New S3 Owner - Scratch repair

Dls2018

Dls2018

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So, I’ve had my 18 plate S3 Black Edition in Navara Blue for less than a week, and it’s already been keyed in several places!

Also someone has chipped away at my passenger side wing mirror cap with what looks like keys as well.

Obviously I’ll probably have to replace the wing mirror cap as it’s chipped rather than scratched but can anyone recommend any scratch removing products for the paint?

Many thanks in advance .

Dom
 
Get front/rear dash cams that can record in parking mode.
 
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Meguiars ScratchX is what I use for minor scratches. (if I'm not going full assault with the DA)
 
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I've also had good results on light scratches with Meguiars ultimate compound.
 
Thanks for the comments guys, any recommendations for dash cams for Front/Rear?

I thought it would have survived at least a month before getting marks from jealous ****’s!
 
Unfortunately, if it is keyed and your finger nail catches in the scratches, it will have to be sanded and painted by a professional. Touch up paint will look even worse than the scratches. That is one of my worst fears, a keyed car paint finish by a low life idiot
 
Dls2018 said:
Thanks for the comments guys, any recommendations for dash cams for Front/Rear?

I thought it would have survived at least a month before getting marks from jealous ****’s!
Click to expand...

I have the Audi UTR front/rear. This is criticised by some as being overpriced and of being superseded by more capable dash cams. It does have the advantage that Audi will fit it for you (so if they mess anything up they will have to fix it). It has a parking mode that uses radar and vibration. If the radar (or vibration sensor) detects movement it records a video clip. It also stops parking mode if it detects the car battery voltage falling too low and has specific wiring looms for different Audi models. It comes with an 8gb micro sd card which is rather small but it can accept up to 64gb cards (it is fussy exactly which ones). It's a neat install and it doesn't interfere with DAB radio reception as some cameras do. The phone app is functional if a bit clunky and unexciting. You could DIY install if you are confident removing trim and routing round airbags (you can buy just the front camera or both front and rear). You also need to take the glove box out to properly access the fuse box. I do have the installation manual if you PM me.
 
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Dls2018 said:
So, I’ve had my 18 plate S3 Black Edition in Navara Blue for less than a week, and it’s already been keyed in several places!

Also someone has chipped away at my passenger side wing mirror cap with what looks like keys as well.

Obviously I’ll probably have to replace the wing mirror cap as it’s chipped rather than scratched but can anyone recommend any scratch removing products for the paint?

Many thanks in advance .

Dom
Click to expand...

I'd have thought you'd be able to get the wing mirror cap sorted sorted so long as it's not completely broken, any body shop should be able to repair it.
 
Wow you've got some jerks living around you! I bought a car which has been keyed on one door whilst previous owner had it so will keep an eye on this post. Luckily it's my colleague so she agreed to pay for bodywork repairs so I will be taking it in to a professional at some point in the future.

I think my colleague was quoted around £300 for repairing the keying and some other repairs (including scratch to sideskirt)

Used Meguiar's alloy cleaner before but never tried the bodywork stuff
 
As mentioned earlier if you can feel the scratch with your fingernail then I’m afraid it’s a respray job
Autoglym SRP if good for removing mild keying
 
If the scratch isn't catching your finger nail then I'd be recommending getting hold of a DA polisher. Then get an compound like Scholl Concepts S3 Gold , has quite a decent cut to it . Use that with hex logic orange polishing pads.

With enough effort you'll be mightily surprised what that combination can achieve .

Feel your pain my friend, my A3 2.0 s-line was hit the other day . Culprit just ******** off and I've had incidents before that . Some people .....

Sent from my Nokia 8 using Tapatalk
 
Dis2018,

You don’t say how deep the scratches are. If they are only in the lacquer coat you should be able to polish them out. If they are through to the paint layers you need a professional paint repair. If you’re not sure, an easy way to tell is to spray some soapy water on the scratches. If they temporarily disappear they're only in the lacquer.
 
Dls2018 said:
So, I’ve had my 18 plate S3 Black Edition in Navara Blue for less than a week, and it’s already been keyed in several places!

Also someone has chipped away at my passenger side wing mirror cap with what looks like keys as well.

Obviously I’ll probably have to replace the wing mirror cap as it’s chipped rather than scratched but can anyone recommend any scratch removing products for the paint?

Many thanks in advance .

Dom
Click to expand...

All depends on how deep the scratches are. My 2015 S3 Saloon got keyed 4 times over a few weeks. Car at the times was 9 months old.

