Utterly sick and disgusted -got keyed in a parking lot

Cool your the second person to suggest it, must be good.. glad there is an option. Do i need the buffer though?

 

I scratched up my paint last week in one of those diy car washes with the foam brush, basically because I'm an idiot and didn't know how to take care of paint. A few of them were pretty deep, enough that I could feel it catch my fingernail a bit.

I got some Meguiar's Scratch-X 2.0, a pack of these round terry cloth disk/cushion things, and a velcro handle for them at O'Reilly's Auto and it's working great. I worked on it for a little over an hour last night and was able to clay and polish one rear fender and one rear door panel. If I get right up by the paint (less than 6" away) and look at it at an angle with the sun hitting it, I can make out a few faint streaks and whirls but otherwise it looks brand new.

I read up on Meguiar's Ultimate and it sounds like the main difference is that Scratch-X is formulated for hand application and Ultimate was more intended for machine buffers.

I tried the Scratch-X a couple nights ago with just a microfiber cloth and it made the finish a little cloudy, so I definitely recommend getting the pads. Then you put on a nickel-size drop and work it in hard on about 1 square foot. After several seconds it turns from white to clear, and you keep going for a little bit after that happens. The color change means the abrasives have broken down and now they function more as a polish. I think that's why my first attempt made it cloudy - I kept reapplying while it was abrasive and didn't let it polish any.

 

Here's what was keyed under my TRD sticker. I think it happened at the 4 Corners Monument. I tried Scratch X and then Black Box cleaner and wax, it isn't as pronounced but you can still see it. Going to try a mild rubbing compound next.

This is why we can't have nice things! LOL

 

Is there a Navajo gang that uses the mountain relief as their gang sign? I mean look at it! There's some real detail there, someone took their sweet time getting it right.

 

This stuff is like the seafoam of car detailing.. just use a microfiber pad and use a little bit of elbow grease. A buffer is only if you want it to be 100% perfect, but you can cut that scratch down by 90% just using a hand pad.

This stuff is not like wax, you need to apply enough for it to work. When you need to apply more, you will know because the stuff just kind of dries and polishes off when it's used up. It basically like liquid sandpaper, but the abrasives break down with use so you need to do several applications and continuous buffing to get that scratch out. I usually do 2-3 runs with it and then let it dry and buff it off to see what kind of progress I'm making with it. The results will startle you. If you use it on your whole truck you can actually cut down on a lot of the factory "orange peel" and then thing will turn into a mirror.

 

I've used scratch-x before and was a little disappointed, maybe I was just expecting too much.

 

OP, thought about you yesterday morning when I went to HD to pick up some lumber. I parked my truck all the way at the top of the row near where some Porsche group was meeting with all of their classic Porsches. I figure I can use the exercise involved in pushing the lumber cart to the top.

You have to be a seriously immature person, to the point of mental retardation, to key someone's car. I wonder what the dickhead would have done if you had come out and caught him.

I hope the loss prevention people find something. You'd be surprised what they can get on the cameras if they are decent. I had a kid I supervise get caught for a "leaving the scene" when he backed into another car in a WalMart lot and then left. They ID'd the car by one camera and then found it on another camera when he drove by. They got his license number and the cops showed up at his door and arrested him. That would be sweet if they can do it for you. Good luck with it.

 

Check out Larry's youtube videos from http://www.ammonyc.com/

Plenty of great info on scratch removal and detailing/buffing. Using his info I've buffed/polished/waxed my Taco using the porter cable buffer. I pretty much stick with Mother's products. Amazing results and using the modern buffers it's pretty hard to screw anything up (burning paint, etc.)

 

I shouldn't read threads like these...it makes me angry.

I had a one year old Honda Civic with 3200 miles on it get rear ended by a Volvo station wagon while it was parked on the side of the road. The driver immediately left. My neighbor got the plate number but when the cops ran the number it came up stolen. The total damage with $6,000 and took 6 weeks to fix.

In the mean time I borrowed my girlfriends car to get to work one night. After work I came out and found someone backed into it and mangled the hood. Another $500 deductible.

Two days after getting the Honda back some one side swiped it in a parking lot.

It was hit three more times..never even a note.

Three weeks ago someone side swiped my Tacoma in the parking garage where I keep it.

That's SEVEN times I've had a car hit. If I ever catch someone they are truly fucked.

On the other hand I backed into someone and dented their license plate last December. My hitch receiver left a nice square. I couldn't see under the plate, but I left a note with my phone number. I ended up paying the guy $550 to have it fixed. I made it clear I would only pay if he were to ever hit a parked car he would leave a note and if he ever saw some one else do that he'd do something. I'm glad I left a note, the guy was truly thankful and it turned an otherwise shitty situation into a not so shitty situation.

 

It ended up taking out 90-95% of the damage, took me the entire weekend to polish it though. That really sucked. I'm pretty happy w/ ScratchX at this point but learned 2 things from this:

1) From here on out it's hand wash only or touchless
2) If I ever have to do this again I'm getting a power tool and using the Meguair's Ultimate polishing compound.

 

My bad man I didn't know it was your truck. I'll try not to walk around rubbing my boner against cars anymore

 

If your scratches are just in the clear coat then you can try all the rubbing compounds or polishes suggested. If the paint/color is gone, then you need paint. A buffer is optional but makes shorter work. Harbor freight has a palm orbital buffer for about 10$ that works.
Scratch paint:
I used paint scratch.com for a company vehicle. Good web site too, easy to find OEM colors.

There are others too.

 

Consider yourself lucky, I had someone splatter paint on my new truck two days ago.
It was all over the front, from about mid cab to the front bumper.
Looks like someone took a paintbrush and just let it fly, some people can be real $%^&#.
Good news is I had a good coat of wax on, after two hours of washing and rubbing it all came off.
I would never park in close quarters with this truck, if there was no open parking away from everybody I would leave.
You might want to see if HD has security cameras.

 

Any suggestions on how to remove a chip in the paint? I used some of that paint that comes in the little bottles, but it may have made it look even worse...

 

This stuff work wonders.. but your gonna need a machine to remove any scratches/defects, doing it by hand can be done but its gonna be a workout...

 

I found there isn't a fast-fix all for this. It definitely requires some work to get acceptable results.

1. Clean and dry the spot well. If rust has started , use a sharp tool to scrape it out. They make pens with carbon bristles for the purpose, but other things work too.
2. Paint the spot. There are two ways. Use a very small brush, carefully filling the hole with coats.
2.b use a paint bottle to drip fill the chip. , them immediately wipe the paint with yor gloved finger to make the chip flat.
3 allow the paint to dry, but not cure.
4. Wet sand with 1000 grit, move to 1500 to smooth finish. Use light pressure. The idea is to flatten the spot and any paint you have on top of the I damaged clear coat.
5. Polish with compound , or polish (fine) to a shine.

It's not a repaint job. But if you work the area , you can get a pretty good result. If you have started, and your color doesn't match, or the surface isn't smooth, you always can start over with another paint.

 

Sorry for your bad luck dude! People suck. Jealousy is a horrible thing.

 

Dr. Colorchip...it's a little pricey but worth it....

 

This is why you take your truck into the woods... with all the pinstripes from branches you would barely notice the keying.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I will give them a shot