[Raikkonen]

Hi Everyone.
I did my break-in (1,200 mile) oil change this past weekend, and apparently did some damage to the underside of my front air dam. This is interesting because this never happened on my ’07 335 e90 sport (is my M-sport even lower???).

It seems that when I drove up on my Rhino Ramps, I did a number on the underside of the bumper. They took the paint off of both sides, and I’m sick to my stomach thinking about it. The car was perfectly aligned, and I didn’t even feel anything when it happened.

Mind you, and I’ve shown this in the perspective shots, this is NOT visible from anywhere other than to someone who is crouching down to see it, but the damage does extend right to the edge of the bumper, and I’d like to address it. Considering the location, I will not go to the expense of taking it to a body shop, but for my mental sanity, I would like to “mask” the area. I’m a completely anal owner when it comes to maintaining a car, and hopefully I can find some sympathy on this forum!!!

So my question is, given the location and size (I’ve included the tip of my finger in one of the photos for perspective), what is my best bet here? Using factory touch-up paint, should I sand, basecoat w/ small brush, clear coat, wetsand, then polish??? Or is this too large of an area to do this?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, and again, given the location and size, I’d like to be able to make these corrections myself, in my garage. If this damage were anywhere else on the vehicle, I would not be posting this, as my car would already be at the body shop being repaired. This just seems to be a unique situation for me, and if I’m ever to sleep soundly again, I must do something to my bumper. Thanks very much everyone, and I appreciate any advice you can give me.

[Raikkonen]

couple more...

[2themax]

Just grab some touch up paint from the dealer and cover it up.

[jopa489]

Generally speaking, that's way to large of an area to use touch up paint. However since it's under the car you might be able to give it a shot. There was a great thread on touch up paint technique not too long ago - do a quick search of this subforum and you should find it.

[NoMods]

didn't you check clearance before driving up on the ramps?

rhino makes the low profile ramps, those work well.

[RipsE92]

No way you are touching that up .... that will take sanding and a respray of the whole bumper. Just let it go ... you can't see that stuff. Also, you will be getting plenty of rock chips on that bumper. In a couple of years just respray the whole bumper.

[dtm@heart]

Your plan to sand, brush paint, then polish, is sound. Do that, its the easiest way to cover it up, and it will look fine if you know what youre doing. You sound like you should be able to handle it. Honestly, this is gonna happen more and more over the life of the car, but I hear you on wanting to get it fixed. I dont even have msport and I scraped my front bumper, and I'm careful about angling over bumps and driveways.

[jpsum]

Just touch it up. You are just going to waste time and effort if you do the sanding and stuff. The underside of the bumper will always get scratches.

[Raikkonen]

Thanks everyone. I should have included more perspective shots as it's really not that large of an area on either side. Being as anal as I am, I'll stick to my original touch-up plan and post some "afters" at the end of the weekend.
What's a couple extra hours of wet sanding and polishing on an unexposed area of your car when you're OCD !!!

PS I'll also be purchasing some low profile ramps in the upcoming weeks.....

[vgame64]

Touch it up to prevent rust. It is a shame to see that on your car; I remember not long ago you posting pictures of the car in pristine shape after you picked it up from the dealer.

[ansch]

Originally Posted by vgame64

Touch it up to prevent rust. It is a shame to see that on your car; I remember not long ago you posting pictures of the car in pristine shape after you picked it up from the dealer.

hmm... plastic doesn't tend to rust...

touch it up if you're OCD as you said.. i wouldn't let it bother you too much. That area of the bumper are prone to scratches from driveway kerbs, ramps, to speed bumps, to those concrete block in car parks.. will do your head in if you try to avoid it .

[Raikkonen]

Originally Posted by ansch

hmm... plastic doesn't tend to rust...

touch it up if you're OCD as you said.. i wouldn't let it bother you too much. That area of the bumper are prone to scratches from driveway kerbs, ramps, to speed bumps, to those concrete block in car parks.. will do your head in if you try to avoid it .

Ha ha, I know! If you look at my last picture, you can see how far away I ALWAYS park from the concrete blocks in parking lots, especially in relation to other cars...

[Raikkonen]

Originally Posted by vgame64

Touch it up to prevent rust. It is a shame to see that on your car; I remember not long ago you posting pictures of the car in pristine shape after you picked it up from the dealer.

Like ansch said, it's only plastic, and yes, my car was pristine until this happened. The only positive is that it is literally invisible to anyone looking, even oncoming traffic. You have to look up while crouching....it still bothers me though.

Anyhoo, my paint should be delivered today, so I'll post some "after" pics by this weekend, something I notice allot of people don't do here after paint chip touch ups.......stay tuned.

[iceberq]

Yes M-Tech aka M-sport bumpers are lower than regular. Now that your car is riding a nice height now, please be careful. No more parking with the bumper on top of parking blocks if you ever do that.

[chumley]

I would never suggest you lower your very high standards but get used to it! Your car will never look as good as the day you bought it. No matter how careful you are, stuff like this always happens. Touch it up and be glad you can see it.

[vgame64]

Originally Posted by ansch

hmm... plastic doesn't tend to rust...

touch it up if you're OCD as you said.. i wouldn't let it bother you too much. That area of the bumper are prone to scratches from driveway kerbs, ramps, to speed bumps, to those concrete block in car parks.. will do your head in if you try to avoid it .

Good point, I assumed it was on a metal body part without reading thoroughly.

If no one can notice it, forget about it. A half way decent touch up job would even mask the damage up close. Over time more scratches will form under the front bumper from rocks, etc so just let it go and enjoy the car!

[mds82]

Seriously??? that is soo small and under the car.


wait till you drive a few thousand miles and the rest of the front will look like that,, lol..

Eventually it will happen, its a fact we need to live with.

[txusa03]

Originally Posted by chumley

I would never suggest you lower your very high standards but get used to it! Your car will never look as good as the day you bought it. No matter how careful you are, stuff like this always happens. Touch it up and be glad you can see it.

+1 (except change the can to can't)

Very nice car OP, try to relax and enjoy the driving experience more.

[Raikkonen]

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=95683

Scroll down a few posts to see my pictures. Ever since I did this to my last 335 (which cost me mucho dinero to repair at the BMW bodyshop) I've parked miles away from parking blocks. Those scratches were "slightly visible" from the front of the car, but you had to look for them. As I said, I'm anal.

I guess I can accept damage from day-to-day driving, it's just when it's self-inflicted, and you know that if you had been more careful you could have avoided it in the first place, like when pulling into a parking spot or putting your damn car on Rhino Ramps!

Thanks for the reassurance my peeps.....

[ansch]

don't worry.. deep down we all get heart ache if we did something like that. I recently nicked my 18" M wheels on a kerb and kicked myself for half a day for not being careful. But at the end of the day, just remember that it's all materials and all can be fixed.

[328i]

Sorry to hear about your accident, but I would actually just recommend touching it up and not sanding it. Keep in mind that paint is thin on edges, and you can end up doing more damage if you sand the edges. If you do plan to sand it, stay away from the edges of the bumper as it will be very easy to go through the clear and can lead to the paint failing in that spot as it will have no uv protection.

I have been there and mine was much worse, but then I realized it's only the underside and these things happen with steep entrances.

You can use your ramps just fine though, what you need to get is a 2x6 or a 2x8 and cut it into two pieces. Then drive onto those first and place the ramps in front of them, and that should give you enough clearance.

[Luongo]

First scratch or ding always hurts the most.
I think you'll get over that within a few weeks.
I say just use touch-up paint and forget about it.
Nobody will notice it since it is at the bottom of the bumper.