Fender Flares Scratched Paint

TLDR: Bushwhacker style flares scratched the paint, looking for options besides a respray.

I recently bought a 2019 TRD Off-Road in Cement and the previous owner had some parts that I didn’t care for. They had installed large rivet/bushwhacker/pocket fender flares and wheel spacers, neither of which I liked. The truck is now back on stock TRDOR flares and correct offset wheels and looks 10x better (entirely in my own opinion).

Unfortunately the flares scratched the paint. Pretty deeply too. It grabs your nail if you run over it, so buffing it is almost entirely out. I thought I could live with it, but I see it every time the light hits it, and it’s not a good look on a such a great looking truck.

I’m all for using your truck and trail scratches don’t bother me as I’ll be camping/overlanding in all the surrounding states with my Tacoma, but it’s pretty obvious what these marks are from when looking at them.

I’ve searched all over for a set of OEM looking flares that are taller to cover the paint damage but not wider and have come up empty handed. I’ve consider even some form of vinyl wrap, but nothing looks decent in mockup.

These are the closest I can find, but they are listed at 2.25” of “additional” tire coverage, so they would be almost the same width as the pocket style/bushwhacker flares that I’m trying to avoid.

https://www.rdjtrucks.com/Toyota-Tacoma-16-19-extended-slim-Fender-Flares-p/25-6014.htm

I’ve not taken it to a detail/paint shop yet, but I’m pretty realistic on how deep they are. Short of having a shop repaint basically the entire truck, anyone got any suggestions?

 

Obviously you can see the truck and we just have photos. But, I’d trying some rubbing compound followed by polishing compound if the marks are removed.

 

Take it to a detailer, they know way better than the rest of us what can and cant be fixed. I bet they could make short work of those and it would look near perfect when done.

 

It’s much easier to tell the depth of the damage in person. It was actually a little hard to get decent pictures of the scratches.

I’ve tried light buffing and polishing by hand, to no avail. I am not a detail guy by any means, but I’m pretty sure it’s through the clear in places which I don’t think the pictures convey very well.

Living in a small town, not a lot of paint correction/detail shops in my area, but I do plan at some point to let a pro give it a shot with a buffer. Just wanted some opinions on backup plans as I’m trying to be realistic and assume at least 80% of what I can see won’t be buffed out.

 

Check facebook or craigslist, if your in a small town then chances are many of the detailers actually just work out of their garages at home.

 

I’ve actually found one, possibly two, through FB that I intend to reach out to and see what they think. They are both a couple of hours away, which isn’t a problem, but they’ll be going on pictures like I posted above which I don’t think convey what I see in person.

Maybe I’m just being a little too pessimistic, but trying to be realistic with what I see. So any input is appreciated!

 

I fully expected at least one or two replies saying to just put them back on.. As much as I hate the scratches in the paint, I still like them better than the huge fender flares that caused them.

 

pinstripe um'

 

I’m not gonna lie, the thought crossed my mind. Can’t think of any way to make something look half decent though.

 

I had planned to visit a local auto paint shop to get their opinion on the scratches this week, but unfortunately got quarantined, so I’ll have to reschedule that for a week or two.

In the meantime, I still welcome anyone to chime in as I’m not finding anything that would cover them and not look as bad as the flares that caused them.

Something I left out from the original post. I *assume* the fender flares were on for about 30-40K miles just from info the previous owner shared when purchasing the truck.

So you can imagine what that does to the paint after more than a year of rubbing from the flares. It’s hard to capture in pictures, but as I said above, you can definitely feel them.

I will update again after speaking to the paint shop and then possibly a detail shop if the paint shop doesn’t have good news for me.

 

If its catching your nail simple buffing wont do it, but if the scratches arent all the way through the clear its possible you can sand and then buff them out. Risky though, because if you burn through the clear youve got a bigger, uglier problem. Best if you can find a pro.

 

Any way you can blend some clear coat over them to build the area up a bit then wetsand and buff? May not get rid of them totally but knock em down enough to look better and protect any rub throughs...

 

Best best is to carefully fill the scratch with catalyzed clear, then cut it down flush with a festool or razor blade and polish. Spraying clear wont work for a number of reasons unless you spray the whole panel.

 

Based upon the pics you've provided, I think a 2-step cut and polish with a DA will likely considerably reduce, if not entirely remove them. Be best to do with a small, not full size pad.

I'd reach out to the detailers in your area.

 

Detailing forum on TW

https://www.tacomaworld.com/forums/detailing.32/

 

It can be buffed out. This same thing happened to Bros Fourr Speed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWAO3ftA8QI&t=7s&ab_channel=BrosFOURRSpeed

 

The scratch appears to be deep. Three suggestion
1. Take it to a detailer as suggested above.
2. Get a full cheap fender pain job from Maaco.
3. Incorporate a black wrap around it on all fenders. You won't even tell.
4. Please no rivit fenders. Very very ugly

 

Unfortunately, a decent amount has happened since my last post.

I took the truck to a local paint/repair shop that I know the owner and trust. He had the same train of thought as me. They are just to deep to be completely removed without respraying clear. He did think they could be improved with a good buff job. He grabbed a DA and a few 3M foam pads and different compounds and spent about 5 minutes just for proof of concept and it looked 10x better on the small section he worked on. He’s only a one man shop and is currently booked up for the next 3-4 months with insurance jobs, so he suggested I find a good detail shop since a professional with a DA could at least improve them.

I spent a few days searching local detail shops. I found a seemingly highly rated, local Chamber of Commerce member, detail shop that is professionally insured in the next town over. An insured shop with ratings were a requirement in my search.

He did good work on 3 of the 4 corners and improved the flare marks at least a decent amount, but on the 4th corner he burned through the clear coat.. Unfortunately he tried to act like it wasn’t his doing, but I had sent pictures of all four corners the night before and pulled them up to show him. Thankfully he finally owned up to what happened and said he’d cover the cost to get it fix.

Fast forward almost two months and I’ve had four different collision/paint shops quote to repaint the bedside he damaged. He wasn’t happy with the price of a professional repair, so I’ve had to get multiple quotes while refusing to use anyone other than a reputable shop. He then decided he wanted to turn it in on his business insurance instead of pay it out of pocket, so I’ve been waiting on that decision checking in once or twice a week with no clear answer on when/if it’ll be fixed.

Thankfully I have all the messaged saved of him admitting fault and saying he’d cover the repair, so it’s just a waiting game I guess.

 

A thread like this is worthless without pictures so here are a few from the day of the detailing mishap.

The first one is right after it happened, still in his shop under the lights. I circled it in red when I sent it to my wife still fuming mad.

The next two are out in the sunlight when I pulled the truck out into the parking lot.

The last picture is how the truck sits today. They are much harder to see, but still there if you are looking for them. I will say the one the corner he ruined was definitely the worst of the four in terms of how deep the scratches were. So maybe he was just trying too hard to make some improvements on that corner and got carried away.