Recently got a 1999 Arctic Silver C2, excellent condition overall, 53k miles. Had a couple paint chips in the passenger rear fender. Long stupid story short, I thought I would try to make them look better and it turns out a previous owner had tried the same--I ended up burning through the clear coat and creating a hazy spot about 2" in diameter right above the wheel arch. Paint meter shows the clear in the surrounding area about 1.5 mil thinner than the rest of the car. Somebody else had gotten it thin; I finished the job. Viewed from the side the circular spot is obvious.

Trying to decide whether to live with it or have the panel properly refinished. The guy I would use is high end, would remove the rear quarter window, do a nice job. And I'll be able to document that the repair was only for a paint chip and resulting screwup--was not hit or any body damage done. Simply fix the chip area and re-clear the panel.

I'm concerned about resale and the proper thing to do for the next guy, though my intention is to keep the car for a long time. My inclination is to have it fixed. It doesn't look good, and to me the cosmetics on this car are more important than keeping it original.

So what do you think I should do?

 

spend the money and have it painted.

 

That is not extremely serious and whether or not you want to fix it depends on how much it bothers you and how much you are willing to spend. Paintwork is expensive but if you only see that spot when you look at the car it is worth the fix.

 

I agree, have it fixed. I do not see it hurting resale value much if at all.

 

Its not a Barret Jackson future car, so I agree with the others - Fix it. With before and after pictures and disclosure it will not effect the value at all.
It should be blend-able, as a less expensive option - it wont be perfect like a quarter respray, but only you will know where it is when it is blended correctly.

 

I do think it depends on the color and the risk of matching. The new technology with computer matching is really good.
Mine is Orient Red Metallic, it is a sort of rare color, the shop had no record of ever painting that color .
I had my car "paint corrected", road rash and chips repaired at a Porsche dealer. They disassemble the whole car. Pretty big price, but it was well worth it.
I documented the defects in the paint before the work, so at time of resale there could be no misunderstanding, in addition, pics were documented by dealer during repair
Here is finished product picking it up at dealership.