My car was scratched by a touch-free high pressure washer that malfunctioned during its soap cycle. The car is normally washed by hand but on this day, I had an appointment and did not have time to wash it myself so I took it to the drive through car wash. This car wash is fairly new with the latest automated sensor guided high pressure nozzle that goes around the vehicle.

My front fender was scratched by the pressure nozzle appeture with a seven inch gash between the front wheel well and the decorative side vent and another three inch gash above that. My cars paint had been perfect up to this point so as you can imagine, I am extremely upset.

I called the number posted at the facility and the owner answered. Told him about the situation. He shows up and looks over the damage to my car. The scratch is clearly felt with your fingernail. It is deep enough to go through the clearcoat but does not apear to have gone through the basecoat. After a few minutes of discussion he offers to get it fixed by his contracted PDR expert.

I am suppose to meet his PDR tech at my home but I have reservations about his scratch repair method. I suspect he will use a product called Qwixx Scratch Remover. Qwixx corp.warns users about not using the product on cars made by Mercedes Benz. It also warns about not using sandpaper on the damaged area if the car is painted with Nano or ceramic clear coat.

Can someone tell me if our cars are painted with this special paint coating?

If so, I need to tell the PDR tech to not touch my car before he creates more damage than is necessary.

On a side note: What is the color code for the silver trim on our cars? I was only able to ID the base coat to my car.

 

Don't hit the panic button. Here is my opinion....

I have had many scratches fixed over the last few years on my other cars. I have a good bodyshop near me that does fantastic paint work. I would bring the car in the morning and pick it up a couple hours later. You would never know there was a scratch or dent! I also had a metal sign blow off my work parking lot fence and land on my back crossfire bumper. It chopped off a chunk of my bumper. Those guys fixed it for me for 100 dollars. YOU CAN NEVER TELL! And my car is black!

Just get it fixed. If he pays for it, great. But if you have to fork over a hundred bucks it is worth the money to make you feel better about the whole thing. I am **** about dents and dings on my car. I can tell you sometimes crap happens and we just have to deal with it. I would say you are lucky because your situation could have been a lot worse. Look at it this way... a scratch repair is better then getting rear ended by another car and having to get tail lights and bumpers replaced. For a low cost your car will look like brand new again and you will forget this incident and move on... I promise.

 

Sorry to hear about this. At least the owner is going to do the right thing.

However, lesson learned.............don't ever take your car through any automated washers. I never have and never will. It's too risky in my eyes and even if it's not a major problem one run through can leave lasting impressions which I'd rather just avoid.

Good luck.

 

It's a clearcoat, but I don't know what kind. You might post a question in the "detailing" section for Mike-in-Orange. He knows tons about fixing paint.

 

He says his is pearl coat, which is different to clear coat, it gives it, you guessed it ....a pearly/milky look.