My truck is less than a year old, and I spent nearly $50K on it. I'm a clean truck nut, and I actually enjoy returning my truck to showroom gloss every time there's a nice weekend. Well, here we are, on Easter Sunday, and I'm outside with my kid, so I start doing a walk around, cleaning the truck off with Meguiar's quick detailer (an excellent product). Low and behold, I've got scratches and swirl marks EVERYWHERE. I guess I just haven't noticed since it's been cruddy out the paste couple months, but this looks like SH-T to me.
My last truck was an '05 Dodge and I washed it at the exact same car wash and took the same good care of it, and I never had this problem. My Tundra has several deep scratches that need paint, and hundreds of light scratches from car wash brushes, I'd assume.
Now, I assume this is from the new Earth-Friendly water based auto paint that the manufacturers are using. Well, this is totally unacceptable. I've tried Nu Finish Scratch Remover and Meguiars ultimate scratch doctor, and neither work worth a crap. I don't know what to do.
Next truck I buy, I might just go directly to a paint shop and get a real coat of paint. Then I might go directly to Ziebarts and get their clear coat protectant service. I HATE scratches and swirls! Here's a big F-U to all you tree hugging hippies that ruined auto paint.
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Try some Meguiar's swirl remover but not by hand. Use a polisher that goes round and round (as opposed to a random orbital motion), use a good quality foam pad from a body shop supply store, and work the polisher on the slowest speed possible. This will give much better results compared with work done by hand.
I never have taken any of my vehicles to an automatic car wash because of the problems mentioned. Yes the paint is not as good these days. Sorry to hear of your problems and I can imagine your frustration.
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I bought my BLACK crewmax in June 2007. Nearly 2 years later, it looks like it's years older than it truly is. I was very disappointed. It got to the point that I didn't even bother washing it anymore because I knew I'd be rewarded with more blemishes. Traded it on a white Sequoia this weekend, and will never buy a black vehicle that does not have metallic paint again.
I do agree about vehicle paint jobs these days but, If you truly cared about your paintjob you would never use a carwash brush. Handwashing is the only way to go.
My 97 dodge(165k traded for my 08dblcb)single cab v6 was only bout 2 months old when I left work after nite shift (7 am) when I was T boned by a drunk in a ford escort. It was halarias the little damage done to my truck the escort was totaled big time. Still got 3500$ from drunks ins co. then a month later a hail storm of biblical proportions came threw and put about 10,000 golf ball size dents in the truck(8,000$ my ins. co) At this point I gave up, dropped the collision ins. and ran her till she was wore out. It is sickening how a new truck can get so scratched up. Don't know about painting a new truck, but it makes you tempted to let someone shoot abour 5 coats of clear coat.
Last edited by waiting tundra; 04-12-2009 at 03:57 PM.
Got a 2yr old 07 Blk Tundra and my paint actually looks better then when I bought it new, just depends on how you take care of it in MHO. Mine is also garage kept and is only handwashed and dried with the best microfibers & machine polished with my PC.
Not saying Meguiar's products are not any good, but they don't compare to the products that one can purchase from places like autogeek.
LOL. WHy didn't you seek a touchless car wash? I have one near where I live at home and I use it solely to wash my Tundra anytime it needs one... now to figure out why the plastic trim above the driver comes out of its groove when I'm under the dryer while departing the wash..
Try some Meguiar's swirl remover but not by hand. Use a polisher that goes round and round (as opposed to a random orbital motion), use a good quality foam pad from a body shop supply store, and work the polisher on the slowest speed possible. This will give much better results compared with work done by hand.
That or the OP can always find a touchless car wash..
I always hand wash my truck and it also looks like someone took a dookie on it.
My truck is black and looks terrible. Must be thousands of scratches everywhere.
-rockstate
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My old truck saw automatic car washes 3, maybe 4 times in 5 years. There were times when I'd let it go for a few months till I got the time to hand wash rather than going to an automatic wash. Swirlmarks and scratches didn't really start to show up intil the first time I went through an automatic wash. Even then they never got bad because it didn't see car washes very much and tend to be a bit fanatical about my methods(multiple mits that are rinsed out continuously, different towels to dry top, middle, and bottom of the truck.) I've had my 09 2 weeks now, been having busy weekends but planning on taking all of either next Saturday or Sunday to do a proper wash and wax.
Pretty much every time you rub something against your paint, no matter how soft it is or whether its microfiber this or soft mit that, you're creating scratches and swirls. Somethings are just designed to minimize it a little better than others.
That or the OP can always find a touchless car wash..
Sanosuke!
Correct brother....a wand wash is "touchless" and although it can cause problems if the nozzle is held too close to the paint, handled properly it is one of the least likely washing methods to create scratches / swirls because no rubbing ever occurs.
Chances are it's something that you are doing that is causing the micro marring and scratches. Most scratches are caused by the wash and dry process than regular driving. I do agree though that the paint on the truck is very soft, but it can be controlled. Go to http:We Are Car Care -- Car Wax, Car Polish, Auto Detailing Supplies, Car Buffers & Car Accessories Store and check out the forums. There are much better products than the one's that you are using.
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I always hand wash my truck and it also looks like someone took a dookie on it.
My truck is black and looks terrible. Must be thousands of scratches everywhere.
-rockstate
yah, but as you are constantly saying, you treat your truck the way you think it was designed for. So I am not surprised it's all scratched up.
My silver still looks brand new after a year and a half. I will never take it to a car wash. I wash it carefully by hand and keep a good coat of wax on it.
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Last edited by wildbill129; 04-12-2009 at 09:25 PM.
Back in the 80's I bought a used black ford taurus that had a million swirl marks on it. Bought some black car polish that did a pretty good job of hiding the swirl marks. Course the polish only lasted a month or so at the time,but thats ok cause the car didn't last a whole lot longer than that(wiring harness fried itself).
I've had it with this PAINT
Re: I've had it with this PAINT
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