Mobile Repair recommendations

tbh

Hey guys -

I was reversing into my driveway last night and ended up putting a bit of a scrape on my next-door neighbours door - nothing too major, but will need fixing.
Could anyone suggest or reccomend a mobile repair service who could call out to the house (I'm in Swords) and fix it in his driveway?

it's a 2010 Nissan Qashqai if that's relevant

thanks!

Nissan doctor

tbh wrote: »

Hey guys -

I was reversing into my driveway last night and ended up putting a bit of a scrape on my next-door neighbours door - nothing too major, but will need fixing.
Could anyone suggest or reccomend a mobile repair service who could call out to the house (I'm in Swords) and fix it in his driveway?

it's a 2010 Nissan Quasqui if that's relevant

thanks!

Is the scratch just on the metal or on the plastic wheel arches as well?

Owen

Call out SMART repairs aren't suitable for doors.

tbh

Nissan doctor wrote: »

Is the scratch just on the metal or on the plastic wheel arches as well?

It was after dark last night so I can't tell for sure, but reasonably sure that it's just the metal.

Owen wrote: »

Call out SMART repairs aren't suitable for doors.

Can I ask why you say that? The reason I'm surprised is that I did a bit of googling last night, and there's a guy (he's based in Dundalk so not sure if he'll travel - hence looking for local rec's) who has a website that has a photo of a before and after on a car door (here)

The type of damage fixed in the first pic is almost exactly like what I did, so I was hopeful that it'd be applicable here.

Nissan doctor

Owen wrote: »

Call out SMART repairs aren't suitable for doors.

Not for bad dents maybe but surface scratches with very minor denting wouldn't be a problem.

EPM

No offence to SMART Repairers, and I have used Owen a few times and been very happy, but there's no way you could get a factory finish job on a door on your driveway.

I'd go with a bodyshop on a year old car. A 90% job on a major panel like that will stand out a mile.

Owen

Nissan doctor wrote: »

Not for bad dents maybe but surface scratches with very minor denting wouldn't be a problem.

Its what I do for a living. SMART repairs shouldn't be used on such a large flat panel. When you do a SMART repair on a bumper corner, or a wheel arch, there are areas and swage lines to blend and lose the lacquer. On a door you generally have to lacquer the entire door. That creates two problems - the first is the amount of dust which will land in the fresh lacquer that then has to be flatted and polished up. I never believe that's truly successful on areas which have been freshly painted. The second problem is that by lacquering the whole door, you have a completly different texture on the lacquered door next to original paint and lacquer right next to each other. The difference will be night and day. That's why Bodyshops will never paint one door, but will blend paint into the adjacent door and into the quarter/wing where applicable.

SMART repairs should be used for bumpers, wings, quarters, wing mirrors, pillars, but never doors, roofs, bonnets, or boot lids. The small scale repair approach doesn't scale up when painting outdoors.

I'm painting two doors on a Hyundai Trajet today, but it's being done indoors in a workshop. I'm doing them with the understanding that it'll be a good job, but not a great job. That's all the owner wants. If he insisted in Bodyshop quality, I'd have no hesitation on telling him to go to a bodyshop. It's a friend of a friend, and that's the only reason I'm goin at it. And without trying to sound like a dick, I'm one of the better SMART repairers out there, this is the finish I can get from a gun without polishing, and I still wouldn't go near a door unless I had to :

tbh

thanks Owen - I appreciate that. My incentive in going for the SMART repair was to give my neighbour as little hassle as possible, but more than that I want to put his car exactly back the way it was - if that means a bodyshop, that's what I'll suggest to him.

Owen

Just home. Turns out I'd both sides of this car to paint, not one. Pooped. Anyway, regarding the feasibility of doing something like this on a driveway, this'll give you an idea of scale and how crucial it is to have a warm dry environment to paint such a large section of a car. Plus - with the non stop rain we've had for 4 months, your neighbour might be waiting a long time for a dry day for the call out guy to be able to paint it.

mondeo

Owen wrote: »

Just home. Turns out I'd both sides of this car to paint, not one. Pooped. Anyway, regarding the feasibility of doing something like this on a driveway, this'll give you an idea of scale and how crucial it is to have a warm dry environment to paint such a large section of a car. Plus - with the non stop rain we've had for 4 months, your neighbour might be waiting a long time for a dry day for the call out guy to be able to paint it.

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Looks fine, nothing wrong with that job.

Just out of interest though, what do you use to dry the paint and laquer during a smart repair? Heat gun or somthing similar like that?

Owen

With the water based base coat I use a combination of a heat gun on a medium setting and just letting the paint breathe correctly between coats, but with the lacquer I use a Sealey IR1000 - it's an Short Wave Infrared Curing lamp. Under that, the lacquer I buy (That's designed for drying under Infrared and damned expensive as a result) will be touch dry in about 12-15 minutes. Could do with a lamp or two more, but they're savage money

tbh

Yeah, cheers Owen, i hadn't a clue what was involved. Glad i heard from you first, if the job wasn't right I'd only end up forking out again to fix it. Yer man is getting it done in the garage anyway. €900 - stinger!

mondeo

Owen wrote: »

With the water based base coat I use a combination of a heat gun on a medium setting and just letting the paint breathe correctly between coats, but with the lacquer I use a Sealer IR1000 - it's an Short Wave Infrared Curing lamp. Under that, the lacquer I buy (That's designed for drying under Infrared and damned expensive as a result) will be touch dry in about 12-15 minutes. Could do with a lamp or two more, but they're savage money

I'd love to have one of those infrared lamps. Spraying is a hobby of mine and it would be handier then using a heat gun around the panels or waiting a week for it to cure.

Owen

You should try changing your lacquer maybe? Not sure if you spray with a gun or not, but if you do, there's lacquers now which will air dry in about 2 hours if needs be. I can't recommend enough that people go talk to their local paint suppliers - my guys here in Cork are constantly surprising me with new products. Wish I was busy enough to put them to good use, but there's some seriously good ideas out there.

Got a can of this a few months back, and it blows me away every time I use it. It's a 5 minute video, but worth watching if you're into painting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Jh_gQW2i0Y

mondeo

I use spray guns from time to time but I get away with aerosols painting a single panel like a wing or whatever. A bumper or a door I would use a spray gun.

That Quick check stuff would be bloody handy no doubt. It's such a pain in the balls when you think you have a dent nicely smoothed out and imperfections then show up after you apply the laquer. Been there many times:(.

I just use a standard laquer. I have used the same stuff for years doing my own bits and pieces without too much hassle. I'm sure there are some better laquers which will give the paint more clarity?

Owen

mondeo wrote: »

I just use a standard laquer. I have used the same stuff for years doing my own bits and pieces without too much hassle. I'm sure there are some better laquers which will give the paint more clarity?

The stuff I used needs specialist gear to spray it properly, but if you have a compressor and a gun with a reasonable sized needle (1.4-1.8mm) something like HB Body's 495 would be alright. It dries touch dry without infrared heat in about 2 hours, and is fully dry in about 6 IIRC. If you chat to your local paint suppliers and explain the gear you're using, they'll advise you no bothers though.