It honestly blows my mind how many people think they can fix their accident damage/rusted out cars to a decent standard at home, using rattle cans and some body filler.

It takes years of experience, specialist equipment, various consumables, and planning the repair out to be able to do this properly.

I will never knock anyone for trying, this post is not about that. There are repairs you can do at home, and there are those you cannot.

This post is about those, with damage down the entire side of a car with 3 stage pearl paint. You've got no chance.

Or those with rust holes through the sills, into the safety cell. Please don't even try.

When we tell you, you need to take something to the professionals or send it to the scrap yard. We mean it.

Hi,

Recently purchased this ‘07 E93 BMW in sapphire black and there was a small-ish patch of what I think is clearcoat peel(?) at the side of the bonnet, As well as some significant stone chips on the front of the bonnet.

Does anyone have any help as to how I could correct these at home?

New to paint DIY so any help or advice would be greatly appreciated :)

Many thanks.

I recently bought a 2009 Toyota Avensis privately with 63k miles on the clock. I took it to my mechanic for some work and he was concerned by the rust underneath. He said it would likely fail its next MOT and require work based on what he saw. However, he said the car is still roadworthy until then.

I am thinking of either DIY scraping the old flaking bitumen and spraying with Lanoguard.

Alternatively, I'm considering cutting my losses and moving the car on, possibly to a dealer intermediary like Carwow in the UK.

Based on the video, can anyone advise on how bad it looks and whether it's worth keeping?

I have a 2003 Honda S2000 that is Silverstone Metallic (darker silver) and i want to repaint it this New Imola Orange Pearl. It is a tri stage or whatever paint with pearl. I have done a ton of diy jobs including a lot of car work but have never done car painting. I have some experience with painting with spray gun from when i was a welder but not much. What are the chances i completely fuck this up how hard is it to get a color like this right. Is there a chance i just mess up a few panels and need to redo just certain panels or is it a good chance it just looks like shit. Im doing extensive research and have a temp controlled garage i can work in when i need to spray.

Is my car done for or can I still get a year or 2 out of it? I’ve had it for 1.5 years and put a lot into it to get the suspension and brakes done and among other parts.

I had a tire contact with another car. I don’t really want to run it through insurance.
I have been working on cars for about 4 years as a hobby, but it’s the first time I have to do a VERY good job since it is my most new car. I think I have all the equipments I need. What is the process to getting it like new again?
BMW F20 2019

The SofTex leather on the driver’s side seat is cracking/peeling in my 2019 4Runner ORP. Besides throwing on some seat covers, I’m curious on what my options are to potentially fix this?

Live in Alberta Canada, lots of snow half the year…

2016 196,000kms

What can do to stop this from spreading over time?

Frame will be sanded and then sprayed with film fluid.

3m cavity spray is an option, any experience?

Got the back of a long trailer in a gas station parking lot.

I was trying to re paint the bed on my truck to make it a little bit presentable. But in the process of cleaning with acetone I realised that the paint the owner before me used melts with acetone just enough to not come off easily and bubbles up. So I'm not wasting my time trying to grind it all off or clean it all off woth the acetone. Do I just take it to a shop even though I dont have shop money?

It's a GMT800 btw

2026 sienna black.

2024 4 series. No airbags. My most favorite car. What do you think Question ?!’ Can I keeep

photos album

car is a bmw 330i, paint is portimao blue

1st photo = rocker panel which is made of plastic

2nd photo = on door panel

3rd photo = on the roof

4th photo = hood near the grille

do they all require primer first? I am thinking of applying primer > paint > clear coat

in that order

apparently i'm too stupid to park properly, hit a pillar in a car park.

I don't really care what it looks like (it's a 15 year old car that just gets me from A to B), I just want to protect the places where there's bare metal now from rust.

went to a guy who does crash repairs who wouldn't give me a quot e but said it's a good bit of work and he'd have to repaint the whole thing.
another guy I went to after that said a €20 touch up kit will be enough to protect it from rust, no need for sanding or applying primer.

does that sound sensible?

My sibling took my car for a drive. Scratched it somehow. Sorry this photo was taken at night.

So this morning, I had the privilege of discovering someone had done a little hit and run on my car. I normally park in the street with the passenger right facing side out. As you can see, it's pretty sizeable scratches from back tire to front, in addition to a huge dent above the front right tire. The back end of my car is untouched.

It still drives fine and I'm in the process of gathering neighbor Ring cam footage, but I do wonder how this happened? Was it someone backing into it, or someone passing by too close? Probably a sedan and not a truck, right? I just want to know what types of vehicles to look out for on video.

This is the first time this has happened to me so pretty frustrating. Thanks!

Just backed it into my porch trying to move it half asleep before the electrician arrived.

Can this be touched up? Doesn't have to be perfect and don't want to spend 100s on a respray. What would be the best way to make it not super unnoticeable?

I backed up into something during the summer of 2025. These are pictures of the damage on my rear bumper a year later (summer 2026). I’m worried that the middle piece pictured might fall/chip off.

I asked a few of my friends who know quite a bit about cars, but the best thing they could come up with is to use epoxy to “laminate” it and prevent further damage.

TLDR: What’s the best DIY solution (and a step-by-step if possible) to prevent small pieces from falling off?

Thanks in advance.

Large tree fell on my car during storm last night. How screwed am i?

Roof appears to be straight, A pillar has dents but inside appears to be straight so not structural??

Im not sure here but want some advice.

I dont have comprehensive on it so this will be an out of pocket cost. FML