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A couple of weeks ago, had been to Madurai and had parked the car in the open while staying at a relative's place in an apartment which did not have a dedicated parking space. Next day morning saw a two wheeler parked very close to the car, and these scratches. Most probably, the two wheeler owner while parking his bike introduced these scratches :Frustrati



As the car was covered completely in dust and I was very busy the past two weeks, could not assess the severity of the damage. Cleaned the car today and all the scratches are clearly visible now. It looks like the scratches are a little deep and have shaved off the paint layer. Would it be required to paint the whole panel or a touch up job would work? Or should I just ignore and live with it?

Thanks in advance for all pointers.

Paint will have to be touched up in the scratched areas and clear coat will have to be done from wheel arch to probably the other end of the reflector and blended there. Could be done in a day. For this kinda work, usually if you drop off car in the morning, you should be able to take the car in the evening with all work completed. Depends on the work load at the garage too.

I would suggest to just live with it. These things keep happening and never stop in modern day traffic and life.. :)

It is not worth the money, unless of course you want to keep your car spotlessly clean every time you take it out.

these scratches don't look like they will spoil the look of your beautiful car. Just ignore them. they will keep happening in every day life.

From the picture, it looks like the panel will have to be repainted. Since it is the bumper, they will ask you paint one third of the bumper. Expect VW ASS to charge you somewhere around 5K. I had a similar scratch on my jetta not so long ago. VW ASS wanted 13 K to paint and dent the passenger side rear door and the quarter panel. Got it done outside for 7K since the damage was an eye sore to look at.

In your case, I would say live with it.

If its really bothering you, and you are certainly sure you will end up taking precautions to make sure it doesn't happen again then get it painted (I stupid about these things and I would get it painted).

If not buy a touch up kit from Europe for your cars exact colour, and see how it looks. It should make it unnoticeable from anything more than 2-3 feet away.

Thank you all for the advice. From a distance, these scratches are not very prominently visible. So, for now, I will let it be and live with it. As Chethan mentioned, it may not be possible to maintain the car blemishless in today's traffic.

If it bothers me too much, then I will plan to fix it.

Thanks Akshay. Can you point me to a website that sells this kit? I will check it out as well. Have you tried it?

Something like this -
http://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Volksw...+grey+touch+up

Have bought 2 kits for my BMWs, but yet to try them, maybe in a week or two.

You can give com-paint and try, I used in my Swift and it is good for scratches in the bumper, it is a complete kit with filler, rubbing compound, sand paper etc.
http://www.com-paint.com/products/co...k-kit-for-cars

Thanks B747. This looks like an economical solution. I checked the site. Platinum Grey was not listed as an option under VW (only Pepper Grey was listed). I have sent an enquiry mail for availability of Platinum Grey.

Thanks Akshay. As this item does not ship directly to India, will try to source it from US through friends. Will also do some search and check if there is any other site that ships to India at a reasonable cost. When you try this on your BMWs, please do update how effective these are.

Kagu 3D Mats

Have been planning to change the mats for a long time. The free mats given during the delivery had very low coverage and lots of dirt and sand used to get below the mats on to the carpet. Kagu 3D mats were on the wishlist for a long time, but had been postponing for some or other reason. Ordered the Kagu 3D mats from AutoFresh a couple of days back. Quality and fit is 10x better than the free mats. A few pictures.








There were a few places where I felt the creases on the mats did not match the actual curvature of the car. The mats had a label "Jetta 2011". I called AutoFresh and they confirmed that 2011 model fits all Jettas from 2011 till date. Can someone confirm that this is true?

These irregularities are not that visible. I just want to make sure that there isn't a later model that would be a more perfect fit.

It doesn't look bad. I will post a link from where i had purchased the paint correction pens. They cost around 2k. I bought these when some kind person scarred my rear door. I never really used them though, but you could give it a try.

I have switched to Nomad mats from these 3D mats. They are great looking mats and serve the purpose well but i feel they are not durable. Mine lasted for a year tops.

Thanks Amar. Please provide me the link to the product. I will try it on the scratches.

Is that LED foot well lighting in the second last pic?

I did not know Jetta had footwell lights.

That is natural light used for photography.. :)

You are right. Jetta does not have foot well lights. :)