Before I go on, yes I know I'm an idiot.

With that said, I was washing my car yesterday at a coin wash, did the engine spray before anything to let it work while I washed the rest of the car. As usual, I lifted my wipers to clean my windshield. Once I was all done, I popped the hood again to spray off the excess engine soap, and without even thinking raised the hood. I heard this loud scraping snap, and instantly knew what happened. I'm now left with a paint chip about 1/2"x1/2" at the very top of my hood, in plain sight. And I thought I could go a year without damaging my new car, guess not

Anyway, what should I do? Just do some touch up paint (would probably look like garbage), get the whole hood repainted, and re-3m'd ($1000+), or get a body shop to do the touch up? I know with my previous car, places like maranello refused to do touch ups, and would only repaint an entire panel. Suggestions? or flames telling me how stupid I am...

 

PM xviper. He knew of a guy that is supposed to be very good with an airbrush.

 

Given the size of the scratch, I'd suggest that your typical touch up paint would not suffice. Indeed, it will make the blemish look worse. Most bodyshops, should be able to do touch ups, and if not, then yes, airbrush is the best way to go. If you're going to do it yourself, make sure that the area is cleaned thoroughly, and maybe even use rubbing alcohol in the immediate area to clean out any road debris, and even wax/polish etc that would mar the new finish.

Good luck.
Asif

PS-I've done the same thing before over the years on various cars. No flames here. I was just lucky enough not to get scratches on my veh.