Volkswagen ID.3 Forum

Hi. Some kind person clipped the rear wheel arch of my car in a supermarket car park. Do you think I could polish it out? And if so using what?

It might improve slightly with polish, but looks to me like the paint has chipped/rubbed off, which polish will never help

Take your pick!

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessori ... orers-2019

A good part of that looks like it will polish out. Usually if you wet your finder and rub it over the mark if it disapears it will polish out. It looks like a chip of laquer and paint has been taken out of the wheel arch closest to the tyre and another chip at the crease line. Polish out what you can. I've had good results building up thin layers of touch up paint then laquer and re-polishing chips. If you don't think you can do a good job yourself get a recommendation for a local chips away or dentman type service in the area. Good ones will make that type of damage completely vanish.

Abadgermac wrote: ↑Thu Nov 25, 2021 4:37 pm

Hi. Some kind person clipped the rear wheel arch of my car in a supermarket car park. Do you think I could polish it out? And if so using what?

That would be something I entrust to my local “chips and dents” man, who is mobile and comes to me. That repair might run me ~£75 unless it’s more serious than it looks, and it wouldn’t be detectable after treatment.

As per everyone else - some of that is the culprits white paint on your car - that'll polish out with some G3 or Autoglym super resin polish.

For the chipped paint, that paint needs replacing with some very patient touch up and rub down, or chips-away.

I do my utmost to park on the lines of a row end (Sheldon spot) or well away from the masses, and definitely not next to a banger if the adjacent cars are there before me.

My MINI was scuffed in a similar way, but on the rear wheel arch. I used Chips Away, and they did a fantastic job - the guy came to my home, prepared, sprayed and heat dried the repair all within the hour and the result was perfect and absolutely invisible. I can't remember the cost, I think it was somewhere just over £100.00, probably around £125.00 or thereabouts.

It's so annoying to those of us who try to look after our cars, and I agree completely with monkeyhanger about trying to keep away form the masses and not parking next to 'bangers'.

However, these things happen. I once arrived at Marks & Spencer at 08.30 in my then two-day old SAAB and was the first and only car in the car park, and yet someone still managed to run into it!

Some years ago my Father was waiting for my Mother (who was shopping). He was in a car park the size of two football pitches.
He felt a bump from the back as the only other car in the car park hit him. The woman driver said 'Oh, was that me?" as my Father got out to investigate!!

Abadgermac wrote: ↑Thu Nov 25, 2021 4:37 pm

Hi. Some kind person clipped the rear wheel arch of my car in a supermarket car park. Do you think I could polish it out? And if so using what?

Doesn't look too bad but send photo to your local chips away or revive. If those dents go across a panel crease or swage line, it's a new wing as they can't fix that. Otherwise looks like a sub £100 job.

Re polishing out that only works if the scratch hasn't penetrated the full depth of your clear coat. If you can feel a scratch with your finger nail you will need some paint to fix it.

I think this is the rear wheel arch not the front wing. It's all plastic so should be an easy fix.

Local mobile repair franchise has quoted £168. But advised recalibration of parking sensors too by dealer. I’m not sure the work will be anywhere near the sensors.
(It is the rear wheel).

I we oiled recommend chips away they did an amazing job on my CRV.

3twins wrote: ↑Thu Nov 25, 2021 4:59 pm A good part of that looks like it will polish out. Usually if you wet your finder and rub it over the mark if it disapears it will polish out.

I am sorry to see your car has been scraped. I will be very annoyed when this happens to me - as it will happen to us all sooner or later.

I partly agree with 3twins. Remember your car has some primers and undercoats underneath the grey colour coat, and then a coat of lacquer/varnish on top of that. The wet finger will often make scratches in the lacquer disappear, and these are the ones 3twins thinks will polish out. And any white paint from the other vehicle on top of your own paint can often be polished off.


My voice of sad experience :
1. Only attempt areas that show the other vehicle's paint, and also the areas that look like the scratch did not get through the laquer into the grey paint. If the grey paint is damaged shrug your shoulders or pretend you cannot see that part of the damage until the car gets to four years old, when you will not be so bothered by it. Maybe someone else will damage your car next year and you can get all the damage fixed cheaper then.
2. If you want to try - polish off with a small piece of knitted cotton from a roll at eg Halfords. Try only to polish the affected area. Change the cotton very often: it is cheap!
3. I use Brasso - very, very carefully and slowly. I try to avoid grinding right through the lacquer as the grey without lacquer will look different from paint with laquer, and worse than if you did nothing. Afterwards use wax polish or paint sealant.
4. Remember that in the past VW paint, particularly metallics, was famously thick. That is history. If you looked at a little stone chip in the paint on the front of my car, you would feel the paint is super-thin nowadays. That means you have to be super careful not to polish through the varnish...
5. If in doubt leave it alone. You can put some touch-up paint on it if it is on metal, or the touch-up varnish sold by eg Halfords. If, of course VW ever gets round to producing touch-up paint. So far I have been waiting 5 months for VW to make Scale Silver. Use the tiniest brush you can find at your local model shop., and have some thinners to clean the brush because the supplied brush is too thick and will make a mess and drip. You can also make it look worse by polishing it. Take your time
6. Otherwise take the good advice of others to use a professional.

Good luck.