tbear853

Oh, I understand the minor agony you feel. BT/DT!

Back in February 1986 we had bought a near new & low miles 1986 Thunderbird with 302 and we added Koni adj shocks .... and added a A&A three piece rear spoiler and a "Turbo Coupe" front lower bumper cover with the fog lights (new from Ford, painted locally) along with some aftermarket wheels / tires.

Not a special car to others maybe, but to us .... a good looking car that was safe, comfortable, ample power, decent mileage, good handling .... and reliable .... for our road trips at vacation time and drives to more than just a few NASCAR races.

Then we had a hail storm one day in late Summer, 1986, not a bad one like they have out west .... but just bad enough that I found a few minor "hail dimples". I didn't even bother looking at my '77 F150 or our '76 Pinto, but it bothered me to know they were on that T-bird. Erie Insurance sent an adjuster, he wrote me a check to pay for a fix of the few dimples and a complete repaint.

We agonized some over it and then after a few weeks, stopped noticing. In 2009 I sold that car with 150K+ miles on it and never a problem of serious nature, truth be known I have many times wished I had kept it then as it wasn't eating much.

The still factory original paint (Regatta Blue) still shined with a high gloss, she still looked great when clean and waxed (much of it's life was under car cover or car port or both when parked). There's no question but that I made the right decision when I chose to leave it factory when viewed in hindsight.

In 2008 I had replaced the aftermarket wheels with a set of Ford 10 holers and 225/60-15 rubber in 1997.



In May 2009 a few months before I sold it.....

wcgman

The chances of it causing any issues like corrosion, etc... are very slim. Its probably some contaminant like a hair or string just like you thought. I'd say if it really bothers you, then get it fixed. If it costs you a rental for a couple of days, meh...maybe you can borrow a car from a family member for a couple of days while its fixed? Chances are that the paint will not match perfectly either because of everything else others have mentioned. So you have a choice to make. Live with it or roll the dice that it gets fixed and looks good afterwards but I've been there and done some paintwork too. It's a PITA to match a factory job and most guys can't do it. I can't. I can come close...but there's a lot of variables with paint that most people dont think about. Honestly if it was something where I had just bought the car in the last few weeks and wasn't too attached, I'd make them fix it and pay for the rental. If that means I drive 2 hours each way...meh. But that paint better be perfect. If I've had it a while, I'd just live with it.