Deep Scratch Repair

Alright boys, I need some advice. My dad and I were putting my KB Voodoo bed rack and Tepui tent back on my truckbed, and it ended up angled at one point and took a nice bite out of my bedside.

I'm not very concerned, because I didn't expect my truck to stay pretty for long, but I do want to prevent rusting/further damage.

By the looks of this scratch, is it something I can protect with just some sort of a clear coat? I would really like to avoid paying $300+ at a body shop for repair since money is a bit tight. I don't even mind if it even gets painted again, because this truck will see many more scratches in its lifetime. I'm wondering if it is viable to wash and clean the area and apply some sort of clear coat or something to prevent rust. I don't know much at all about repairing body damage.

Any recommendations?

 

Just grab some touch up paint from the dealer. Clean it really well with 99% rubbing alcohol and touch it up.

 

If you want it to look cherry again the only way would be to paint the panel over again.

 

This

 

And a new decal or strip them both off. Another reason I don't go camping.

 

Not sure if you want to take it this far, but the point of this repair was basically to stop further damage.https://youtu.be/S2aC_oseMe4

He has a lot of great detailing vids as well.

 

That guy did a really good job

 

Chip doctor works well

 

I agree, chip doctor is a good product, but I think with the depth of the scratch in the op's picture, some body filler is going to be required. In my limited experience, paint applied that thick will pop out, and the cold weather will make it happen faster. I'm going to assume they salt roads in Colorado, so my fear would be rust under the touch-up paint. Just my 2cents.

Kevin

 

Don't forget that you also need to apply clear coat over touch up paint from the dealer.

 

Do you have after pictures of your repair? Has it held up from rust and other damage?

Same thing happened to me last night. Voodoo rack came in wrong and got a small scratch.

 

Never seen the voodoo rack install but can’t you install while you sit in the bed and build it up? Would work better than lifting the already built rack on the bed.

 

Similar thing happened to me but I didn’t want a visible line of new paint so I cleaned it up as best as possible and just living with it. It didn’t reach the primer or metal, just sort of deep surface scratch.

 

Depending how deep the scratch sometimes you can rub a good amount of it out with a polishing compound like for plastics. After that do whats listed above.

 

I guess but I've taken it on and off easily before, was trying with my gf and got distracted. It's already built.

It looks like it may have gotten down to primer? The right side in the pic above looks worse and where the initial impact was.

I'll try that. Just nervous for future rust and if I'll do it properly.

 

I think the “off-road” sticker is cool with a bit of claw cut. It’s a look. Just repair the paint, OP, and don’t let people know it happened in the driveway.

 

Order a spray kit from https://www.paintscratch.com/

 

I would remove sticker, wet sand with appropriate grit(s) compound/polish and then whatever doesn’t correct, do up with some touch up.

 

I use meguiará scratch x . Wash the dirt off and use some compound and buff off the imperfection. You may need to get that professionally worked on for a more complete repair .