Smart Repair Recomendation in South West

[Brenbo]

I have just had a bit of rubbish day.  Started out great until I managed to tap another cars number plate reversing in to a car parking space.  My attention was distrated when I was watching to not kurb my wheels for a second and realised via the camera with no idea of depth due to the fish eye distortion I was right up on the car behind me.  My mistake having a bit of a dizzy day.  The thing is the other guys car is absolutely fine but where his number plate touched my bumper the paint has flaked off with a finger nail sized flake of paint.  The other thing is I have Oryx White (pearlescent) paint.  The damage area is a about 1cm+ wide, the size of a small finger nail.  Have tried to post a pic but having trouble finding how to do it on this forum?

1. Would the damage be applicable for Smart Repair or does it require a full on re-spray? 

2. Can anyone (Exonian maybe?) recommend a good Smart Repair or paintwork centre in the Southwest near Exeter or North Cornwall? 

3. How long do you think it may take to repair the damage on the bumper is going to be possible to drive away same day or do you think it is going to require leaving the car overnight for repair?

[Booth11]

Bad luck, all have them days     Similar happened to me 2 weeks ago in my mk6, reversed into my partner's van in the driveway.  A manoeuvre I do every day and is second nature, but he'd parked the van about a foot further forward than usual and I didn't notice    Fortunately damage was minimal and has polished out.

Can't help with the smart repair, but to post a pic try this thread http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=85911.0. In short - you'll need a photo hosting account such as photobucket or flickr.  To post from photobucket - copy and paste IMG code of your chosen photo,  or if using Flickr - copy and paste BBC code. 

[monkeyhanger]

but he'd parked the van about a foot further forward than usual and I didn't notice 

His fault then. 

[Booth11]

but he'd parked the van about a foot further forward than usual and I didn't notice 

His fault then. 

Haha, of course although to be fair I did say

...and I didn't notice 

To make matters worse, he was sat in the passenger seat at the time.  Saw the funny side of it though and watched with some amusement as I rushed out to check the damage to my car, whilst totally ignoring the van (well it is a Vauxhall  )  I got back in and said "it's ok, just a scuff, it'll polish out", to which he replied, "er......and my van....?"    The van came off worse 

[Brenbo]

The thing i was most shocked about was how thin the paint was on the bumper and how it just flaked off in one large piece.  The paint was just wafer thin.  I don't expect them to cake it on, I have had a knock on a front bumper before from someone else on  another occasion which involved my Honda Civic Type-R and the paint stayed on the bumper and appeared to be a much thicker coat.  But the paint on my GTI just seems to want to flake off on the slightest knock.  It wasn't even a heavy knock either.  I was barely even moving at the time as I was trying to avoid kurbing the wheels and just nudging the car slowly away from the kurb then...  You can imagine the rest. 

[monkeyhanger]

The thing i was most shocked about was how thin the paint was on the bumper and how it just flaked off in one large piece.  The paint was just wafer thin. 

Your Oryx has 3 pigment/lacquer coats - just imagine how thin everyone else's paint must be with just a single pigment layer + lacquer top coat. 

The paint does seem to toughen up over time - I had 80% of my paint chips the GTD has suffered in the first 4 months of ownership. Extremely long curing period required?

[Brenbo]

I would agree about the curing period.  I also experienced most of my stone chips etc, during the first 4 to 6 months of ownership.  The thing is I am concerned if the Oryx White paint is going to make it harder to smart repair the area.  If this is the case I may be looking at a re-spray for a larger area around the damage thus taking more time and costing more. 

Has anyone else had smart repair of Oryx White or similar pearlescent paint? 

Is it possible to smart repair Pearlescent paint?

[Exonian]

Ouch! The joys of damaged paint. 

An ex-colleague of mine took on a franchise doing smart repairs some years ago, I've not heard from him for a few years but I've had a few positive reports on him. He's pretty switched on. I've left a message with a guy who plays golf with him and hopefully he will get back to me.
I've also left a message with a friend who's the manager of a leasing company, he's bound to deal with this sort of thing all the time so will know who is best to get a quote from.

[Brenbo]

Let me know when you get some contacts Exonian, am keen to get this problem sorted asap. Knew you would have an idea about who to see in the local area, you are a legend mate 

I have also left an email with VW Exeter as well to see what the damage may be.  I would rather get smart repair if at all possible with my situation?

[caprigreen]

Whereabouts in Cornwall are you Brenbo, I know a good guy who works alone does a good job and keen price. If you want his number let me know, although he is very busy. He would probably want to do the whole bumper though. I would be enquiring about any complexity of matching with the special paint you have. If you have any other scratches on the bumper I would get it all painted.