Someone keyed my 2005 Steel Grey Sonata :( I wasn't even parked in any bad way, I didnt cut anyone off, and I dont have any offensive bumper stickers. So, I have no idea why they did it. They must have just been stupid....

But anyways, its not TOO deep (it seems to have been only clear coat (or mostly), from what I looked at).. but I can't pay the money to have it done by a pro.

Im at the point where I honestly dont care how great it looks, as long as it doesnt rust or anything.

What's the best way to repair a keying? Just pick up some touch up paint, clearcoat, and polish the heck out of it?

Check out this thread at DetailCity.org where some guy's son shoveled the snow off his Acura with a metal shovel and scratched the heck out of it. The guy fixed it himself with detail products and the results are nothing short of amazing. I don't know if you can attempt that, but at least read the thread.

This post has been edited by Doohickie: Apr 12 2006, 11:31 PM

I would do it like this
mask the scratch 3 inches on eather side add paper for overspray
lightly sand it with wet/dry 120 grit
It is important that you remove any waxes from the paint before you start
avoid touching with hands as oil is left on
buy 4 products
1 spray putty
2 undercoat
3 original touch up can of spray paint from dealer
4 paint prep cleaner

1) what you need to do is fill the scrach with spray putty sanding in between but the secret is sand untill only the scratch is filled not overlap on the paint
you may require a few applications
2) undercoat area to the masking tape add paper for overspray
3) remove tape and sand edges to blend in
4) retape 6 inches on eather side add some newspaper to prevent overspray
5) spray the original paint WARNING spray something else first like a drum to get your spray groove going (feather towards the tape)
The spray when completed should be a finish as if its a shinny wet look not dull
give it 48 hours in the sun to bake dry and buff it back to blend in to original paint
Hope this helps

The work that was done in that thread wasn't done by the owner of the, the repair was done by a talented detailer by the name of Sean. But it can be done.

You may want to look into some thing like the Langka paint chip repair kit

HTH
"J"