I have a PDR guy that can work magic. I had a motorcycle carrier fail and it fell into the tailgate of the truck causing some major body damage. Luckily there were no paint issues, $400 and 6 hours later and there was zero evidence of the event, simply amazing. He has pulled many small door dings and dents for me on numerous vehicles prior to trading them in or selling them as well, pennies on the dollar really.
The risk you take....
- Thread starter jivewalker
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Some people don't seem to care about non-factory paint. I'm not one of those people. I'm the annoying guy that shows up to look at a vehicle with a paint meter. Sellers hate me. Sometimes I hate myself.
Non-factory paint is never as perfect as factory. I can 100% of the time spot flaws (specks of dirt), or tape lines. Your damaged area is right at the end of the door, so they'd have to blend into the next panel.
Go on Yelp and find a mobile PDR service, they'll show up, pop out any dent, and likely buff scratches out too for a fraction of what a body shop would charge to most likely use bondo to fill dents, and repaint most of the side of your truck. Big skip for me.
Ask your dealer's Used Car Manager who his PDR guy is. We had an awesome mobile guy that came by every Tuesday. Marty was his name. The guy was a wizard. He did stuff for me more than once.
What is this meter you speak of?
Paint thickness gauge. They come in very different price points. It saddened me when I ran it over the LC to see just how thin the paint is on these trucks in spots.
Here's the one I have, looks like price has gone up quite a bit...
Buy the Original FS 488 Paint Meter and Save 101.00
FenderSplendor FS 488 Paint Thickness Meter Gauge read both steel and aluminum automatically. #1 Choice of Used Car Dealers, Auto Auctions, and New Car Dealers
www.fendersplendorpaintmeter.com
If you can't easily spot repainted panels, and don't know what a paint meter is- I'd try to keep it that way. Ignorance is bliss.
I am curious if the paint thickness and or quality is different on the Heritage mineral white paint.
I highly doubt they paint them any differently.
Agreed. The fact that they used different seats borders on mind blowing if you understand how toyota does product development.
7000ft
SILVER Star
I was parked in a business lot on my cell phone one day, when a lady rolled up and parked close to my passenger side. She swung her door hard into my SLEE slider. She got out and had that WTF look on her face, glared at me, looked at her door and stormed off without any other exchange. I got out to see if she marred the SLEE finish.....nope! She did put a sizable crea$e on her Kia door. SLEE saved the day again!
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Was on Yankee Boy Basin while raining and slid sideways into a rock. Chipped the paint on the slider and it also chipped the rock. Rock took more damage. Honestly impressed with build quality of SLEE sliders.
- Thread starter
- #35
So, scratches to deep to buff out, the body shop gave it a quick try after me telling them my concerns, good guys. 2 small dents and both doors will get painted and clear coat. Ive had work done there in the past and i couldnt tell after which is good enough for me. s***ty part is they are sceduling far out, June to be specific. Will probably have the sliders on before then!
I had my right front bumper evaluated for a repair of a deep scratch/gauge after someone backed into it (no note). I was quoted $1723 for the repair and $2068 for replacement. Somewhat of a surprise. Didn't think they'd be so similar in price.
It is all about the labor cost for the former whereas for the latter the materials.
Agreed. I’m no bumper specialist but the price for the factory bumper was $300 and change. Wondering if Toyota assumes bumper damage given its off-road chops and cranks out X amount on the cheap?