As I was entering a freeway from a ramp I hit some sort of shard of metal in the road (was distracted because I was merging) and it flew up and hit the driver's side of the car. It made a single scratch that's about 10 inches long near the bottom of the driver's side door. The scratch may be long but thankfully it's about as thin as a pencil line.

What I'm wondering is, how do I take care of this in the most economical way but in a way in which it never rusts. The scratch is fairly deep - you can feel it with your fingernail. The scratch looked white against my gray paint, but of course when you rub it with your fingers then it is not nearly as noticeable.

Anyway, I don't know what my options are and I haven't taken it to a dealer yet. Touch up paint and keeping it waxed ? Buffing ? Take it to a professional ?

Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks !

Eric

 

1. Use dish soap to remove any wax around the scratch.

2. Get yourself some touchup paint from the dealer (don't reccommend the stuff at parts stores, may not be an exact match).

3. Apply light layers of the paint with a toothpick.

4. Then follow the info in this thread I started about finishing:
https://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=82868

 

Is it down to bare metal? you make want to try some meguirs Scratch-X. Its my favorite scratch remover!

 

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that it went down to the bare metal. It's a thin scratch, so it's hard to tell but the way it feels to my fingernail I'd say down to bare metal.

I'm going to read the post that jmiller20874 suggested and hopefully I can do this myself.

 

If you can feel the scratch, Scratch-X won't do jack. I bought Scratch-X for a scratch that seems very similar to the one you describe and it didn't make a difference.

Scratch-X is good for fine scratches in the clearcoat but that's about it.

 

You might want to try a high end detail shop, mabey they could touch it up for you- touch up paint is never fun to do yourself. Ive used a product called Lanka, which is suppost to remove excess paint- It works OK.....

 

I had a deep 1/2 inch scratch when i just bought the car from Longo Scion.

 

I don't recommend using dish soap on your car. it's abrasive and could cause the scratch to get worse. it's called dish soap for a reason.

 

Dish soap will not scratch your paint. It is good at taking wax off your car.

 

^^^ Agreed. Since when is dish soap abrasive? I'm not talking powdered dishwasher soap, I'm talking about the liquid Palmolive or whatever you keep next to the sink.

 

i used dish soap for my old 93 civic and the car paint turned white.

 

very much agree. we're not using ajax here, dawn dish soap works fine

 

Over time this is what happens.

 

are you sure you used dish wash liquid and not bleach? I know ppl who have used dish wash liquid for over 10 yrs w/o a problem.

If the scratch is down to the metal make sure you clean it thoroughly and then use and anti rust agent...rustoleum makes a decent 1 apply it with a match end lightly and layer, do the same with the paint match you get from the dlr... you should be fine...if you think that you cant handle it dont even bother let the dlr bodyshop do it for you...Im a fine artist so paintings no biggie for me.