Originally Posted by tsk1979

I seriously doubt that.

It doesn't have to be the residents. The guards, cleaners, other maintenance people who come and go are all suspects as well.

The only solution is to have London style CCTV recording system, then catch these people and.....,uh, bring them to justice.

[kousik]

Originally Posted by SuperSyn

The only solution is to have London style CCTV recording system, then catch these people and.....,uh, bring them to justice.

This is exactly what I am trying to make our apartment association understand. Given that such vandalism is costing each of us anywhere between 5000-8000 rupees to fix (and they'll strike again once you re-paint), we can pull in a part of that money to install security cameras.

And once the offender is caught, he can be made to pay for the camera installation as well.

Kousik

[kuttapan]

When we(Me and some of my mates bought one for 7 grand in Bangalore) had the padmini, the bonnet used to be the favorite playground of the kids staying in the huts nearby. The kids could not climb onto the bonnet, so their parents used to lend a hand. They broke off the wiper blades and drew graffiti on the glass and bonnet with sharp objects, the car became a ghastly sight.

[emkay456]

Originally Posted by alpha1

Has anyone looked into "small-kids-playing" angle?

Its their parents who have to be taken to task. ( I guess some of such parents might be on this forum also)

The children menace is quite there in housing societies. In olden days we associated bitching and snobbery to be associated with bored houswives. Now presently it is the children who are doing this (with or without knowledge of parents). I have a few neighbours whose children are very jealous of others who acquire anything new. I get the feedback through my kid and have been a victim of scratches on my Swift. Dont have sold proof to confront the parents.

[eclectix 1st]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

If someone proclaimed his love on my car's dusty bonnet with his fingers, I wouldn't bother. But if he were to use some sharp object to embed 'Selvi' onto my car, that would hurt.

FYI

Its been done with a key or something. Requires repaint

The point I was trying to make was that it was done even under dusty conditions.

[kousik]

Originally Posted by emkay456

I have a few neighbours whose children are very jealous of others who acquire anything new.

What I have to absorb the cost of the vandalism of those children, I dread to think what'll they be when they grow up. In many cases the parents do not know their child is doing so, and I think they won't be able to prevent them going astray in future.

Kousik

[Sahil]

Got keyed this morning

Anyone tried this?

YouTube - Detail King Wet Sanding: Scratch Removal

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Sahil

Got keyed this morning

Don't tell me its the 5 series! Get a good wax / rubbing compound for the damaged area. You will be surprised at the effect.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by eclectix 1st

Its been done with a key or something. Requires repaint. The point I was trying to make was that it was done even under dusty conditions.

Sorry. I thought someone just wrote with their fingers on the dusty bonnet.

Originally Posted by GTO

Get a good wax / rubbing compound for the damaged area. You will be surprised at the effect.

You might be right w.r.t. minor hairline scratches, but not sure if it will take care of deep ones. I polished/buffed the Swift's bonnet for hours, but even though it has reduced the damage quite some, it did not completely remove the scratches.

O.T. :

Originally Posted by benbsb29

"Wise are they who invested in a diesel powered automobile" - Benny

A very nice and apt signature, Benny. Bonus being that it is an original and not quoting someone else.

Corollary to it : And among the fools that invested in petrol-cars, wise are those that opted for small, low-power, more-FE cars.

[Sahil]

Originally Posted by GTO

Don't tell me its the 5 series! Get a good wax / rubbing compound for the damaged area. You will be surprised at the effect.

Unfortunately it was! There is some foul play that been on in our apt building for years... no car has been spared.
Have chucked out all the security guards and appointed a new company. Hope that helps now.

But the damage is done so trying to work around it best... i did use a rubbing compound and then waxed the hell out of that area a couple of times... the prick actually ran the key or blade from the back door until the front. Managed to almost get rid of the back door scratch but the front one is deeper so it is visible from close.Since the car is silver you cant see it from a distance.. nonetheless it still pinches when i look at it.

Has anyone tried this wet sanding technique?? It defiantly wouldn't remove deep scratches but seems to be the best way to hide it.

Trying to find a spacegoat or else i'm going to have to try it out on the endeavour first.

[chargerman]

common practice here in dhaka. we get emblems and mirrors stolen all the time, last year someone walked off with our mercedes star in a wedding and our jag s type lost its proud cat from the bonnet.. really hurts! my friends brand new mirrors got nicked from under our office in broad daylight... its common all around the world actually..

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Sahil

Unfortunately it was! There is some foul play that been on in our apt building for years... no car has been spared.

That sucks. Maintaining a high end car in India can get on your nerves sometimes, despite the efforts you put in.

Can you have BMW look at this? Benz has specialist techniques to repair only the damaged area (vis a vis painting the entire body panel). I got it done on my silver C180 once and couldn't tell the difference. Not even at closer look. I am sure BMW is equally competent at fine-touching the affected parts.

[amitbjha]

I live in a society in noida on 2nd Floor and my car 2007 Sx4 Zxi is parked in basement of that high rise building.
I am frustated and challanged by a guy(who i don't know) who purposefully put a scratch whenever he got the time or the oppurtunity.
On last tuesday he destroyed the complete paint of my bonnet by scratching by some stone or nail.I have to sent it for painting.And this is going on from almost a year. Surprisingly except my car i have seen no complain from other car owners in the society.I am member of society governing body.
I have three suspect

1.
Neighbour (A renter and property dealer): He has a son aged around 17. we had a fight with them on this parking on monday( I don't own the parking but i have permission from that land lord).We don't have good relation with them.They want to have fight with everybody they can on any issue.Special type people.Highly suspectible.

2. A driver. He had a freind who was electrician in the society and i had to throw him out from the society as he was more doing personal work rather than society.Driver parks the car near to my car.

3. A car cleaner i changed to new one as he was not cleaning my car well.

the order of suspect is from 1-2-3 one being highly suspectible.

Now i am thinking on Four option.

1. Go to the police name all the three.But i dont have any proof.
I don't have any body in police.
2. Throw my neighbour out from society with my influence.
3. Send a court notice to the neighbour asking them to pay me the damage.One of my relative is a lawyer.
4. Install a video camera in my car itself and catch the culprit.Any idea on such spy cameras which can be operated with battery (Not car battery ) and record 8 hours of continous recording.

Thanks for your suggestion.

[straight6]

I like the idea of the video camera but, I think it will be better if you install in outside the car at a high position so that you can view the entire car in the video. That way you'll have strong evidence. Make sure there is enough light there so that you can clearly see who it is in the video.

[DirtyDan]

If you do not know for sure who it is then none of us SHOULD venture a guess either. If you have the money for a camera this certainly is one way to catch the man in the act. If you have this kind of money then you also have money to become really close friends with the police. I hope you understand that last sentence. You might be surprised how helpful the police can be in a situation like this. Your relative the lawyer should be able to help you liason with the police.

Suggest you really stay cool and level headed and first find out who it is and then coolly deal with him decisively and with finality. There is an old saying that goes, "Revenge is a dish best served cold." Nail the son of a b*tch but do it with no more disruption to your life than taking out the trash.