Body work after 2 days. Suggestions?

wblanier · June 13, 2014

Well boys after 2 days of owning my new SLT I managed to gash her. forgive me if this doesn't belong here but I have nowhere else to vent. Been to 3 body shops and all have told me to live with the scratch because white diamond is hard to blend. any paint guys out there that can offer me some reassurance that it will be able to blend...truck has....(sigh)....128 miles on it

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Silverado-Hareek · June 13, 2014

Did you go to a GM certified body shop? I put I nice gash down the side of my truck before I even made the first payment. I took it to the body shop of the local Chevy dealer and, while mine is tungsten metallic, it looks like the day I bought it. Logic would tell you that white should be even easier to blend as it naturally hides dents and imperfections better than darker colors. I dunno I'm calling BS on what they're telling you. Any body shop worth going to should blend this just fine. If they have to paint the whole panel than do that and file it under insurance. Either way there's a way to make that scratch look like it never happened.

And don't feel too bad. Besides my gash, my truck is going in on the 23rd to get $4300 worth of hail damage fixed. I'm so glad I have insurance to cover that bill.

The gash I mentioned cost me $550 and I didn't go through insurance. It was located above the rear wheel well on the driver side. They painted the scratch and blended the paint by spraying away from it and tapering it off, then they clear coated the entire panel and put on a new Z71 logo. They also had to remove the rear bumper, the tail light, and the bed rail cap to properly clear coat it and have a stopping point for the clear coat. You can't just paint the scratch itself as it will look like a bad patch job doing it that way.

TxTruckMan · June 13, 2014

White Diamond is deffinitely more difficult than white as it's a 2 step process from what I'm told. I'd get somebody to try and buff it out as a first step. That may fix all but the deepest parts of the scratch and make it easier to live with. Or, as SH said, you can likely repaint the whole panel if you have the dough and want to go that route.

wblanier · June 13, 2014

Did you go to a GM certified body shop? I put I nice gash down the side of my truck before I even made the first payment. I took it to the body shop of the local Chevy dealer and, while mine is tungsten metallic, it looks like the day I bought it. Logic would tell you that white should be even easier to blend as it naturally hides dents and imperfections better than darker colors. I dunno I'm calling BS on what they're telling you. Any body shop worth going to should blend this just fine. If they have to paint the whole panel than do that and file it under insurance. Either way there's a way to make that scratch look like it never happened.

And don't feel too bad. Besides my gash, my truck is going in on the 23rd to get $4300 worth of hail damage fixed. I'm so glad I have insurance to cover that bill.

The gash I mentioned cost me $550 and I didn't go through insurance. It was located above the rear wheel well on the driver side. They painted the scratch and blended the paint by spraying away from it and tapering it off, then they clear coated the entire panel and put on a new Z71 logo. They also had to remove the rear bumper, the tail light, and the bed rail cap to properly clear coat it and have a stopping point for the clear coat. You can't just paint the scratch itself as it will look like a bad patch job doing it that way.

Just got in contact with a dealer that had an onsite certified collision center (my dealer doesnt) and they told me it shouldnt be a problem since they have been repairing the white diamond caddys for quite some time. I would be sick over hail damage also. Fingers crossed!

Silverado-Hareek · June 13, 2014

Just got in contact with a dealer that had an onsite certified collision center (my dealer doesnt) and they told me it shouldnt be a problem since they have been repairing the white diamond caddys for quite some time. I would be sick over hail damage also. Fingers crossed!

Glad to hear you got it worked out!

As for the hail damage, that honestly doesn't bother me as much has the gash down the side did. You actually can't see too much damage from the hail other than a couple spots on the hood that are noticeably dented in. The rest you have to kind of stand on an angle to see them in the light. With a $250 deductible, it seemed like a no brainer to let them fix it right though.

