Off-roading with TRD Sport and ending up in some brush

Took my 2013 4WD DCSB TRD Sport off-roading yesterday and had a slight mishap . My truck ended up caught in some brush off the side of the narrow road we were on. My buddy had to help pull it out, but in the process, dragged my truck through more tiny trees and branches. When it was all said and done, my entire drivers side was littered with scuffs and small scratches (see attached photos). Has anyone ever dealt with something like this? How did you go about cleaning it up? Any recommendations? Thanks in advance. (Side note: I welcome all forms of criticism and jabs for letting this happen to my almost brand new truck)

Also, in the midst of all the fun, at some point, my front drivers side shock got a herniated rubber disc (see attached photo). Any ideas on how to re-position the rubber piece?

 

you got a orbital buffer? You are gonna need to buff out the scratches. They don't look to deep.

Go to the auto parts store and get Mequiars rubbing compound, Mequiars polishing compound, and your favorite wax. Plan an entire afternoon and a lot of elbow grease.

There are hundreds of threads on buffing out scratches in the detailing section and follow the instructions on the products you're using.

 

Nothing wrong with battle scars rock them I know I do... I have the same color and small scratches in the clear show really bad if you plan on using your truck its going to happen again...and again






And again.

 

Rubber looks fine. Clean off that mud from the upper control arm tho...
So do the scratches.
2012 here, scratched front to rear with off road racing stripes.
thought you'd be able to see them better, oh well.

 

This. /\

But be prepared to get new flares, the scratches aren't likely to come out of the fender flares.

Best of luck

 

I've been too scared to try it myself, but I've seen that wet sanding does wonders on taking out some of the deeper scratches (well, the ones that didn't go through the basecoat).

 

There are mobile paint businesses that specialize in going around to dealers and fixing the inevitable parking lot scrapes that occur. If you buff through your clearcoat, you could get one of those guys to touch it up for you. Ask a dealer who they use.

 

Those will buff out with some elbow grease. Use a heavy grit polish then work your way up to finer stuff. A good wax job before you head to the trail will do wonders for protecting your paint. Above all, don't be afraid to get out there and scratch it again!

 

Buff it.. then may e some of that scratch x stuff for the stubborn ones. Agreed on a good heavy coat of wax .. will take some abuse so the paint doesn't have to and helps the mud to sluff off for easy clean up.

 

All,

Thanks for all the help/suggestions!

Truck condition update: Took it to a local detailer and he was able to buff out most of the scratches. The ones on the metal came out well, even the ones we thought were "deep". The ones on the fiberglass fender flare though were a little more stubborn. He's a perfectionist, so he doesn't think he did a good job, but I think he did a great job, considering the circumstances. I may actually get some Scratch X to see what else I can get out. For good measure, I got him to wash it down (including cleaning up the mud caked on the undercarriage) and polish the entire truck for me. The engine compartment was filthy, so it gave him an excuse to buy a pressure washer he'd been wanting. It's basically in pristine condition right now...

...aside from the front left shock, which still has the rubber piece out of place. The truck just crossed over 10k miles, so it's still under warranty. I'm thinking now that it's cleaned up pretty good, I'll just take it to the dealer and see if they'll fix it for free. Good idea?

By the way...I've learned my lesson. Next time I take it off road, I'll likely have tires with better traction, a lift (or at least a level), and maybe some different flares (hmm...Bushwacker?). Apparently I am the type of truck owner that needs more than just stock to get by...

 

By the way, here's a good "stuck" shot, a good action shot, and an aftermath shot

 

Shot 3 so drifty lol

 

First on the list is upgrade those tires before you go offroad again. It will make a 1000x difference offroad if you have a decent MT or AT tire that has an aggressive tread pattern. This way you won't slide off the trail so easily.

 

Honestly if a detailer has been over the truck, I highly doubt that Scratch-X will get you any further than you're already at. I'm hardly a detailing whiz (more like a good shadetree detailer) and I've played around with Scratch-X. Any product he uses is going to be more aggressive than that product and will do more to get it out.

 

Sounds like you earned some trail stripes. Right after I got my truck I was wheeling in a creek bed that just kep getting narrower and narrower. I could hear the stripes being added to my truck. Shows im not a mall crawler.

 

at least your wheeling your truck! the hard part is over...now you can 4x4 the beast and not worry if you have to go through some trees!

 

Battle scars. Leave em alone! In my parts we call that Desert Striping. Buffing will just expose the base-coat. You almost scratched off most of the clear coat. Do like the other guys and spray on some plasti-dip.

FYI: Didn't know people took their Sports off-pavement.---Come to realize they make the sport in 4wd

 

you wont get mot of it out but i use cleaners wax for the most part to remove small scratches

 

I asked paint shops about scratch-x and they said that stuff is crap. Maybe they just want me to re-coat my truck.

 

I'm impressed, it came out better than I thought that it would. Chalk it up to "pay to play".

It takes guts to wheel it with those sucky OEM Sport tires, I'm looking forward to mine wearing out so I can get something decent. OEM tires are usually only good for about 16K anyway, but I figure before I need new tires my truck hopefully will be replaced under lemon law and I'll have to start all over again.