[TexasAggie]

Car has under 100 miles and been at the dealer for strut replacement. There's a scratch/dime sized ding on the top portion of the door (level with the side mirror). It's Phantom Black and they're willing to fix it for free, but they want to paint the entire door. I know that in order to do it right, they're correct. It's lifetime against fading, chipping. BUT...knowing that it's not the "same" original paint gets to me, so:

1. Leave the scratch and ding there
2. take it elsewhere for a wet sand blend, thus leaving the rest of the original paint in tact
3. let them repaint the door

 

[aintmisbehavinn]

Let them repair the door, hell if it ain't right, they can paint the whole car.

 

[BV GTO]

I've used a paintless dent repair successfully on the hood of my Cavalier. It was a dime sized dent, too, with a scratch that didn't penetrate the color coat to the primer. The dent was taken out w/o any sign of it having been there. The guy rubbed out and polished the sratch so good that the only way I can find where the work was done is by a little rubber plug covering an access hole drilled into the underhood support.

 

[b_a_betterperson]

Paintless dent removal for sure. Just had three dings taken out of my car. Once the dings are out -- you can go after the scratch pretty aggressively.

Talk to a high end dealership and ask who they use. There are 1000's of people doing it these days -- and most of them suck. Find somebody really good and pay more for them -- because if you go cheap and they screw the job up -- there's no going back and reworking the metal a second time.

Dentpro.com is a big firm in this area -- but, again, call a dealer or high-end detail shop and ask for a referral.

 

[TexasAggie]

I'm letting the dealer use a paintless guy and then they're repainting, but I want to keep as much the factory door as possible. Thanks for the input.