Auto Body Paint Advice

My Cavalry Blue truck is a month old now. Upon the second wash a couple weeks back I found two dents on the hood, front, about .5 inch from the upper grill piece. They are easily missed but then easily seen at the right angle. Truck being new, they bug the hell out of me. If the truck was two years old, I might not care. I also want to replace my grille with the color match 2018+ TRD Pro Grille. Toyota doesn't sell this particular grille in Cavalry Blue, but do sell the upper portion in blue.

Went to two shops to get an estimate on repair and an estimate on color matching the grill.

Shop #1:

Will use the weld on pop thing to pull the dents and work the metal back. Repaint and clear entire hood. $667.

Asked how much it would be to paint the bottom grille if I brought them in a painted Grille. "Why wouldn't you just paint the one you have here". Well I don't want this grille but, wait, you paint Chrome? "Yes, we sand it, primer etch it, paint it". Okay, so you could do that to the top piece then? "Yes".

$350 to paint the TRD Grille I bring in, which would be painted in some other color, and paint my chrome top piece.

Shop #2:

Will use the weld on pop thing to pull the dents and work the metal back. Will blend in the paint over the area then clear the entire hood. $650

I asked why wouldn't you paint the entire hood like shop #1. "Well if the paint doesn't match exactly, then you are going to notice it where the hood meets the fenders, especially up near the top where the hood slopes down. Toyota often has many sub codes of the paint and it is hard to get an exact match. If we blend in the repair to the existing, then you won't notice it at all".

Okay, do you paint chrome like shop #2? "We have before but we don't any longer as we've found the primer doesn't stay stuck over time". About $200 to paint the lower grille if I brought a painted one in, I didn't ask about the top.

Summary:

I am leaning hard towards shop #2 as I've read enough about sanding / etching primer / chrome to believe that isn't a good idea. The point about blending the repair also seems to make more sense but this is something I have no experience with.

So thinking of shop two, fix hood, bring in a painted grille for them to paint blue and also bring in a non blue upper piece and have them spray it blue as well instead of buying the pre-painted blue upper. Doing it this way, I am ensured that the two grill pieces will match exactly in shade.

Thoughts?

 

Is the paint on the dents also damaged?? May something a paintless dent repair facility could fix for a lot cheaper and maintain the factory paint

 

The paint is fine but both places told me paintless wasn't an option. The dents are shallow and right at the edge, where the supports are underneath. I would surely go that route if it was feasible though.

 

I'd reach out to a paintless dent shop before spraying. Some shops will be honest but others are just looking for that next sucker. Unless you truly know these shops it doesn't hurt to call a paintless dent guy. If your in L.A county I have a guy that does great work.

 

I would at least get a conformation from a pdr before. The paint shops might just want your business (whoops beat me to it lol)

 

Just had a mobile dent guy stop buy and he said it can't be removed, too close to the edge and no way to get behind it. He also said that I probably caused the dents by pressing too hard when I shut the hood! They weren't there with the first wash and they were on the second and no one has had my truck so it makes sense other than how thin that metal must be.

 

So Toyota sells the Cavalry hood bulge but not a Cavalry grill?....or just not a Pro grill in that color?

Edit...I see now...only Pro in black, grey, white, and green. No love for your Calvary. Kind of like not being able to get door handles for a Barcelona red.

 

Update: I started to wonder if there was an open space behind the hood bulge. Took the bulge off and discovered, yes, there is a huge opening. I took the back of a spoon and I rubbed the dents out from below 95%. If you didn't know they weren't there before, I don't think you would be able to find them now. From now on, I only close the hood by grabbing the bulge, no more fingers on the hood. Also means, any time the truck goes for service, I have to make sure the service writers put down no dents on hood so if it comes back with some..

 

Great find. Saved a lot of time/money. Need to let the pdr guy know

 

I did and he said, "Yeah, I know the grill comes off and I could get in there. I didn't mention it because I don't think I could get them out 100% and I don't like to do anything half way".

I get it, but I would have paid him right there to do his magic and he surely would have done better than I would and I would have gladly paid him his fee.

 

I have had some serious dents removed before and the tech told me upfront "I can probably only get it maybe 80-90 percent out". Surprised he did not tell you something similar.

 

He didn't tell me that until I called back and told him about the opening, after he had already stopped by and looked at it. He said he would come back tomorrow and in the meanwhile, I took a spoon to it and am happy with how it came out.