So I just bought my first Audi (a 99.5 A4 2.8 Q) a couple days ago. In love with it so far but there are some things about it that are truly bugging me. First there's a bunch of light scratches along the side and a giant one from the right taillight to the middle column. The previous owner or owner before that tried filling it in and what not but it's a different shade of silver and raised. It's very noticeable at certain angles and it's definitely something you can't just "buff out." Second, my wheels have a good amount of curb rash and had a crap ton of grime in all the corners which didn't come off when I took it to the wash. Luckily the grime came off pretty easily with some Meguiar's wheel cleaner. Third, as much as I love the VIS racing carbon fiber hood and want to replace the trim with CF eventually, in my opinion at least, CF clashes terribly with the silver paint.

Due to the scratches and clash between silver and carbon fiber, I need to get the car painted. I'm terrible with matching things, and have no idea what colors would work well with a CF hood and trim. I'm kind of thinking some kind of blue, red, black or graphite. Any ideas would be appreciated

Since I'll be painting the car eventually I want to do something about the wheels. At first I didn't like the 7 spoke sport wheels, but they are growing on me. The curb rash, however, is not growing on me . If I paint the car I don't want so many colors and tones going on so painting the wheels seems like a good choice to me. I want them to match the hood so some blacks/graphite came to mind. Plastidipping them black also came up, but they seem to be back-ordered currently. Should I go with a black, plastidip, or graphite color? If I go black should I leave it matte or clear coat it? Also whatever color I choose for the wheels will be the color of the badges. Also, I've looked around and have never seen anyone paint the 7 spoke sport wheels so I have no idea what they would look like.

I just have so many ideas, but can't really place my mind as to where I want to take the car. I've attached pictures of the condition of the worst wheel, the hood for reference, and the scratch/gouge in the side.

Any advice or direction to some other forum/thread would be greatly appreciated as I haven't really found much to look at. Also I'd much rather buy a new set of wheels, but I'm a little tight on cash. This week I have to throw down 700 to finish up my tattoo, buy a new set of rotors, calipers, and pads, a new oxygen sensor, and save some for a drive from Maine to Illinois and back to see my father, plus I just paid 3k for the car and taxes.. I can wait for the paint, but I want to do the wheels now since it'll be relatively cheap.

TL;DR: Big scratch. Need to paint car to match a carbon fiber hood. Want wheels to match. What color should I paint the car and wheels?

Is it even possible to hide the curb rash?

 

Have you ever thought about getting into some custom rims instead of painting your existing?

 

I have thought about it. I've actually been having a ton of trouble with losing my seal on my bead for three of my tires, so I'm not sure if it is the tires or if I have wheels that are out of round. So the idea of getting new wheels altogether to move on is becoming more of an option.

 

dolphin grey with carbon fiber looks nice.