ken wrote:

Simon

I use SMART repair guys all the time however, for info Silver Waterbased paint makes it harder than the old types given I run a fleet of cars of about 1200 units and I'm a trained paint tech I might just be right on this one.

Smart repairs look great when they are first completed (as you said if you find a good guy not a two week I've done the course one) however the repair will bloom over time so if you are looking for longevity then a proper repair is the only way. A large area such as a bumper needs a clean enviroment not a tent and heat ray.

If you know of such a company that can match silver get them to contact me as if I can save on a full paint I will however each company that has stated they can will not warrant their repairs and some have been big names.

Smart repairs are great for Trims & CMR repairs but anything that requires more than a TiF&P should at the moment be completed properly

Ken, as i'm new to this forum and Range Rover ownership i dont want to come across as an arse but wanted to add balance to this thread.I replied mainly because of your comments that "smart repairs on silver just look " and "dont try to blend silver it just wont work bite the bullet and do it properly".I dont run a fleet of cars of about 1200 units, but I have painted cars for the last 11 years so when I said that painting silver cars in modern waterbased paint is no more difficult than most colours it was based on doing repairs on silver cars on a daily basis.The damage described was a dent in the plastic front bumper above the fog light.That repair potentially, obviously with out me seeing the initial damage,can be limited to about the size of a piece of A4 paper,worst case a 1/2 bumper.The upshot of that is that a lot of the original paint is left in place and keeps more of the vehicle original.I'm not doubting your personal experience one bit ken,a lot of painting is very substandard, whether it be smart or bodyshop but to dismiss smart repairs because in your view it cant be done i felt was wrong.My parents 09 toyota is in the bodyshop at the moment being done "properly" on the insurance after a very minor bump and its an absolute abortion of a job, been rejected twice and are currently on a third attempt for things including shocking colour match, masking tape lines in the door shuts, overspray ect.The secret to having any paint repairs done is to use someone that comes highly recomended, regardless of whether they are smart or bodyshop.A good quality smart repairer should also offer a warrenty of at least two years on a retail job aswell. Cheers, simon.

Simon

I have not dismissed Smart repairs if you read above I really like them it saves me a packet however I will stand by Silver is not a colour to play with if you want it to look right

Welcome to FullFat playing with paint for only 11 years double it and you will be near me

Yep spot on the trick is find a good guy

When I bought my Range Rover Sport in Silver from new back in 2005 some idiot dented my bonnet. It had to go to the bodyshop for repairs. They said they had to respray the entire bonnet so that it looked ok, rather than patch it, so, I concur with Ken. Discovery 4 HSE
1998 110 TUM HS FFR Hard Top XD WOLF
1982 Series 3 Hard Top

*Gone:L462 D5 HSE LUX, L663 Defender 110 HSE, Discovery 3 HSE, 2014MY Range Rover Sport 5.0 Supercharged AB Dynamic; L405 Exec Vogue SE 4.4, 5.0 Supercharged Autobiography, Defender TDCi XS CSW, Defender TD5 HT, Vogue SE TDV8, Vogue TD6, RRSport SC 4.2V8, Classic 3.9 Vogue Auto, Land Rover Series 3 SWB

I had a Silver car afew years back that had a "Chips Away" smart repair on a door and it looked awful. Never again on Silver was my thoughts then!!!!

My current FFRR is silver and if i needed any paintwork on big areas i would get it resprayed rather than smart repair. If anyone had a Smart repair guy who was fantastic then maybe i would give them another go.

ken wrote:

Simon

I have not dismissed Smart repairs if you read above I really like them it saves me a packet however I will stand by Silver is not a colour to play with if you want it to look right

Welcome to FullFat playing with paint for only 11 years double it and you will be near me

Yep spot on the trick is find a good guy

Ken, I never felt you had dismissed smart repairs, but based on me carrying out repairs to silver cars on a daily basis disagreed with your view that noddys bumper would look and couldn't be blended.Had we been talking about damage to big flat door panels/sides of cars i would have agreed that these are probably best undertaken at a bodyshop and not the roadside.I'm fortunate that I operate from a dedicated unit and not from a mobile van, although I have done in the past, which allows me to tackle much larger repairs.As you will know smart repairers/ painters have been forced to switch to waterbased paints for a couple of years now the upshot of which is that a smart repair may well have been carried out with the same basecoat and clearcoat that the bodyshop would have used.the days of thin single pack lacquers that can go dull or chip badly are long gone for most.Maybe I have just been fortunate that the mixing scheme I use makes painting silver, especially in easy areas like bumpers, much easier and the schemes you have seen/used are the opposite, but as you have I can only speak as I find.

Shame you are based in Cov then