I have a TCM xB with a scratch on the hood I just noticed. It might be from a cat. Regardless, it looks white, which worries me that it might be down to the primer. How do I fix this? Is the TCM paint available yet? Can I buff it out with regular polish or should i smooth the paint in first?

Halp

I bought some touch up paint directly from toyota dealer and it was abiout 7 dollars but it comes in a stick/pen forn and you just run it directly over the scratch!!

Clearcoated paints scratch white when the scratch is shallow and only in the clear. If you can not catch you finger nail in it it will likely polish out. Try a polishing wax first if not then a light polishing compound. If this doesn't get it . The next more aggressive step would be to watersand and buff , professional (experienced ) help recommended at this point. Good luck.

I'm going to pick up some paint. The Toyota code is 1D2. How much are these, five or six bucks? Even the parts counter guy said it would be cheaper somewhere else... like Autozone.

Ted: The service guy who looked at it said something about "color sanding". There's also an abrasion on the door he said would probably come out with polishing compound, because it's not a paint scratch.

Pics of the scratch?

I'm going to pick up some paint. The Toyota code is 1D2. How much are these, five or six bucks? Even the parts counter guy said it would be cheaper somewhere else... like Autozone.

Ted: The service guy who looked at it said something about "color sanding". There's also an abrasion on the door he said would probably come out with polishing compound, because it's not a paint scratch.

Yup, colorsanding = wetsanding and buffing. Touchup painting will look bad. Metallic paints, especially greys and silvers like TCM look totally diffferent off a brush than they do sprayed. Any brushed on touchup will likely look darker than the surrounding surface and will look like what it is brushed on touchup. I would only brush on touchup paint if metal or primer is exposed for the sole purpose of sealing the sratch so it doesn't rust. If polishing or snading and buffing will not remove the scratch, the only way to really make it totally go away is painting the effected panel.

i had a few deep scratches on my hatch door and on my driver side front and rear door from a big dog jumping on my car. i did all the pain and buffing my self and it looks perfectly fine now. could use a bit more buffing but basically looks brand new again... i'll post some images of the finished work, i don't have any before shots though sadly... but the ones on the hatch were down to the metal, was able to get ahold of some matching paint and with a good few hours and good temp. day it turned out fine.

i had a few deep scratches on my hatch door and on my driver side front and rear door from a big dog jumping on my car. i did all the pain and buffing my self and it looks perfectly fine now. could use a bit more buffing but basically looks brand new again... i'll post some images of the finished work, i don't have any before shots though sadly... but the ones on the hatch were down to the metal, was able to get ahold of some matching paint and with a good few hours and good temp. day it turned out fine.

I got a tube of the official paint from the dealer. It's code 1D2, btw. Any tips/pics will be appreciated ;)

ok, here's the pics...

on the hatch door, there were 5 major scratches going down to the metal on the mid right side. now i have a NEW nick to worry about. was out with a few friends camping and they felt it was smart to play with BB guns around the cars XO!!! i have three new nicks on the bottom right corner... door had 3 big nicks, one of which went to the metal as well.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y71/Emobulus/102_1520.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y71/Emobulus/102_1521.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y71/Emobulus/102_1523.jpg

HA, you were posting the same time I was ;)

i had a few deep scratches on my hatch door and on my driver side front and rear door from a big dog jumping on my car. i did all the pain and buffing my self and it looks perfectly fine now. could use a bit more buffing but basically looks brand new again... i'll post some images of the finished work, i don't have any before shots though sadly... but the ones on the hatch were down to the metal, was able to get ahold of some matching paint and with a good few hours and good temp. day it turned out fine.

I got a tube of the official paint from the dealer. It's code 1D2, btw. Any tips/pics will be appreciated ;)

i wet sanded *continuously keeping the sand paper soaked in water and using light force in circling motions and periodically cleaning the sanded surface of sanded debris and clean the sand paper of accumulated sanded debris. first used 400grit then 1,000grit and then 2,000grit.* the scratches out. then did a few layers of paint, each layer was wet sanded very lightly. after 3 layers, i used a few layers of rattle can clear coat from Dupli-Color paints *about 4 coats* and then wet sanded and polished with a very low abrasive buffer polish made by Meguiar's *level 1 abrasive, machine glaze* and then waxed with brnad name "turtle wax". day time temp was about 80 degrees outside and it took me about 4-5 hours.

buff the wood