Paint touch up

Tonight I backed into a sign.

Frickin pissed but it’s not too awful. Anyone touch up a similar spot? Any paint recommendations? I’m obviously SSM color.

Also wondering how much a shop would charge.

 

go to your dealer and get a bottle of touch up paint. its less than $20. Thats probably over $600 at a body shop. basing my estimate off the cost to have a tiny chip in my bumper end caps done after someone nicked them which was over $400

 

That’s way more than a touch up paint can do. It’ll look like shit if you use a touch up kit. Need a decent body shop. good shop can probably do it with air brush rather than repaint the whole tailgate, making it a cheap (ish) repair.
If you don’t want it perfect then try touch up, but if you mess it up, it’ll cost you a lot more to fix properly.

 

Get a softopper and put the Velcro straight across it. Problem solved and you get a nice topper

 

You may be able to find a new tailgate on eBay Craigslist for about 300.

 

I have 4 deep scratches on my tailgate. Body shop recommended repainting the whole thing so the touched up spots don’t show up in a couple of years. The also want to use new emblems instead of reusing to ensure proper attachment. Funny is hooking me up with the emblems and chrome letter inserts. Estimated at around $550

 

Or just live with it. Are you going to sell it? Then sure spend the money to fix. If you’re going to keep it then get a soft topper, buy a new tailgate, live with it and let it be a newbattle scar

 

Most of that looks to me like it’ll buff out of the clear easy. Just the whitish parts to the right look like scratches.

Reminds me of my first ding. It was like two months after I bought it. I parked behind a small flatbed trailer and when I came back after a couple hours I forgot about the trailer, and obviously couldn’t see it because of the enormous hood on these trucks. So when I pulled out it caught my valance and tire, bounced off the fence next to me, and into my rear pass door. Got a nasty crease about 18” long and a dent in the bed. Luckily I never took off the stock steps which saved it from being major damage. I was pissed for a month but now I don’t really care.

 

I had a dude backup into my tailgate. He paid cash to fix it. 1500 and some change for a Brand new one painted..

 

Thanks for the input gentlemen.

 

Best bet would be a touch up pen.

Metal tail gate cap from @Mobtown Offroad or @KB Voodoo might cover it.

Can always pay the big bucks and go get quotes from some shops.
Owens Collision -off Jefferson
Cavins -off Airline
Adams Collision -off Airline

Edit:
Since it appears you are a student @ LSU you should prolly buy several paint pens.
Nobody has respect for anything over there.

 

@Phoosa Thanks man I’ll check it out. I’m two years out of school but actually did this outside of the rec center last night. It’s a cluster frick trying to park there sometimes.

I think my best bet would be to buff out and manually touch up the actual white scratch.

 

I’ve touched up scratches like that before. Sure, definitely not clean like a whole new paint job, but it’s also 0.2% of the cost. And I bet most people won’t notice until you point it out to them. Make sure to lightly sand areas where it’s chipping. Then put a few coats on.

The best part? You won’t have a heartbreak if or when you scratch it up again.

 

Ah, I figured that's where that photo was from. Used to pick my wife up from there....it is indeed a clusterfuck.

 

I saw a picture some time back of a guy who covered his whole tailgate with Monstaliner and it turned out pretty good. Plus it won't get scratched that way again. It sucks, but it's going to happen sooner or later and you can't just keep spending $500+ on every little cosmetic issue. I mean you can but did you buy a truck or a show car? At the very least get some touch-up paint on there to prevent rust and go about your day.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=046O9eX59YI

 

I watched all of this. I couldn't help but laugh. I'm not going to ruin it for anyone else, but the subtle humor here is great. Worth the watch

 

FYI.. there is a tailgate cap/spoiler you can put on that will cover that area. Kinda like the cal that is already there just a bit farther down the tailgate and extends an inch or more from the center of the tailgate. It is black plastic like the OEM cap and the OEM stays on under it. I do not recall who, another member, put it on their blue Pro. I think it was a couple bills but fast, easy, and looks pretty decent.

I will edit in a link to the post when I find it.

Edit: @Canyonero has the Air designs tailgate cap on his truck.. not finding the post right now that had pics.. it was a couple days ago in the What have you done thread.

Edit 2: it was post 78534 https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/what-have-you-done-to-your-3rd-gen-today.399305/page-3927

 

I'd be worried about future rust. I'd definitely want to take it down to bare metal and have it touched up from there. There are mobile painters who do bumpers and such for pretty cheap. (My friend owns a franchise, "Colors on Parade" that does small work like this for a fraction of the price). Might be worth looking in to to avoid future issues

 

It's not really a recommendation, but while at AutoZone picking up some RainX the DupliColor paints were right next to it. I humored myself and looked at the Toyota colors and noted that the base 3rd gen colors were represented. I don't recall the price, but I suspect the rattlecan is sub $10 and the pen is likely $5-6. If you trust your abilities....