Good luck with your scratch though. The certified shops I've dealt with have all been first class. I got hit 3 times in my old truck and all three times they had the truck looking like the day I drove it off the lot. I used the same certified shop for my scratch on the 2014 and I'm using them again for the hail damage.

wblanier · June 13, 2014

Glad to hear you got it worked out!

As for the hail damage, that honestly doesn't bother me as much has the gash down the side did. You actually can't see too much damage from the hail other than a couple spots on the hood that are noticeably dented in. The rest you have to kind of stand on an angle to see them in the light. With a $250 deductible, it seemed like a no brainer to let them fix it right though.

Good luck with your scratch though. The certified shops I've dealt with have all been first class. I got hit 3 times in my old truck and all three times they had the truck looking like the day I drove it off the lot. I used the same certified shop for my scratch on the 2014 and I'm using them again for the hail damage.

Thannks! You can imagine the look on my face when they told me to "live with it"? Really?

soltys · June 13, 2014

My WDT sierra is my third white pearl vehicle and while I love the paint color, to get anything repaired properly without notice, usually requires more then a blend and touch-up because of the way the pearl lies in the paint. Usually the entire panel needs a respray. Good luck with the repair.

MikeNH · June 13, 2014

That sucks. White diamond is an overspray and was not meant to be repaired. Even when you get it right in the day time, it looks like poop under mercury lights at night.

Only if the body guy didn't know what he's doing. My friend out here had to re-do some of his sisters Caddy and it looks fine under any light I've seen it under.

Guilty · June 13, 2014

I think any body work never looks as good as it comes from the factory. I was rear ended about a month ago ago and they had to replace everything on the rear and one bedside, repaint/blend with the rear drivers side door back. It looks acceptable, but I can certainly tell that it's been repainted. I really don't even want the vehicle after anything that involved body work.

14DENALI · June 14, 2014

white diamond is a three step process. Base, tint coat, and tinted clear. The whole body panel may need painted, but any reputable body shop should be able to do it. It will cost, but if don't want the scratch then you'll have to pay.

wblanier · June 14, 2014

white diamond is a three step process. Base, tint coat, and tinted clear. The whole body panel may need painted, but any reputable body shop should be able to do it. It will cost, but if don't want the scratch then you'll have to pay.

And I will pay whatever. That scratch makes me sick just thinking about it.

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'01LS1 · June 14, 2014

Well boys after 2 days of owning my new SLT I managed to gash her. forgive me if this doesn't belong here but I have nowhere else to vent. Been to 3 body shops and all have told me to live with the scratch because white diamond is hard to blend. any paint guys out there that can offer me some reassurance that it will be able to blend...truck has....(sigh)....128 miles on it

Finally, someone else! I am only joking with that. Totally know how you feel.

Hit a deer on the way home from the dealership a year ago with mine. Was 3 miles from home when it happened & the truck had 112 miles on it at that point. (traveled a few miles to get it)

Left a couple of dents, a scratch & the truck became known as Vinny...for venison. Even though he ran off.

Anyway, bought the truck on April fools day & finally found someone who popped out the remainder of two dents today on Friday the 13th for $40. I had gotten them mostly out as well as rubbing out the scratch.

So my point to this is wait until you find the right person with the right solution at the right price to get this fixed up.

Spurshot · June 14, 2014

My wife has that "sperm white" as my neighbor calls it. It is tough to match. My wife has had hers repaired in two areas. Both came out very well. Both repair/repainted areas were panel to panel.

galliher_nc · June 15, 2014

My High Country is white diamond and had to have some paint work done because of a fender bender (rear ended), they replaced the whole box-side because the rear bumper had been pushed into it. Truck looks as good as the day it rolled off the line.

Btuggle88 · June 15, 2014

It can be done, done it before myself, probably the reason they told you that is because they didn't want to touch it is because it's a brand new truck and they assume you are going to be a pain in their butt and that they will never satisfy you or get rid of you. It's not difficult, I used to do test panels to make sure I got the right number of coats of pearlcoat to blend it in. Good luck.