SW17LS

and they don't think they can do the trunk or hood? Try and post pics I'd be curious to see it. I would really want to try and preserve the factory paint on the hood and trunk.

lesz

I just did a little reading about the atomic silver color paint. The best article that I could find about that color was for the Lexus RC. If the ES atomic silver is painted in the same way as the atomic silver on the RC, I think I would go to as many shops as I could before I gave up on having the repairs done with paintless dent repair because the atomic silver (on the RC and, I assume, on the ES) is actually a 5-stage paint process. If getting a satisfactory match on a 3-stage pearl is a challenge, I can only imagine how difficult it is on a 5-stage process. It would be likely that, to get the hood to match to the fenders and front bumper and the trunk to match to the quarter panels and rear bumper, the shop is going to have to blend the new paint into the adjacent panels. That means that most of the panels on the car are going to have paint work.

I know that 3-stage or, in this case, 5-stage colors are beautiful, and that is what gives them the gorgeous liquid-like look, but that is also what makes even minor paint repairs very difficult (and more expensive). While we don't plan on needing paint work on a vehicle, it is, sometimes, necessary. Just a couple of weeks ago, a guy who wasn't paying attention to what he was doing started to back up without looking, and he smacked into the front of my ES, and that required replacement of the bumper and grille. I took comfort in the fact that my ES has a 2-stage paint (nebula gray pearl), and getting a superb color match between the bumper and the fenders and hood wasn't much of a challenge for a skilled paint technician.

Again, if it were my car and if it was atomic silver, I'd exhaust every option for possibly having the repairs done with PDR before I had the shop replace the hood and trunk panels.

Mike728

Can you post some pic's, so we can see what you're dealing with?

teezee1000

My city (Plano, TX) was hit with a major hail storm last night, luckily I have covered parking, but a lot of my neighbors don't. This morning I saw a lot of hail damaged vehicles. It was terrible. thank god my Atomic Silver ES350 was not damaged.

Mike728

Here's the same thing that just happened to an IS poster (with pic's) ---> LINK

I can't imagine how much PDR work would fix that.

lesz

When the dents are right at spots where there is a sharp bend in the sheet metal, that is when PDR is least likely to be an option. In the pictures in the link, it appears that there are quite a few in spots like that, and I suspect that this is also the case for the OP of this thread.

airgas1998

holy crap..no wonder my touch-up paint is never spot on.

lesz

With two-stage paints, there are fixed paint formulations. For some colors, there might be multiple fixed formulations, depending on when and in what factory the car was built. But, once the paint technician figures out which formulation matches the car's paint, getting a good color match shouldn't be too difficult. But, with paints that are applied with 3 or more stages, there are no fixed formulations for the stages that are used for the metallic/pearl stages, and adding more pigment or less pigment can result in the final finish being darker or lighter than the rest of the car's finish. With these finishes, the paint technician has to do some guesswork and experimentation to get the paint formulations for these stages right and he/she also needs to have a very good eye with regard to minor differences in color.

For a 3-stage paint, like a pearl white, the key stage in getting the formulation right is the second stage (before the clear coat) because that is the one for which there is no fixed formulation. For a 5-stage finish, like with the atomic silver, there are multiple stages without a fixed formulation, and getting it not quite right on any of those stages is going to result in a less than perfect match.

For any touch up, though, regardless of whether it is a 2-stage finish or one with more stages, the key to getting the results as good as possible is to fill the repaired area with the touch-up paint as close as possible to the level of the original finish. If, for example, a stone chip is filled with touch up paint a little higher or a little lower than the original finish, the light will catch the metallic flakes in the touch up differently than it does the metallic flakes in the original finish, and the touch up will stand out as being lighter or darker than the original finish. I've found that the best trick that allows me to get touch ups filled with paint to the same level as the original finish is to use a brush that is much, much finer than the brushes that come with the touch up paint. I usually buy them at artist supply stores. Using those very fine brushes and also using a lot of patience should result in much better touch ups. Also note that, as the touch up paint dries, it does shrink down a bit. So, with some experience, you eventually can know how to judge just how much higher than the original finish you want to start out to allow for that shrinkage, but you need to be careful not to let the touch up paint overlap beyond the repair area and onto the original finish.

SW17LS

Terrible...seriously thats like my worst nightmare. Luckily the Prius that we had that was hail damaged I hated lol.

Its pretty incredible to watch how methodical they are. A lot of those dings can't be accessed from underneath do they use a glue puller to painstakingly pull them from outside. The end result is truly astounding.

Of course on that IS he also needs all new window trim. Yikes.

Dave Mac

Yes, it is incredible to watch a good PDR craftsman work. One time I had put a pretty good dent in a door almost behind the safety beam and perhaps questioning the guys skill I removed all of the interior trim to allow him access. He good naturedly explained that while he appreciated the effort he could only work "in the blind" so to speak and proceeded to do his work the usual way with great results.

Dave Mac

zes

I feel your pain. I ended up behind a dump truck on a highway and his back hatch got loose. A whole bunch of gravel came out and blasted my 300h at about 60mph. Damaged the windscreen, hood, roof mirrors. I HATE dump trucks.

Nelexus88

Another hazard I dread are the sand trucks in winter, especially meeting them at night on 2 lane highways. You cant see the flying sand/gravel/salt coming at you and the speed is basically doubled.

sapd911

cant seem to post pics. Paint was cracked due to the hail damage, thats how bad it was. Was getting painted regardless. Just sucks all the way around. dropped it off today, should be ready in 3 weeks.

sapd911

Mine was about like that!

SW17LS

Yeah if the paint is cracked then it obviously has to be painted.

I'm going to PM you my email. If you want to email me a couple pictures I will post them for you.