Scratch on my dash

i noticed my keys are leaving scratches on my door since all the parking spots are so small here that I can barely open my door enough to get in and then they scratch the plastic as i get in since they're on my hips.

nothing you can do just embrace it will not be perfect.

 

Huh, never thought about using a heat gun. Will have to try that out.

 

I put a nasty scratch on my glovebox door
so I bought one of those vinyl repair kits. It comes with this little round iron, some texture swatches you iron over to regain whatever texture you may have, and several colors of vinyl paint you're supposed to mix to gain your match. I took one look at this mess and never grew the balls to go through with it. Toyota puts a micro-thin color topcoat over a base of black and God help you if you cross the thin line with heat or whatever. Mine's tan, yours is black so you may get away with something here. I personally would not use a heat gun. The guy who suggested a hair dryer has the right idea, but don't forget how much heat the damn sun puts to your dash without changing a thing on it. You might be pissing in the wind with that.
I think a heat gun puts you in the dangerous territory of permanently disfiguring the finish and texture thing.
Bottom line, let a pro do it or leave it be and let it go. This is what I did. I'd rather have the scratch than something broader and more heinous.

 

Use black polish and then set it on fire. When the flames go out it will look slick and black like new. This is about as useful as many suggestions on here.

 

Pics of the gutters sticking out of back window?

 

Heat gun? This sounds like its going to end in a unholy disaster for that dash. Id go with a good vinyl spray-protectant and put a good dash mat on it. Toyota sells some nice ones that fit perfectly - I really like mine and it cuts all glare on the windshield.

 

The hairdryer tip should do the trick. I have used this tip for years and it does work. Be careful and dont over heat it. Try some 0000 steal wool to level it down before the heat. It might take two attempts.

 

Find a dark gray sharpie, or similar with fine tip, then after applying, immediately lightly wipe it off with a finger tip...I’ve done that in the past and it’s worked...

The heat gun idea may lead to premature cracking...

 

Take a hard end of a plastic screw driver (the handle) and press hard in the opposite direction of the scratch. It will lighten it up a lot. Then if you want you can take a hair dryer or heat gun warm the area and do it again. Just be careful not to over heat the area. This won’t completely remove the scratch but usually fills t in where it’s a lot less noticeable. Sometimes and certain materials it will look near flawless, others it won’t work as well but enough to keep your eye off it. Pro tip for 14 years working on cars and trucks removing interior pieces and dash trims all day

 

Let me go take them off my house..

 

I put my stuff under the front glove box if I am putting them thru the rear window, I got scratches on my kick panels, but next time, wrap a towel around the end to prevent that...sorry, just saying..

 

Use a heat gun from about 10 inches away, gaining your nail pull the scratch burrs away. That's about all u can do unless you run a dash Mat or replace the dash. I'll trade trucks with you if it bothers you that much hahahah

 

Lol not sure I bothers me that much... nice try though! I tried a heat gun and didn’t seem to work for the most part but was being very cautious as I didn’t want to make it any worse. It did make it a little less noticeable. I’ve just taken it as a learning lesson and moved on I may end up talking to my dealer in feature to see what they would do or who they recommend to fix it.

 

Sucks man. I've noticed that the interior on my '17 is one of the cheapest examples of interior materials I've ever seen. I'd swear that just cleaning my truck scuffs and scratches the interior. I'll be interested to see what your dealer recommends.

 

Use a heat gun, it’ll fix any light scratch on hard interior plastic.

 

I had some huge scratches in teh back door where a propane tank tipped over and scratched the plastic. I also watched the heatgun videos (I've done it before on my older 94 toyota) and tried it. What a mistake! Don't do it! This new plastic just turned a very light gray and it smoothed out in a hurry and became very shiny. The texture was gone. It made it look so much worse. I should have just cleaned up the gouges and left it.

 

Yup, heat gun. Best tool I never knew I needed until I got one.

 

Maybe you used it too long or something. I’ve done it on my 2017 Tacoma and my 2004 Dakota and it worked wonders.

 

@Jronealtrdpro as some have stated, the heat gun trick works wonders. I've used this trick many times in my 18 years of installing 12v in vehicles. The trick is to get the plastic just warm enough to make the plastic start to melt the slightest bit. You don't want to go crazy and melt the plastic because that will obviously deform it. Here's another little trick for this trick: if you get the plastic a bit too warm and it becomes shiny, take a scotch brite pad and scuff it very lightly until it matches the sheen of the undamaged dash.

I actually learned this process from one of those truck shows on TV one Saturday morning back in the day. They were repairing a Silverado that was hit so hard on the extended cab that it kinked the interior plastic. Instead of replacing the panel, they used a heat gun to fix the crease and scuffed it back to the proper sheen/texture. Genius idea.

 

what the heck is a hair dryer going to do?
Try a black (Gently and lightly) permanent black/dark gray? felt tip marker