Sadly, I need to take care of this because I need to sell the truck. It's time to buy my first house (23) and I'm getting rid of my loves... maybe even the g/f .
Anyways, I have a dent which I'm going to take to a paintless dent remover as suggested, if I can find one around here. And then the scratches... they look even worse than in the pictures at some angles. A body shop said not all of them will buff and polish out, but they're also the guys who were going to charge me $800 to fix my fender, repaint and all sorts of crap. I bought Quixx repair system Scratch Remover last night. It says it'll take out even deep scratches but it says to wetsand. Umm... I can try it if it'll work but it makes me a little nervous, never tried it before. Thoughts? This is all on the passenger side, and one shot is of the tailgate. I have already tried the McGuire's product and an electric cheezy handheld buffer. Nothing. Good thing is you can't feel them, so they're not through clearcoat? Help! Thanks guys.
Scratch Remover won't replace paint, so keep that in mind, though some do have fillers which can help mask scratches.
Generally some finessing by hand with a traditional scratch remover (a pure polish) can help minimize scratches that are not through the paint. I'm not so sure a cheesy buffer is worth it -- knowing which of the dozens of Meguiar's products you used might be helpful, as it gives an idea what may work next or not.
Quixx has had good ratings but like most products, you have to use it right and have reasonable expectations.
Don't expect to wet sand or remove scratches in the textured fender flares and fascia without removing some of the texture, so you need to find a happy medium as you work slowly.
On the areas where color is missing, you may decide to do some factory touch-up first, and try a product like Langka to make it look its best.
There are shops, such as paintless dent shops, that do also specialize in such patchwork cosmetic repairs, and it may be worth your while just to see what they can do.
Scratch Remover won't replace paint, so keep that in mind, though some do have fillers which can help mask scratches.
Generally some finessing by hand with a traditional scratch remover (a pure polish) can help minimize scratches that are not through the paint. I'm not so sure a cheesy buffer is worth it -- knowing which of the dozens of Meguiar's products you used might be helpful, as it gives an idea what may work next or not.
Quixx has had good ratings but like most products, you have to use it right and have reasonable expectations.
Don't expect to wet sand or remove scratches in the textured fender flares and fascia without removing some of the texture, so you need to find a happy medium as you work slowly.
On the areas where color is missing, you may decide to do some factory touch-up first, and try a product like Langka to make it look its best.
There are shops, such as paintless dent shops, that do also specialize in such patchwork cosmetic repairs, and it may be worth your while just to see what they can do.
Thank you for the good and helpful information. I'm actually taking to truck to the nearest Aldent (paintless dent remover) tomorrow to see what they can do with the fender. I'll ask if they can possibly do something with the scratches. The Quixx product has worked best so far, but not quite enough, I suppose the scratches are worse than I originally thought. Now my next idea was to get a touch up pen/paint from Toyota and go over the scratches and try to buff/polish it with the original paint. Would that even work? It seems the Langka you mention is similar to the idea, but a system designed to work together. Have you used this yourself? I'm very interested and willing to try anything that will actually work. Thanks again.
Maybe it's just me, but I can't really tell much from your pictures. However, you stated that you can't feel any of the scratches. So, if you run your fingernail across them, you can't feel any catch at all?
If that's the case, then it should be possible to pretty much buff them out with a good quality polisher like the Porter Cable 7424 or better and the right polish. Low end "buffers" aren't powerful enough for paint correction, they're really more for just applying wax and such. If the paintless dent place you go to can't offer you anything, you might try contacting a reputable, and I repeat reputable, detailer in your area and see what they can do. That would be a lot cheaper than a repaint.
Maybe it's just me, but I can't really tell much from your pictures. However, you stated that you can't feel any of the scratches. So, if you run your fingernail across them, you can't feel any catch at all?
If that's the case, then it should be possible to pretty much buff them out with a good quality polisher like the Porter Cable 7424 or better and the right polish. Low end "buffers" aren't powerful enough for paint correction, they're really more for just applying wax and such. If the paintless dent place you go to can't offer you anything, you might try contacting a reputable, and I repeat reputable, detailer in your area and see what they can do. That would be a lot cheaper than a repaint.
Yeah the paintless dent remover I went to today is very specific in what the do, and they wouldn't even take the fender flare off for me. So, I'll have to do that and take it back to them. It's probably good that they strictly stick to what the know best though. Anyways, you think I professional detailer might be the way to go? The electric buffer I have is a Rockford (I think) from Walmart, it seems to struggle when I apply pressure and using the Quixx by had have yielded more results, but very time consuming. I will look up some local detailers today, thanks again guys.
Yeah the paintless dent remover I went to today is very specific in what the do, and they wouldn't even take the fender flare off for me. So, I'll have to do that and take it back to them. It's probably good that they strictly stick to what the know best though. Anyways, you think I professional detailer might be the way to go? The electric buffer I have is a Rockford (I think) from Walmart, it seems to struggle when I apply pressure and using the Quixx by had have yielded more results, but very time consuming. I will look up some local detailers today, thanks again guys.
Well, I recommended the detailer route based on the fact that you said you couldn't feel any of the scratches. A common test is to run your fingernail across the scratch and if your fingernail DOES catch, then the scratch may be too deep to polish out and would either have to have touch-up paint or be repainted to completely eliminate. If your fingernail does NOT catch, then there's a good chance you can polish it out.
Yeah, any buffer that you bought at WalMart is not going to be any good for paint "correction".
I don't know about Quixx, but I've used Meguiars ScratchX by hand on many a scrape and it DOES take some time and muscle and repeated application, but I've gotten rid of some pretty nasty looking scrapes using it.
If you want to find a good detailer in your area, you might try signing up an autopia.org, posting your pics there and asking for a detailer in your area that would be willing to take a look at it. There are a number of detailers that post there that are in Florida, so you might get some help there.
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I can try it if it'll work but it makes me a little nervous, never tried it before. Thoughts? This is all on the passenger side, and one shot is of the tailgate. I have already tried the McGuire's product and an electric cheezy handheld buffer. Nothing. Good thing is you can't feel them, so they're not through clearcoat? Help! Thanks guys.
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