Evening, so a basic question, had a bit of damage done to the Focus, which has metallic blue paint, in a car park the other day (unfortunately self inflicted so to speak so it's not an insurance job), resulting in some scuffing to the rear passenger handle and wheel arch, as well as a slight dent to the panel just above the door handle itself. Have done some respraying on a Fiesta in the past albeit years ago now, and a smaller basis, but would it be advisable to get a pro to redo this or just wait for a bit warmer weather on a weekend and do a DIY job on it? If the latter, a good place to order paint matched sprays from would be appreciated! 

Cheers

Look for a local SMART repair company and get a free quote?

Easiest to swap the complete door if you can find another the same colour.  That arch scuff is nasty though.  I don't think you'll match it in well by DIY.  Would expect a few hundred quid for a pro repair as long as it's only paint without any body damage. 

Personally, I'd give it a wipe over and polish to see if it looks less obvious after that.  And then leave it...paint is rarely worth doing on old cars imo.

the devil is in the detail prep wise, you can do it yourself but be prepared to colour mop the rest of the car to mitigate a mismatch

 

I agree with Tom.  If mine I’d just improve it the best I could with tcut etc. I see so many cars where people have tried re spraying a patch and it looks ghastly (shade, texture, dullness) and I think in most cases it looks worse than if a repair attempt hadn’t been tried. 

Thanks for the advice 👍 much appreciated – I am wary of the arch in particular (though getting the dent out above the handle might prove tricky too) and how well it'd match to the rest of it, especially being metallic colour. I hadn't thought about T-Cut actually but it's an interesting suggestion, been years since I've used any but it sounds like it could be the way to go on this one

6 hours ago, Jimpster said:

the devil is in the detail prep wise, you can do it yourself but be prepared to colour mop the rest of the car to mitigate a mismatch

 

 

19 minutes ago, davemc2 said:

Thanks for the advice 👍 much appreciated – I am wary of the arch in particular (though getting the dent out above the handle might prove tricky too) and how well it'd match to the rest of it, especially being metallic colour. I hadn't thought about T-Cut actually but it's an interesting suggestion, been years since I've used any but it sounds like it could be the way to go on this one

If they are surface scuffs then yes T-Cut or cutting compound is an option. If you can feel ridges in the paint when running your finger nail over the surface, you are probably already down to base coat, in which case T-Cut will only remove more paint and make it look worse.

if you can do 99% of the prep yourself then a garage can just tac cloth and flash to bring costs down, or those places like chip away generally average £70 a panel near me

16 minutes ago, Jimpster said:

those places like chip away generally average £70 a panel near me

I'd say that you need to get a quote, and then you can decide. But it will be more than you think - it always is! 

well one quote of £480 to do the job in total, that's including removing the dent (involves removing the door panel obviously plus the door handled back plate to get the dent out fully) and re-painting. Sort of quote that will definitely be one a future in which a few numbers on the lottery drop! 

On seeing your post I went looking for the 'before' photos of a very similar type of scratch I had on the rear passenger side door of my current Mk3 Focus Estate but they seem to have vanished . 
It was June/July 2020 and I used Farécla Regular Grade , a couple of soft rags , elbow grease and water . To finish off to a shine I used a finer grade compound , the name of which I don't have to hand . 

The only evidence of those scratches now is one very minute line in the paint . 

All the best 

On 12/20/2022 at 10:52 PM, davemc2 said:

Evening, so a basic question, had a bit of damage done to the Focus, which has metallic blue paint, in a car park the other day (unfortunately self inflicted so to speak so it's not an insurance job), resulting in some scuffing to the rear passenger handle and wheel arch, as well as a slight dent to the panel just above the door handle itself. Have done some respraying on a Fiesta in the past albeit years ago now, and a smaller basis, but would it be advisable to get a pro to redo this or just wait for a bit warmer weather on a weekend and do a DIY job on it? If the latter, a good place to order paint matched sprays from would be appreciated! 

Cheers

On seeing your post I went looking for the 'Before' and 'After' photos of a very similar type of deep scratch I had on the rear passenger side door of my current Mk3 Focus Estate but they seem to have vanished . 
It was June/July 2020 and I used Farécla Regular Grade , a couple of soft rags , elbow grease and water . To finish off to a shine I used a finer grade compound , the name of which I don't have to hand . 

The only evidence of those scratches now is one very minute line in the paint . 

All the best with it .