Let me tell you how I scratched my brand new 4R

A few weeks ago we got back from a camping trip, travelled maybe 500 miles towing a camper. There were a ton of dead bugs on the bumper, hood and windshield so after I unloaded everything and unhooked the trailer I washed the truck.

Well, I was scrubbing the hood and I am pretty certain there must have been some debris or something on the hood and my manhandling of the brush scratched the hood in a couple spots You can’t tell unless you really look hard but I see them.

Key fob for scale

 

Ouch. I feel your pain, being the type of guy that is fussy over paint, especially on a brand new vehicle. That will probably buff out if you cant live with the scratches.

I’ve earned some pinstripe and “branch attack” dents, in the last year and a half. I’ve thought about getting them repaired/buffed. But since I caught the off-roading bug, I figured it comes with the territory. I’ll probably defer buffing/dent repair work till when/if I ever sell, and maybe not even then lol.

 

But, seriously, the first ones are the most painful! I managed to keep mine very nice until my first trail run.

A good wax job will make them less noticeable.

 

That will buff out!

 

It'll buff out.

 

I see the problem. It's a honda key I think it'll buff out with some wax

 

It will polish out (with polish), possibly compound and then polish. Youtube is your friend, you can even buy foam pads that attach to a drill, just don't stay in one spot too long as you'll burn through the paint.

FYI wax doesn't remove anything, wax is simply carnauba that may fill in (somewhat) the scratch for a few weeks until it wears away (because it is wax).

It astonishes me that people still use wax these days, and also think that it can fix anything. It's like riding a horse on the freeway.

 

That’s pretty bad, I hated seeing the swirls and scratches in the sun on my blue 4 runner when I just got it from the dealer from apparently a detail from hell. Dealer paid $450 for me to have my known professional guy fix it (95%) atleast. But these things scratch just by looking at them I learned.

 

Were you using a nylon brush? Unsure if you were by the post. But I only use microfibre wash mitts and I avoid car wash brushes as they usually only tend to install swirl marks. Compound the scratch first or even potentially wet sand with 3000grit then finish polish and wax and I bet it wouldn’t be noticeable.

 

I do use a microfiber mitt and one on a pole. I think what happened was something was either on the hood already and I pushed down so hard scrubbing it made the scratch. Anyways, won’t happen again lol.

also thanks!

 

Oh man, that sucks. I've done that before, now I'm super picky about my sponges in where I put them down. Actually bring a few sponges out with me when I wash my cars, and if one falls and hits the ground, I'm done with it and switch to a clean one. I'm also very careful about where I put the sponge on the vehicle, I don't use it too close to the wheel wells for fear of picking up some debris from there.

I really shouldn't care too much on my 4R, but I learned those lessons while washing my Firebird.

 

Try some Meguiars scratch X, then some Meguiars no 7 Polish followed by a wax of your choice. Go easy.

I don’t think it will remove them per se but I do think it will be much less visible for some time.

As noted earlier you are essentially fillling it in for a while. Sometimes a long time though.