Scratch Repair

Scratch repair is one of the most common services we perform at DentGuy. Every car in Dubai picks up scratches, whether from careless parking neighbours, automated car washes, road debris, or deliberate keying. The key to a good scratch repair is correctly identifying the damage depth and choosing the right repair method. Not every scratch needs paint. Not every scratch can be polished out. We assess each one individually and recommend the approach that gives the best result at the lowest cost.

Surface scratches that sit within the clearcoat layer are the most common type. These are the white-looking marks that appear when something drags across the paint surface but does not cut deep enough to reach the coloured basecoat underneath. These scratches are removed through machine polishing using a dual-action polisher with progressively finer compounds. The polisher removes a microscopic layer of clearcoat to level the surface, making the scratch disappear. This process takes about an hour per panel and starts from AED 300. There is a limit to how much clearcoat can be safely removed, which we check with a paint-depth gauge before starting.

Deeper scratches that cut through the clearcoat into the basecoat show the actual body colour underneath the clear layer. These cannot be polished out because the coloured layer itself is damaged. For these, we perform a localised spot repair. The scratched area is sanded, primed, sprayed with VIN-matched basecoat from PPG or BASF Glasurit, then clearcoated and blended into the surrounding panel. This is a targeted repair that covers only the damaged area plus a blending zone, keeping cost and turnaround significantly lower than a full panel respray.

The deepest scratches go through the basecoat and primer down to bare metal or plastic. You can identify these because you see silver (on steel panels) or black (on plastic bumpers) at the bottom of the scratch. Left untreated, metal-deep scratches cause rust, especially in Dubai's humid coastal air. These require a full localised repair with primer, basecoat, and clearcoat, and the cost approaches that of a panel respray for longer scratches.

Key scratches, also known as keying damage, are deliberate deep scratches that typically run the full length of one or more panels. These are always metal-deep and require paint. For a single panel, we spot-repair and blend. For damage spanning multiple panels, we assess each panel individually. Sometimes a combination of spot repairs on some panels and full resprays on others gives the best value. Key scratches across three or more panels on a luxury car typically cost AED 2,000 to AED 4,000 to repair properly.

We also handle stone-chip repair, which is common on front bumpers, bonnets, and wing mirrors on cars that drive at highway speed regularly. Individual stone chips are touched up with colour-matched paint applied by brush or airbrush. For heavily chipped areas, the panel section is repainted locally. Stone-chip repair starts from AED 200 for touch-up work and AED 400 for localised respray.