Removable Body Scratches?

Calling all body guys…

Hey all, hope is going well. I’m adjusting well to the taco and am actually liking it a lot, maybe better than my old tundra. Anyway got pretty much most fluids changed and just did the spark plugs saturday (pretty easy). Just started looking at some smaller things to fix, and my eyes caught a bunch of scratches on the passenger side, mostly below the passenger and rear door handles. It honestly looks like someone before me took it off-road, and must’ve scratched it against branches or a tree or something. I noticed some when I went to buy it, and it didn’t really matter that much to me because I liked everything else about the truck.

I’ll attach the pics below, but I don’t know how easily they’ll show up on camera. They look like clearcoat scratches for the most part, my fingernail doesn’t catch any of them, but it catches a couple of the deeper ones, which is to be expected. My question is, can I take a polisher with a light to medium cutting pad with some clean cut rubbing compound to buff these scratches out? Will it yield pretty good results? Hoping it will make some of the deeper ones a little less visible but I know some will not buff out completely due to their depth. I also plan on getting like a polishing pad with some wax afterward to cleanup after using the cutting pad. I figured I would get the pads from a brand named chemical guys on Amazon, and I already have some turtle wax clean cut rubbing compound. What do you guys think? Any advice? Just hoping to hide as many scratches as possible, or at least make them look less visible. Thanks.

Brooks


PS: The worst ones are on the rear quarter panel and the lower passenger and some of the rear door. I know the fender flare ones probably won’t disappear because the plastic itself is scratched.

 

No pics, but I used to use the medium and then the light polishing compounds with a soft cloth to rub them out. Now they are so numerous it would take a paintjob to cover them.

 

Thanks for the input. Yeah, I guess they’re going to get to the point where it makes no sense trying to rub them all out. The pics didn’t upload for some reason, I’m figuring it out

 

I use a touch-up pen for chips and really small marks. Anything else and there is really only so much you can do. Not the answer you want to hear, but I’d just ignore it. Unless a vehicle is garage kept and never driven, it will always accumulate marks. There’s no way around it.

 

It wasn't difficult to do; took maybe 30 minutes for a scratch of unknown origin on the drivers door when I first got her. Wash area, rub with medium compound according to directions, wipe off area, wash area, rub with light compound according to directions, wipe off area, wax area. I use my truck pretty hard and do a lot of trails and off-roading so it has become more scratch than clear paint areas but if you don't do trails it will stay looking fine for a long time and you can keep up on scratches that you will get from people walking past it or the occasional two-track.

 

Good rule of thumb, if you get them wet and they disappear. They will buff out. I would start with light to medium compound. Only use heavy cutting compound if you know what your doing. Paints are thin these days.

 

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Those polishing compounds have restored my paint more than once.

 

Really depends how deep those scratches are. Once they go through the clear coat, you have a problem. With some elbow grease i've used different grades of plastic polish on my old tundra's clear coat finish that were pretty effective.

 

Well, you can always try compounding it.

I use Maguires compound that you buy at any store. The black bottle with the red car on it. It cuts pretty well and leaves the surface pretty clean and shinny. Not always needing a polish after. And if you have a dual action polisher, I would highly suggest a microfiber cutting pad. So much better then the orange, blue, green sponges that I used before.

 

The mothers headlight lens polish with the polishing wheel worked well for me.

 

Just saw this thread and I made a similar one before that, does anyone here have a good source for super white touch up paint?

 

for light scratches, a coat of wax will diminish their appearance by filling in the scratches a bit, but the scratches will show again once the wax wears off

 

Could also try a “glaze” instead of compound - these do a light cut & fill in scratches a bit.

compounds come out the best, but you’re often cutting away a lot of good paint, to reduce it to the same level as the scratches

 

another rule of thumb is, if you can feel them with your finger nail, you will be repainting the panel. ski

 

https://erapaints.com/

 

Thanks guys! I appreciate it! I think I’m going to try some polishing pads to get some of the clear coat scratches buffed out. The pictures have finally been uploaded