my breath, but it's worth a pop I suppose...

 

[Deev]

Well predictably the dealer told me to go jump - said the paint had been impacted and cracked. Not sure I'm convinced myself but he wasn't going for it.

It's booked in next week at the local friendly bodyshop. They're repairing it and also touching in a little scrape on the bottom of my passenger door for £75 which isn't bad. Apparently they only need to repaint a section of the hatch as they can "blow in" the paint so the whole panel doesn't have to be resprayed. I would normally by sceptical of that technique but I had it done on my last car and the repair was invisible...