[ridgelurker]

any recommendations for scratches. i told my salesman i didn't want the stencils on the back of my truck beforehand but they put them on anyway. when i pointed it out to him he used his fingernail to scrape them off reassuring me it won't hurt the paint. when i washed the car the 2 lines i thought were left over adhesive turned out to be 2 small scratches 1/3-1/4" long in the clear coat. if there's a simple cure i may try fixing it myself.

 

[06RTLNAVBlue]

Meguirs makes a scratch remover (very mild abrasive) in a black tube tube. It is supposed to be used by hand to remove scratches. I just used it on my CRV with a Porter Cable buffer to make it easier. I removed 3 large scratched and several small to include all the key and nail marks around the door handles, excellent results, I was not able to hurt the paint if I tried. You could try this by hand with a soft cloth or microfibre product. You just might have to rub alot to see results. Would work good if the scratch is not too deep. Cost is $5-10 for the tube.

Or, the Dealer is responsible to fix them. They could have their "scratch repair people" do this.

 

[Long Gone]

any recommendations for scratches. i told my salesman i didn't want the stencils on the back of my truck beforehand but they put them on anyway. when i pointed it out to him he used his fingernail to scrape them off reassuring me it won't hurt the paint. when i washed the car the 2 lines i thought were left over adhesive turned out to be 2 small scratches 1/3-1/4" long in the clear coat. if there's a simple cure i may try fixing it myself.

Take it back to the saleperson and make him liable.

 

[MBB]

Check out these scratches. I sincerely hope this never happens to you. This was pure vandalism. First they got both doors on the passenger side, then while I was waiting for my appointment with the body shop, they came back and got the tailgate. Not quite as bad on the tailgate, just one big long scratch, but the whole right side of the truck plus the tailgate will now need to be painted, and is, in fact, in the shop now. Here are the "Before" pictures - "After" to follow. Hope they do a good job - there's this psycological effect in my mind that says that the truck will never be the same - so I need to come out of this all with a very good feeling about the way it was repaired.

Lesson learned? Park in the garage if you have that luxury. I had to leave mine out for a few days because of some extra stuff temporarily occupying my garage, and this is what I got. Other than staying up all night watching, I don't know how you could prevent something like this. Cops said set up my video camera on a tripod in my front window - at least they'd see it next tiime and maybe think twice, but who knows? I would never have expected this in my quiet, decent neighborhood - but things are changing in our world. Kids do stuff, always have, but this was really nasty and malicious, and I thought I was pretty well liked. I actually don't think it was anybody from my neighborhood, I think it was somebody just wandering through looking for trouble, and spotted a jewel to mess up, and boy, did they ever!

 

[rakapur]

the ones they sell at the stores are very mild and help for very small scratches, you need the stuff they use at the body shops heavy duty rubbing compound, i dont know where to find it though

 

[BruceRTL]

Sorry to hear about your scratches MBB. You can't be to careful these days. I also picked up a couple of scratches on the back passenger side fender the other day and it's mine own dang fault! We took the boat out and when we were done and back home, I opened the gates to my backyard and backed the boat into it's spot. After disconnecting it from the hitch, I started pulling forward. Right at that moment a gust of wind came up and blew one of my gates closing it against my truck. I hit the brakes but not before I got a couple of nice 2 inch scratches. All the way down to the metal. I was pissed. My scratches are no way as bad as yours but I was still pissed. I know the feeling is much worse when you know it was some punk kid that was responsible. Hopefully the body shop will do you good and with time this will all be a distant memory.

 

[skupko9680]

My luck with removing scratches by hand has been pretty limited and really depends on the vehicle color. I've heard that Quixx is one of the best, but never used it. As mentioned by a previous poster a Porter Cable with the right pads and right product will do wonders, but that is a pretty hefty investment unless you are interested in starting to get into paint correction.

MBB~ That is a nightmare of mine! Some people just have no conscience at all. I never had that done to me, but I did catch some vagrant peeing on my truck one afternoon... what posseses some people I'll never know?

 

[skupko9680]

the ones they sell at the stores are very mild and help for very small scratches, you need the stuff they use at the body shops heavy duty rubbing compound, i dont know where to find it though

Menzema Super Intensive Polish is aguably one of the best paint correction products, but you again need a DA polisher (Porter Cable or Flex) for it to work and the pads are almost as important as the product. When you start getting into compounding and wet sanding that is something better left for someone with experience imho.

 

[Zcuda]

Yikes SORRY TO HEAR ABOUT THA.T I'll bite my tounge on your scratches. That sucks to have that happen!!! I had my Black 06 2 weeks & came out one morning to find a 4-5 foot long scratch down the side. :-( DANG PEOPLE & THEIR JEALOUSY.

 

[RIDavid]

I fix that stuff all the time. Scratches that deep need to be sanded and painted. There really is no miracle cure like you see on TV! If it goes through the clear coat,it needs to be repainted.

 

[jorgumundr]

I've had to install low light level capable cameras to monitor kids who were trashing cars every summer about 2 to 3 times a week. It was the video that proscecuted 3 kids that hit over 60 cars in our neighborhood. They did everything from egg cars, pour brake fluid on cars, break windows and throw lit flares inside, slash tires, to forgetting they left their bag of weed and cocaine on the driveway.

Spent about 400 for a wireless network based camera system for 2 camera system that reports to one of my PC's in the house. I even helped neighbors install them, and then we caught them on video. It was in the Oregonian and news a couple of years back. All three of them were tried as adults, and got sent to 'big boy' jail.

I am trying out a hidden camera setup on my company car right now that has motion activated recording that writes to a fire proof mini-DVR...we'll see how this works.

Q-see is great for low light conditions since the majority of them have infrared, and the price is cheaper than some of the Axis and Cisco camera systems.

http://www.q-see.com/

It PISSES me off when other people think its fun to trash what other people work so hard to have.

I just realigned one of my cameras to help with our elderly neighbor who seems to have teenagers trashing his garden, pots, and bird feeders...