Service
Car Painting & Scratch Repair in Yonkers, NY
Fast Life Collisions paints cars and repairs scratches and scuffs in Yonkers: scratches and scuffs, peeling clear coat, repaired panels after a collision, and rust spots caught early. A good paint repair matches the color you see, the shine, and the texture of the factory finish.
What car paint is made of
Factory paint is a system of layers. Bare steel is coated with a corrosion-resistant layer, then primer, then the colored basecoat, then a clear coat that gives the shine and takes the sun and weather. A scratch is judged by how many of those layers it went through.
- Clear coat only: the scratch is pale, and disappears when wet. It can often be polished out.
- Into the color: the scratch shows a different shade. It needs paint.
- Down to primer or metal: gray, white or shiny metal shows. It needs paint soon, before rust starts at the bare spot.
How to remove scuffs from a car
Most scuffs are one of two things. Paint transfer, color from another car, a pole or a garage wall sitting on top of your paint, often comes off with a polishing compound and patience, and leaves your paint underneath unharmed. A scuff into the paint has worn away clear coat or color; a light one can be polished, a deeper one needs the area refinished. Test a small spot first, and stop if you see your car's color on the cloth.
Do
- Wash the area first so grit doesn't scratch it further.
- Try a fine polish on paint transfer before anything stronger.
- Check the scuff wet: if it disappears, it's probably only in the clear coat.
Don’t
- Use sandpaper, magic erasers or household abrasives on paint.
- Rub hard in one spot; it burns through the clear coat.
- Ignore a scuff that shows bare plastic or metal.
How color matching works
Every car carries a paint code, but the same code can come out of the factory in slightly different shades, and paint changes with years of sun. That is why a good match starts with the code and is checked against your car. The fresh color is then blended into the panels beside the repair so the eye does not catch a line where the new paint starts. Pearl, metallic and three-stage colors are the hardest to match. More: why paint matching is hard.
Spot repair, panel repair or a full repaint?
| Option | When it fits |
|---|---|
| Polish | Clear-coat scratches and light scuffs |
| Spot or panel refinish | Scratches into the color, repaired dents, one or two damaged panels |
| Several panels with blending | Collision repairs, long key scratches across doors |
| Full repaint | Paint failing all over the car, or a color change |
Peeling or cloudy clear coat
When clear coat starts to peel, usually on the roof, hood and trunk first, the color underneath is next. Clear coat that has lifted cannot be glued back down; the affected panels are sanded and refinished. Catching it while it is limited to one panel keeps the repair smaller. See clear coat peeling: causes and fixes.
Rust spots and stone chips
A stone chip or a scratch to bare metal is where rust starts. Small spots can be cleaned, treated and touched up; rust that has bubbled the paint needs the paint taken back to clean metal; rust that has eaten through needs the metal repaired or replaced before paint. Read the stages of rust and rust bubbles under the paint.
Do
- Touch up chips to bare metal as soon as you find them.
- Wash off bird droppings, tree sap and road salt promptly.
- Ask how long to wait before waxing fresh paint.
Don’t
- Rub a scratch with an abrasive compound until you know how deep it is.
- Paint over rust without removing it; it keeps spreading underneath.
- Use a pressure washer close up on fresh or chipped paint.
What does auto painting cost?
Painting is priced by the panel, not the scratch. The estimate depends on how many panels need refinishing, how many neighboring panels are blended, the type of color (solid, metallic, pearl or three-stage), how much bodywork comes first, and whether trim, handles and lights have to come off for a clean edge.
How long does paint take?
Paint work happens in stages: repair and sanding, primer, color, clear and curing, then polishing and reassembly. Each stage has drying time that cannot be rushed without risking the finish, so even a single panel is rarely a same-hour job.
Scratched, scraped or peeling?
Send a photo in daylight, close up and from a few feet back, and we will tell you whether it polishes out or needs paint.