Quote:
Originally posted by Racer-X:
For that small of a area I wouldn't let somebody paint the whole panel. Never have been a fan of that. Different paints fade at different rates and i don;t think I've ever seen a paint "match" that I couldn't see.
Just my opinion, but I'd rather live with the chip patched. That gelcoat patch works well if you are patient and take your time.
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You'll be sorry if you don't paint the whole panel. The paint on your truck is basecoat/clearcoat. You repair the damaged area and then use the basecoat (the actual color of your vehicle) to finish over the repaired area.
Then you clear the entire panel. That way, if you blend the basecoat out a bit, you are not bringing color right to the edge of the panel and therefore no risk of a color mismatch.
If you try to "blend" out the clearcoat, you are taking the paint from roughly 4mils to nothing. At some point, if you buff or wax over this area, EVENTUALLY you will wear the edge of the clearcoat down and be left with an edge which will be noticeable.
Also, gelcoat is absolutely ridiculous as an answer for repairing that little bit of damage on a fiberglass fender. That is so overkill, it's not even funny.
I can't speak for the shops that wrote estimates but make sure they are removing ALL necc. trim. Masking off lamps, mouldings, latches etc will be a sure way for the clear to peel later.
I'll bet that if you look at the estimate, the bodyshop is not removing the grille, sidemarker lamp, latch, mouldings, etc ,etc... You'll be sorry if not.
Mark