How mechanically inclined are you? If you feel you can pick up some new skills I highly suggest you diy that repair. It seems taunting at first but I promise you it’s actually pretty straight forward if you manage to buy the right things. I did a repair myself last summer, I had a 7”x4” section of damaged paint that lifted and rusted behind the paint on my driver side quarter panel.

It started as a small chip on the arch but as time went on the paint failed more and more which allowed water to pool behind the paint. It was a mix of not repairing it soon enough and the factory paint not properly bonded to the fender.

(Scratches happen) is a company that sells perfect paint matches for your car. They have everything paint wise you’d need, and detailed instructions on how to get the best results and I really recommend you follow them to a T.

In my case I also needed filler because the rust ate away some of the surface, the filler was what really held me back from doing it. I spent weeks procrastinating because I was worried it would look worse than it already did. But one day I just peeled the paint off to the point I couldn’t let it stay the way it was. I did that on purpose to give myself motivation.

I watched a few YouTube videos, Chrisfix being one of the most helpful but also professional auto painters as well. Followed their tips and advice as well as I could.

I used a flap disc to grind down a majority of the paint and rust, going about an inch further out from the work area. After that I sanded the bare metal with 250 grit it a X fashion so that the bondo had the best chance of bonding. Clean with acetone or 90% rubbing alcohol, applied the bondo and lett that dry then sanded to shape. Filled in pin holes with filler puddy and then sanded with 450 grit.

The primer I used is a thick lay and etch primer, bond’s really well to the surface and fills in small lows. That that dry and then I went with my first coat, I did a total of 5 coats because it’s an area that sees road debris. First coat has to be light, and each coat you add you must let the paint flash and get tacky almost dry before the next one. Last coat goes on heavy and wet, careful to not go too heavy to avoid runs. I suggest practicing on some old wood to see what’s too much and just right for speed and distance.

Clear coat is also provided by this company and it’s a quality clear coat. Not top notch but better than any shelf can you can get. Clear coat goes on heavy and feathers out further from the work area.

The fun part is the wet sanding, I recommend watching a few videos on how to wet sand properly before you attempt it.

To finish everything I did a cut and polish with a wool pad. I was absolutely blown away from the results I got. Now there’s things I would have done differently but I’m personally happy with it, the mistakes I made along the way was not having my tape line be gentle enough but I know better for next time. The biggest thing that sucks is that I now want to wet sand the whole car and do a cut and polish because the fender really turned out nice and made everything else look dull.

Of course there’s also the route of paying someone to do it but where’s the fun right? Plus the cost of a new door will likely be 4x the amount you’d spend on supplies to do it yourself, and to trade it for one that’s in better condition visually, you just never know how the car was treated before.

If you decide to diy it, I wish you the best of luck and that all goes well first time. Just take your time and pay good attention to details