Let’s see the dings, dents, scratches

Need to feel better about the scratch on my new 4runner.

 

How bad is your current scratch?

 

not horrible just pissed it’s there with less than 2k miles haha

 

I am with you. My first one stung pretty bad also.

 

feels like a stab in the heart

 

I’ve decided that any self induced scratch, pinstripe, gouge, or dent, doesn’t count as damage. Especially if they happened in a faraway forest or trail.

But I still get pissed at parking lot dings or dents, like the one my dealer left on my door edge. I also refuse to take it through a brushed car wash lol.

 

I’ve always felt that having had that first scratch or dent kind of takes the pressure off. The pressure to keep a pristine vehicle pristine.

 

i takes a little pressure off but i am big sad

 

That’s very philosophical. If someone else does it it’s damage. If I do it, it’s an “accidental mod.”

 

I going to take pics of mine and post them so we can commiserate. Back soon.

 

damage is damage to me and it takes a part of my soul

 

seems like i get a bit of compression on my uploads I'll try and refine my photo posting. I suppose I'm more of a driver/rider.

 

The philosophy is deeper than that. Damage that occurs in the line of action is a reflection of it’s history. They can tell the story of where it’s been.

There’s a balance though. I like subtle evidence, not wanton destruction. For example, roll-over damage is a step too far lol

 

The great Rod Stewart has a song for it, " First cut is the deepest".

 

I went to Dent Wizard and got paintless dent repair for my 1st dent. $250 well spent.....But
Hope I dont have to do that again!

 

I have a few pinstripes with less than 2500 miles. Only one of them really bugs me.

 

I kept mine pretty pristine for the first 4 months. Then, I took it down FR327, AKA, "the pinstripe road" and got my first several hundred scratches all at once.





The picture really doesn't do justice. But, you have to also consider that this was 4 months and probably 10--15K miles into owning my first new car ever. I felt pretty bad for a while, but I remembered that I bought it to drive, not to look at.

I added a bunch more that year, and then a friend buffed it out the following winter. A few months later, I started collecting new scratches.

This summer has been pretty, uhh, interesting. A few weekends ago, I "deleted" the rear bumper valance, trashed the exhaust, and nearly wrecked the front bumper cover. Needless to say, it was a fun weekend.

I also developed a wobble, which I attributed to a tire going out of balance (somehow ). I learned this past Thursday that I had bent a rim.

Oh, well. I had fun doing it!

I was going to add pictures of the most recent stuff, but I'm in an area with bad reception. Maybe I'll add them later.

 

O.K.


After

 

Probably closer to 10K, if I'm being honest.

I've been averaging 22-23K per year, and I have a work truck. But, I got the work truck about 2 months after the 4Runner, so I really racked up the miles at first. Plus, I drove it to Florida a month after I got it, so I put on about 3500-4000 miles in 2 weeks.

Before that, I had my Tacoma for 22 months and put 57K miles on it.

 

Damn, you might be older than me......that era was the high school years for me.

The first couple days I owned mine, drivers front fender, scrub oak, right down to the primer. Sounded like a train wreck to me. Never fixed it and never looked back. One of many now. 150k miles w the smiles to go with those scratches.

 

Well in less than 24 hours after ownership the family and I went out and got the Arizona trails in the summer. Needless to say that consisted of a lot of Arizona pin striping. It is just a vehicle and can always be repainted. I understand wanting to keep a vehicle in meticulous order but the nicest your vehicle will ever look is the day you bought it off the showroom floor (unless you have it trailered to a place to have more work done to make it look nicer). Drive it and enjoy it and do your best to take care of it. But it is just a vehicle that is still depreciating in value.

 

So what are your rear bumper plans?

 

My skids acquired these at just under 2000 miles. The last one is the oil drain cover. I'll clean them up and spray some Rustoleum.

 

1 . Prickle bushes
2 . Fallen down tree whipping up
3 . Stump dent

 

This is terrible. All these trucks should be washed, waxed and taken to the grocery store.

 

Two days after bringing my baby home, I opened the back hatch in my garage. I forgot that the 4Runner sits way higher than a Jeep, so the hatch hit the top of my garage door which has a metal piece in the center of the door. It chipped the paint, and as small as it is, it was quite noticeable. I bought touch-up paint and applied it today. I was going to make a separate thread about it, because I’m so disappointed in the touch up paint. But it looks better now than it did. If this fly-sized chip is all I’m complaining about then I’m gonna be okay.

 

I feel worse about the chips than I do about the fact that the front silver valance has a gouge in it, and scrapes.

Plastic is one thing, metal is another.

Also, if it is something that will be replaced by something like a winch bumper, might as well.

 

Anti-theft deterrent.