Ford Fiesta - Deep car scrape DIY repair

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Sat 23 May 2020 14:09
Ford Fiesta - Deep car scrape DIY repair - OceanMan

Hey all,

Forgive the thread on such a generic topic but I've looked for advice online and can only find tips on repairing scratches, not a deep gash / scrape like this. I hit a garden wall over a month ago and haven't had it looked at because I wouldn't be able to afford a repair. Would this be repairable as a DIY, or is there anything I can do to prevent rust etc until I have the money to get it professionally repaired?

ibb.co/sjS1zG9

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Sun 24 May 2020 13:19
Ford Fiesta - Deep car scrape DIY repair - edlithgow

Hey all,

Forgive the thread on such a generic topic but I've looked for advice online and can only find tips on repairing scratches, not a deep gash / scrape like this. I hit a garden wall over a month ago and haven't had it looked at because I wouldn't be able to afford a repair. Would this be repairable as a DIY, or is there anything I can do to prevent rust etc until I have the money to get it professionally repaired?

ibb.co/sjS1zG9

Cosmetic repair is fiddly and time consuming, but preventing a scratch rusting is easy, cheap and takes very little time.

I would crumple some aluminium foil to fit the scratch, dip it in a little vegetable oil (linseed, sunflower, or Canola in descending order of preference. NOT soybean oil.) and rub the scratch with the aluminium. It forms a grey "paint"with the oil, which sets slowly.

Unfortunately it attracts dust and may be partly washed off by heavy rain, requiring re-treatment. You MIGHT be able to avoid this by covering it with parcel tape, but I've never done that.

I've also never overpainted this treatment and you might have to sand it off before a cosmetic repair, though I'd probably spot-test it and decide then.

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Mon 25 May 2020 09:09
Ford Fiesta - Deep car scrape DIY repair - paul 1963

You won't be able to achieve anything like a decent repair at home with out a lot of kit, I suspect the whole panel will need painting, for now until you can get it professionally sorted I would just get a touch up paint pen and use that, it'll look horrible but it'll keep the weather out.

No offence but I wouldn't use Eds suggestion, you won't get thanked when it comes to getting it properly repaired.

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Mon 25 May 2020 13:50
Ford Fiesta - Deep car scrape DIY repair - catsdad

I had a bad sill gash last year. I had to wait a couple of weeks for the body shop to repair It and he suggested smearing the bare metal with Vaseline to keep the rain out.

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Thu 28 May 2020 03:49
Ford Fiesta - Deep car scrape DIY repair - edlithgow

You won't be able to achieve anything like a decent repair at home with out a lot of kit, I suspect the whole panel will need painting, for now until you can get it professionally sorted I would just get a touch up paint pen and use that, it'll look horrible but it'll keep the weather out.

No offence but I wouldn't use Eds suggestion, you won't get thanked when it comes to getting it properly repaired.

Fair enough. As I hope I made clear, this is absolutely NOT a cosmetic repair,(which I've never had any interest in, since I've never intended selling any of my cars) just an extremely cost-and-effort-effective and durable means of rust prevention.

If you want something more reliably reversible, I'd suggest combining the vaseline idea with abrasion with aluminium. Its likely the scar has already rusted so the aluminium (used initially dry) will remove that and then, in combination with the vaseline, should help inhibit further rusting.

The vaseline won't polymerise and should be removable fairly easily with solvent (white spirit, brake cleaner, petrol. etc.) and paper towels/rags,.

It will also probably attract dust, but it shouldn't be washed off by the feeble sort of rain you get in the UK.

Edited by edlithgow on 28/05/2020 at 04:01

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Fri 29 May 2020 03:03
Ford Fiesta - Deep car scrape DIY repair - edlithgow

If you wanted more stable/longer term rust protection that was still reliably reversible, I'd suggest combining the aluminium with the type of bituminous paint sold for cast-iron drain pipes, though that's probably less available than vaseline and you would probably have to buy a lot more of it than you are likely to need.

The bituminous paint dries matt-black (so of course NOT a cosmetic repair either) but remains soluable, so it should be removable fairly easily with solvent (white spirit, brake cleaner, petrol. etc.) and paper towels/rags,

Its like a thinner version of bituminous under seal, which would also probably do at a pinch, but the underseal often has thickners in it which tend to give a lumpier finish and would probably make it harder to remove.

Edited by edlithgow on 29/05/2020 at 03:58

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