[Ransom]

Hi All!

Picked up my new m340i yesterday from the dealer. First time buying a new car so would appreciate any insight on my issue!

Car looks good 100%, except as I was inspecting it I found a tiny scratch (length of finger nail, maybe 1mm thick) on the driver's side rocker panel underneath the line/angle of the car.

Because the scratch is on the bottom of the line, the only way to see it is by bending down & getting up close, from a top-down view (standing up) the scratch is not visibile -- likely why it was missed during VPC inspection.

The dealer has acknowledged it and agreed to foot the cost of repairing the scratch/door.

My question is, is it worth it? The CA said they would need to sand down & repaint the entire door. I'm worried about stripping the factory paintjob from the door for something this small, and potentially opening myself up to more scratches/issues with a body shop doing the work on the car.

What other alternatives would I have for fixing something like this?

Picture below - thank you!

[AM340iMiami]

Sand down the entire door!? That seems excessive.

[Stag77]

For something that small, I would just grab some touch up paint and call it a day. If it's hardly noticeable as is, it will be completely unnoticeable once you touch it up.

I've always had good results with Dr. ColorChip's touch up paint kit.

[5ilver-5amurai]

I would not have them sand the door down to repair that. The more they touch the car, the more that can go wrong. It's so small that I would just live with it or maybe use a paint pen very conservatively (buy from bmw, i've done this before). Every new car I've ever bought has had some small physical defect on it, it's okay though. I was at my dealership recently and they are a very reputable one in Toronto, and every single car in the show room had some paint scartch or physical defects on it. I was surprised but not really. There are +100k CAD cars that are going to be delivered with small scratches but thats just part of the game. If it's not going to bug you too much just take it as a beauty mark

[peelerec]

Agreed with the suggestions above. I would have a pro detailer use touch up paint, and then protect the entire car via ceramic coating / PPF.

[Eljefe25]

I would reach out to a reputable Detailer first. Hard to tell how deep that scratch is based on that photo. If it’s not deep, they may be able to buff it out.But if it’s deep enough it would need to be repainted.

Minor enough and in a spot where you would never notice it, but if the dealer is willing to pay for it and it bothers you enough get it repaired.

[zoso4534]

Agree. That’s excessive. Touch up and call it a day.

[Ransom]

Thank you for all the responses... was spinning around trying to figure this out but agree with the sentiment that a full door repair may invite more issues than its worth!

Will be taking it to a detailer to check out if they can touch it up. Appreciate the help!