[car0800]

So, made a bonehead error this weekend and wound up putting a little dent and some scratches on my M3GT's bumper right side. I was pulling a 3 pt u-turn and instead of putting the car in reverse I put it in 6th (that is the reverse on my other vehicle which is a 5spd truck)...LOL! The car went foward into the shoulder and stalled, unfortunately the shoulder had a lot of stones gravel and the bumper and plastics made contact..ouch!

Luckily they are way low so not immediately apparent. Still bothers the crap out of me :frown2: Perhaps I can use some touch up paint to fix those. Will post a pic later. Question is - it looks like 2 of the lower wheel well pushpins holding the plastic came off as well. I see they are $3 a piece at the dealer, good grief... $3 for something that should cost probably 10 cents? LOL! Any alternatives to get a pack of these elsewhere for a decent amount?

 

[arathol]

So, made a bonehead error this weekend and wound up putting a little dent and some scratches on my M3GT's bumper right side. I was pulling a 3 pt u-turn and instead of putting the car in reverse I put it in 6th (that is the reverse on my other vehicle which is a 5spd truck)...LOL! The car went foward into the shoulder and stalled, unfortunately the shoulder had a lot of stones gravel and the bumper and plastics made contact..ouch!

Luckily they are way low so not immediately apparent. Still bothers the crap out of me :frown2: Perhaps I can use some touch up paint to fix those. Will post a pic later. Question is - it looks like 2 of the lower wheel well pushpins holding the plastic came off as well. I see they are $3 a piece at the dealer, good grief... $3 for something that should cost probably 10 cents? LOL! Any alternatives to get a pack of these elsewhere for a decent amount?

Advanced Auto or Auto Zone will have them. Advanced Auto has a small rack with a number of different size and shapes. You can get a small box for about $5 or so.

 

[car0800]

thanks, will try autozone. has anyone tried the touchup pens? are they easy to use?

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[erklep]

the pens are usually garbage. your best bet is to clean the scratch well, dip a toothpick into the bottle and use that to fill the scratch. You can then wet sand and polish to help blend it further. Though, it sounds like the damage may be worse than I am picturing. Any photos?

 

[car0800]

as I said the scratches/dent is below the lip so it's not very visible at eye level.. if you look close the plastic was scratched up a bit as well

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[chutoyy]

I usually put a front lip on my car to prevent mishaps like theses... Perhaps this lip will help hide some of the blemishes.
M'z_style Front Lip (17+)

Also, you check Home Depot in the nut/bolt section to see if they have automotive fasteners... Or try Amazon/Ebay.

 

[car0800]

that lip is a great idea but just wondering how the black looks with the eternal blue or if the lip is available in the factory color. It looks great on the white though.

 

[zero_gravity]

Hard to tell how deep it is in the pics, but I did something similar.

Try buffing out with an electric buffer and some buffing compound. Not wax, you need something to cut top layer of paint.

After that I'd use touch up paint. If you have some deep pits get some glazing putty.

 

[car0800]

thanks for the tip zero_gravity. I'm thinking getting a new bumper is a bit extreme for this but i'm wondering how much a body shop would charge to fix it. If it's within $500 then it may be worth it, I know a new bumper is about a grand with paint/labor, at least that is what it was a couple years ago when someone rear ended my truck.

The one dent is deep but the rest are superficial but I think deep enough past the clearcoat.

 

[lemansbuilder]

I've had good results with Dr. Color Chip

 

[car0800]

I've had good results with Dr. Color Chip

That looks really promising and they have the OEM color as well. Since it is in a rather inconspicuous area it does not need to be 100% pro.

How has your repair held up to pressure washing?

 

[zero_gravity]

thanks for the tip zero_gravity. I'm thinking getting a new bumper is a bit extreme for this but i'm wondering how much a body shop would charge to fix it. If it's within $500 then it may be worth it, I know a new bumper is about a grand with paint/labor, at least that is what it was a couple years ago when someone rear ended my truck.

The one dent is deep but the rest are superficial but I think deep enough past the clearcoat.

Having done some body work (I don't claim to be an expert) if you're looking for perfection, you'll have to have the entire bumper repainted. Not cheap.

Fixing yourself you can get it to the point that you'd have to look very hard to see the defect.

There's good touch up paint on Amazon...I think it's scratch wizard that I use and it matches very well.

All depends what you want.

 

[paulff3]

See if you have a mobile bumper repair service. Short money and it will look new.

 

[Davidval18]

@car0800, Sorry for your bad experience.

My humble recommendation is to leave the car the way it is, try "compounding" the bumper and then polish it, this should get some clear coat scratches away.

As well, IMO paying 500$ is not worth it when most likely the bumper will get scratch from other misfortunes which we don't have control on them.

But if you really want to fix it , then do it, what matters is that you feel happy at the end of the day

 

[car0800]

As well, IMO paying 500$ is not worth it when most likely the bumper will get scratch from other misfortunes which we don't have control on them.

Yeah, I was just babying the hell out of this car until now and then BAM! 0 Still drives like a dream even with the scratches :grin2:

I agree, it may not be worth to fix it... unless you inspect closely they cannot be seen and if I put some touch up paint I think I should be good to go. The little dent I will just have to live with.

 

[Davidval18]

@car0800, I'm also super protective about my car, but in my experience being over protective doesn't really let me enjoy how great the Mazda 3 is. So what I did was to stop worrying about the little dings and scratches and just enjoy it!

Don't get me wrong, if there would be some serious scratch or dent then I would fix it right away, but I have some scrapes under the front bumper which are not noticeable unless you crouch, so I can live with that. Also I have the option to fix it whenever I want it, but I learned to control what's important to fix and what's not.

Once again, have patience, try the touch up paint and perhaps wait for your annual check-up and if you want have the bumper fix, by then some rock debris or something else might have made it's way to your bumper which should be worth to fix.

Good luck!

 

[car0800]

thanks! I asked someone else to have a look today and they said it wasn't very noticeable so I will go with the Dr. Colorchip route. Before that I intend to get some rubbing alcohol and see how much of the stuff comes off..then decide.

Any input on what size fasteners I need for the two tabs that popped out? It is the plastic liner that covers the top of the wheel well, it the last bottom 2 clips at the edge of the liner (i.e. where the liner meets the fender).

Looking at buying this one:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...7-b4d4-466b-8c26-2639359664eb&pf_rd_i=desktop

It does say in the comments fits the M3 wheel well liner. Besides, I needed some for my GSXR600 as well.

 

[lemansbuilder]

It holds up well. Dr. color chip does a nice job blending color, It takes a few applications to
"fill" the opening. Far from perfect, but a good camouflage