Repair Ding or Live With It

[bigredd]

I am new to the forum and recently purchased an 86 944 na that is in almost showroom condition inside and out, except for a few rock chips on the front. It went 19 years without a a single ding and foolish me made a noticeable one on the right front fender at the crease while changing the hood shocks the first day.

The bra covers up the ding but I have a notion to repair it if not too expensive. Question is would it be better to repair the ding and repaint the fender/front end, replace the fender with another already painted one or just live with the ding? The local Porsche shop said it would cost about $1200 to repair and paint the fender and the paint would not be as good as the original.

Anyone have any suggestions?

[bryanthompson]

talk to local body shops, the P-car shop sounds waaaaaaay out of line for a fender repair/paint. The body guy I go to did my whole front end for less than half of that.

[Wolf1]

Originally posted by bigredd


The bra covers up the ding

The local Porsche shop said it would cost about $1200 to repair and paint the fender and the paint would not be as good as the original.

Anyone have any suggestions?

I would leave it alone.
There is a good chance that the new paint will not exactly match the original, and that would be even more noticeable than a ding that is concealed by the bra.

[Dave L]

if it just a dent leave it alone. If it has broken the paint you may need to touch it up so it doesnt promote rust. $1200 seems high, find a few other shops and get estimates.

[bigredd]

Yes, there is a crack in the paint. Guess I need to touch it up whether I pursue repairing. Thanks for the response.

[mbwilser]

It may be worthwhile to talk to a paintless dent repair guy. They basically message the dent out from the inside w/ a myriad of funky tools. Not to expensive either, maybe 100 or 150. As far as the crack in the paint, I'm not convinced that will be so troublesome as these cars are galvanized.
MW

[Blackfoot]

$1200 is because it's a Porsche. The same dent on a Chevy is $250. Trouble is, many Porsche owners are silly enough to pay for the overpriced repair, that's why they ask you that with a straight face.

If it were me and the dent was irritating enough, I'd probably find an honest, non price gouging shop who can massage out the dent and do a color blend on the fender for an honest price.

____________________
Cars

[mbwilser]

On the other hand, maybe live w/ it for a while, if the bra covers it and you rarely go bra-less, what a wonderful thing, but I guess that's off topic. Maybe someday not too far off you will happen upon another ding and you can have some reliable, honest hard working guy fix both of them at the non p-car price. Don't sweat it to much. As Ferry said, "meant to be driven not polished"
Good luck whatever you choose.
MW

[Dantilla]

Another vote for paintless dent repair.

Having a bra over cracked paint is asking for trouble down the road. You're trapping crud next to the damaged paint, and not letting moisture out.

[bigredd]

Hey Guys,

Talked with a paintless dend repair fellow today and he said the paintless procedure will only make a crack in the paint worse. Looks like I'm going to try and seal the crack and live with it for a while. Will try and get an estimate direct from a body shop.

[TSNAPCRACKLEPOP]

match the crease on the other side?

[Trevor]

Well, since you haven't been driving it very long maybe you should wait awhile, I would hate to see you get it fixed and get a ding somewhere else. You would feel sick.