Just a heads up for those trying to fix scratches....

Well I've had my truck for a little less than a month now and I've already had a chip on the exterior paint, I scratched the plastic trim (around the air conditioning vents) while replacing the factory HU with a Nav system and somehow scratched the dash near the glove box.

I know trucks are trucks and scratches are expected (generally) on/in them. However with my truck being new, I've tried to minimize the eye sores so I figured I'd give everyone what I've done to "treat" them and was wondering if others have tried different measures with success.

On the exterior chip I went to my local dealership and bought the OEM touch-up paint for $9.95 & the OEM clear-coat touch up paint for $9.95. The key to making this looks decent is to use a buffer to make sure you remove any touch-up paint that extends over/on to the original paint. After the paint dries apply the clear coat to the touch-up painted area. The clear coat has a tendency to "bubble up" if you aren't careful. You can press the bubbles out using a piece of plastic (or in my case a ziplock bag). Allow 24 hours to dry before attempting to wash/wipe the area. If it is still bubbled or "crowned" gently buff it out as well. After you are finished I recommend washing and waxing the vehicle so that the area that you have buffed does not look dull when compared to the rest of the exterior.

On the interior plastic trim (around the air conditioner etc.) I had a tough time on this but the closest thing I could get to match it was a silver Sharpie. Luckily I only had a small scuff and I was able to dab a couple of dots of the silver sharpie on the area and then rubbed it gently to make sure it was spread really thin and I was happy with the result.

On the dash area you guys are going to think I am crazy, but I used some eye liner that my wife had here. (after attempting several other things) but she had some that was "Dark Charcoal" and I sharpened the pencil up very sharp and filled in the scratches with this. If you are precise it will go into the crevice and blend the scratches in nicely and should be safe to wipe/clean as long as you don't saturate the area. I used Armor-All wipes to clean my dash a few days later and the "fix" remained and did not wipe away.

Any others have any thoughts on my methods or advice on how they have "treated" such incidents?

 

Pics? Somewhere on this site somebody mentioned some sort of product that gets mixed and is used to fix the interior. Can't find the thread.

 

^x2

 

a nice little write up would be great