Transpired that some lass took offence to me parking in `her` spot on some side road when I was visiting my GF. Not resident parking. Not outside her house. No. Some side road, streets away from where she actually lived. Bit stupid to claim it was `her` spot, but hay-ho, some people are like that. Fair enough. If that's the case, leave a piece of paper on my windscreen asking me not to park there. I'd have thought she was being silly, but would have parked elsewhere for the sake of not getting involved in stupid parking disputes. But no, she had to key my car. And they were proper deep cuts into the bodywork.

Took the car to Audi bodyshop for an assessment, and as I thought, they were too deep to correct. Had to have one side of the car totally resprayed (as she'd keyed all 4 panels)

Luckily as Lookers group had just taken over that dealers franchise, they were offering discounts. £1000 instead of £1500. £1000 was roughly what I'd been quoted by independents, so went with Audi. Thinking was, come trade-in if they complained about the standard of repair, it was an Audi approved repair, so couldn't start knocking money off.
 
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You can happlily try my DA if you are any where near Stoke on Trent
 
If it’s a light scratch try some filler polished. Been using ag radiant wax and just reapply every odd month.
Radiant wax is like super resin but less dust and more waxy, glossy finish.
 
wab172uk said:
All depends on how deep the scratches are. My 2015 S3 Saloon got keyed 4 times over a few weeks. Car at the times was 9 months old.

Transpired that some lass took offence to me parking in `her` spot on some side road when I was visiting my GF. Not resident parking. Not outside her house. No. Some side road, streets away from where she actually lived. Bit stupid to claim it was `her` spot, but hay-ho, some people are like that. Fair enough. If that's the case, leave a piece of paper on my windscreen asking me not to park there. I'd have thought she was being silly, but would have parked elsewhere for the sake of not getting involved in stupid parking disputes. But no, she had to key my car. And they were proper deep cuts into the bodywork.

Took the car to Audi bodyshop for an assessment, and as I thought, they were too deep to correct. Had to have one side of the car totally resprayed (as she'd keyed all 4 panels)

Luckily as Lookers group had just taken over that dealers franchise, they were offering discounts. £1000 instead of £1500. £1000 was roughly what I'd been quoted by independents, so went with Audi. Thinking was, come trade-in if they complained about the standard of repair, it was an Audi approved repair, so couldn't start knocking money off.
Click to expand...

I'm going to require some details on this. How did you catch her? Did you not get the police involved?
If she'd done that to my car, I would've put some TNT under her drivers seat
 
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Wab172uk. Like Jimbo10, I think this is appalling. I'm amazed that you took £1000 worth of damage so philosophically. A clear case of malicious criminal damage. I would have had the police involved straightaway. particularly if you knew who the guilty party was. Even if they didn't prosecute, some police action might have given her a big enough scare to stop her doing it again.
 
Just wanted to say I really appreciate all your replies and own experiences, I wasn't expecting so much response!

I bought some meguiars scratch x at the weekend and had a go at the scratches with a microfibre cloth, seems to have darkened them but not got completely rid of them - didn't have a huge amount of time to go over them.

Going to look closeer at them over lunch break today so will upload some photos.

Many thanks everyone, will update you shortly.
 
The bodywork scratch looks much better, and I'm sure the remaining scratch could be removed using a polishing machine.

However, the wing mirror damage looks like it's been caused by scraping it against a wall or similar, and I think a replacement cover will be required.

Good luck!
 
Detailer should be able to take the scratch out of the body if there’s enough paint left. Other option is those lacquer pens, fill it up and buff back down.
Wing mirror is a new cap. Piano black trim isn’t paint as far as I know so you won’t be able to get that finish by painting it.
 
Jimbo10 said:
I'm going to require some details on this. How did you catch her? Did you not get the police involved?
If she'd done that to my car, I would've put some TNT under her drivers seat
Click to expand...

Never caught her doing it. If I had I'd have kicked in every panel on her DS3.

Put 2 & 2 together as the damage only happened when I parked in that spot. When I didn't, her car was always parked there. New years day I got to my car, and found a huge deep cut into the front wing. Just as I was sat in the car deciding what to do, I saw the lass going to her car.

Walked over and asked her if she knew anything about it. With a slight smirk on her face she said shed never do that. All her answers were dead-pan answers. If you were accused of something you hadn't done, you'd be out of the car defending yourself. She wasn't. all the time smirking, but did say she didn't want me parking there, as that was her spot. When I said all she had to do was leave a note, she did look stumped (as in `oh yeah, never thought of that`)

Got the police involved, but it was her word against mine. Nothing else could be done. What else can you do? Can't bring myself to go out and damage someone else's car. Not without witnessing them damaging mine.

It's always a different situation when it's a female. It `she` had been a `he`, `he` would have been dragged out of his car. Yet another example of females getting always with thing because of their gender.

One of life's tests I suppose? You just hope that someday Karma gives her a kick in the face.
 
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