Detailing and buffing out some scratches

A few weeks ago during a storm, a large tree branch fell on the front of my 4runner and put some scratches in the hood and left front quarter panel. They are pretty minor and I would say the deepest one I could barely barely barely feel with my fingernail. I went back-and-forth on whether I should even fix them because after all, it’s a 4runner but on the other hand, I’ve only had it for about four months and it’s gorgeous.

I thought of getting a buffer for 150 or something and some pads and compound and trying to deal with it myself. I would likely screw this up and ruin the clear coat or something.

I went to two places yesterday to get estimates. One seemed like a pretty high-end detailing shop that did ceramic coatings and all of that sort of stuff. They wanted 500 to deal with the scratches and buffing and polishing the hood and quarter panel so that they would not be any localized differences in the finish. They wanted another 500 to do the same for the rest of the vehicle to make the finish or shine consistent across the entire vehicle.

then I went to a place that was more like a pure detailing shop, almost I would say a high-end car wash, but the woman said she could get the scratches out. She was going to charge only $200 for the whole vehicle , including addressing the scratches on the hood and front quarter panel.

I know you got what you pay for, usually.

I would be quite disappointed and it would be quite a financial hit to spend 1000 bucks on this. Especially considering there is no mechanical or functional damage to the vehicle at all. I can think of better ways to spend that thousand bucks whether on the vehicle or elsewhere.

i’m trying to talk myself into the $200 job. I know it wouldn’t be perfect and I’m a little nervous about trusting my clearcoat and finish to a discount shop. On the other hand, I feel quite certain that they would do a better job than I would, and I was about to do it myself anyway.

thanks for any advice.

 

I use meguires cleaner wax by hand for light scuffs. It’s very safe and has extremely fine grit and may want to try something like that before pulling out the big guns especially if you don’t have much experience with using compound and machines. Those look mild and a couple of applications should get it out if it’s just scuffed clear coat. It’s 8-10 bucks and you can’t mess anything up as it’s so fine and delicate.

 

Thanks, I’ll check that out.

 

It's really hard to damage your paint with a dual action polisher, light polishing pads, and something like meguiars ultimate compound/polish.

Use the least aggressive pad/polish product first and see if it works (polish). Move up to compound if necessary. If you can feel it with your fingernail, do NOT polish until it's gone. Aim for a little improvement instead of elimination of scratch.

 

I've never been able to remove those kinds of scratches manually.

Here are some details I've picked up and done a pretty good job correcting most scratches:

Things I use:

1. Porter Cable 7424XP 6" buffer polisher https://www.portercable.com/product/7424xp/6-variable-speed-random-orbit-polisher
2. Meguiars micro fiber 6" cutting pad
   $24 Meguiar's DMC6 DA 6" Microfiber Cutting Disc, 2 Pack
   https://www.amazon.com/Meguiars-Microfiber-Cutting-Disc-Correction/dp/B005JPJNO0
   
3. Meguiars micros fiber 6" finishing pad
   $25 Meguiar's DMF6 DA 6" Microfiber Finishing Disc, 2 Pack
   https://www.amazon.com/Meguiars-Microfiber-Finishing-Disc-Polish/dp/B005JPJNVI
4. Meguiars ultimate compound https://www.meguiars.com/automotive/products/meguiarsr-ultimate-compound-g17216-152-oz-liquid
5. Meguiars ultimate polish https://www.meguiars.com/automotive/products/meguiarsr-ultimate-polish-g19216-16-oz-liquid

The process I use:

1. Wash the car
2. Clay bar the area to be polished
3. Use cutting pad with ultimate compound over small 2x2' areas, blot and spread at 1 speed, then switch to 5 or 6 speed on Porter Cable to buff. Wipe and remove compound with a micro fiber towel when done with each small area before going on to the next.
4. Sometimes if enough buildup occurs on the buffing pad, blow it out with an air compressor, or switch to another pad.
5. Once the whole car is done, move to the finishing pad and polish, and repeat the above process for the whole car.

That will take car of surface scratches, but not a deep scratch.

You can try the headlights with a similar process before you do the paint to get a feel for what the tool will do.

I usually go through two cutting pads and two finishing pads and about 3-4 small micro fiber towels in doing a car. The micro fiber pads are more aggressive than the foam pads, but they do the work.

I've heard that does wear down the clear coat. I have no tool to measure it. I've done it twice on a 19 year old CR-V and three times on a 14 year old Lexus.

I've purchased supplies for pads from There are tons of YouTube videos showing a similar process. This video is the closest one I could find with the process that worked for me. I did not do any wet sanding on any paint.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8Wi7R37fa4

I had a black Honda CR-V that had a good bit of scratches on the hood and while some of the scratches were not as deep as yours, it did improve that significantly.

I used DR color chip to fix paint chips a few days before I went through that process.

Here is a pick of the 2005 Honda after the above process. I don't have any before pics.


I've tried to use paint to fill in some very deep scratches on a Sequoia that the above process would not resolve. The next time I have to deal with that I might try this tool: MIRKA mini file
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpUrQv91New

 

I too would also recommend McGuire’s Ultimate Compound. Really hard to do damage hand applying it. Returned from a trip w/ some mild trail rash and I managed to buff everything down to an acceptable level where you had to search to find the pinstripes.

 

Thanks everyone!

 

I am pretty sure your scratches aren't as bad as this. I haven't seen anything that comes close to what I did. My opinion, yours will buff.
https://www.4runners.com/threads/pinstripes-ill-show-you-pinstripes.22335/

 

lol well done