these are a few pics of my montes imperfections. any advice or opinions are greatly appreciated


the black trim around the windows is faded and has water spots




driver side ding




passenger side ding (in the exact same place)



lower front bumper. cant tell if the paint is chipped, or if its tar. its impossible to get off though



and last, but not least. the rear bumper corner. looks like someone swiped it with their bumper



any ideas of how much dings like this cost to fix, or how to get the window trim lookin good again will be much appreciated. thanks-Chris

 

IF that was all that was wrong with my LS I would be happy lol

 

The window trim may be fixed with a good cleaning followed with Mother's Back-to-Black (or worth a try).

As for the bumper damage, I was quoted $250 + cost of paint to re-finish my bumpers for stone chips and what looks like signs of the previous owner being rear-ended. Paint is about $80.

Unless you are trying to make the car a "show" car or a "summer only toy", just clean it, get some touch up paint and call it a day. Outside of the black trim issue, no big show stoppers.

 

yeah, i know its small issues. im such a perfectionist, it bothers me sooo bad. lol. my friend sat on the hood yesterday and i almost went into a rage. especially since the gap between the hood is smaller on the passenger side. its probably nothing, but i automatically think "my car was wrecked!!!" it looked like she bent the hood down on the front, so i kneeled down and stared at the front of it for about 10 minutes trying to compare sides.

ill probably leave the front bumper. i dont really wanna pay over $200 to get it refinished, and have it end up looking the same in a year, or even a month.

another question. have you ever been leaning on the front fender, and someone open the door? my door touched the fender and makes a loud popping noise. only if you lean on the fender though. it doesnt do it if you just open the door. it does it on both sides too.

 

The sound you are hearing is probably the door rubbing the fender when you push in on it.

Looking at the chip on the quarter panel, it looks like there are two layers of paint on it. Looks like the chip went through the first layer of paint. What scares me is that the paint underneath looks like it was never scuffed before the next layer was put down. Its still shiny underneath. Any history on that quarter panel being fixed/painted?

 

X2 on the Mother's Back to Black for the window trim. It may take a couple applications, but should clean it up fairly well. If that is tar on the front bumper Bug and Tar Remover should do the trick to remove it. Again, a couple applications may be needed. Be sure to polish/wax afterwords since it will also remove wax.

 

X2!

 

Yeah if its not a show car the chips are fine ive got wayy more lol & back to black on the window trim & itll take a few aplications ive been doin mine for a year now its slowly getting better

 

The first shot on the quarter panel looks like it may have been painted before. The front bumper i am pretty sure those are chips. tar is usually black or dark looking. I would try to buff over all the scuffs and that would make them alot less noticeable or even might make them go away all together.

 

I was going to suggest buffing the front bumper and the scuff on the rear bumper with a DA buffer. My black trim on my drivers side door is scuffed from the previous owner and I used my DA buffer and some polish and it really cleaned up well and brought back some of the shine.