Its official, i absolutely have lost all faith in humanity....

Last night i went out to have a few drinks with some friends. This morning i noticed a HUGE key scratch down the side of my truck.

Some jackhole decided to add their own pinstrips with their key and keyed the entire length of both doors end to end.
I am pissed off beyond words to express thru typing.

I never do anything to anyone, and im actually a nice person to nearly everyone, so i dont understand if it was intended towards me or if it was just a random act.


How do i get the scratch to blend out without having to have a costly repaint on both doors? I know i have read somewhere about some of you guys' mircles with a touch up pen and buffing.

Should i lightly fill the scratch with touch up then wet sand with a high grit, then buff out the area? It looks like they only took the topcoat and the blue. i can see the primer and it didnt go down to bare metal. The scratch is only about 1-2 mils deep.

Please shed some light this for me,
I will post up a pic as soon as i can stomach to look at it again...
man im disgusted.

 

I would imagine touch it up and then wet sand would probably work best, but I dont have any expereience in this field...so dont take my word for it

 

Can you post a pic of it?

 

We're going to need to see some pictures...

 

best i can do right now. ill get some better ones tomorrow in the light

the second one looks wide only because its a closeup, its a very fine line. it actually is about as wide as a spiderweb.

 

I would say... Assuming its not deep, maybe try Scratchx?

If that does not work, touch up and wet sand sounds good....

But again, Im not an expert.

 

I dont think scratch-x is gonna do it for this one. it took out my front fender scratches but those were minor and on the clear... this one is a little deeper.
It took off the clear and blue in most of the area. If the weather is better tomorrow ill put up some better pics. its really nasty and LOOONG... if it were a silver truck it may not be so noticable... but god its a long white line all the way down both doors. Uggh i hate vandalizers. I really wish i knew who it was. This is the second time i was keyed there. They got my black blazer at that same bar about three years ago, same place, driver door. Im not ever going there again in my vehicle... hell its only like 6 blocks from my house, ill walk there.

 

same bar? I'd be staking it out waiting for them to do it to someone else's car then get them so busted, arrested, beat them with a bat, etc...!

May have to bite the bullet and pay the insurance deductible and get it resprayed if it went through the clear. I'd hate for it to not completely come out then have a constant reminder of it.

Then after the aforementioned stake-out sue them for damages!

 

Sorry about the scratch and sorry I am late to the thread. From the photo it didn't look too deep but that could be just deceiving....

Did you try some scratchx?

 

Just put some scratch-x on it. it didnt do much.
The scratch is really thin, not like your typical keyed scratches that go down to the metal. This one is very light. its about the thickness of a sheet of paper. i can bearly feel it when i run my finger over it.

It did go thru the color though. I think im going to have to add paint somehow. Im really unsure of how it will look if i add touch up with a pen then wet sand and polish. Do touchups have the paint and clear all mixed it?

I really hate to collect insurance to get it fixed, i think my deductible is ridiculously high. I have two body shop friends that can probaby do it alot cheaper. I need to ask them thier opinion as i know its hard to diagnose something with pics. Heres three more though, just to see if you guys come up with ideas.

 

Great photos...again, sorry about this..that really sucks ballz

What did you use to work the SX? How much pressure did you use?

If you didn't, try again using a little more pressure but before you do, know that when you use SX and press hard you will have to polish and rewax the area.

And by pressing hard I don't meet as hard as you can...

But as you said, if its all the way through, nothing is going to cover it...you could try some of that dyed wax but I have no experience with that.

Just a thought

Back to camping now.....

Cheers

 

I'd lightly wet sand the scratch and hit it with a rotary buffer or find someone who can.It's really hard to tell from the pics, but it looks like the scratch is pretty deep into the clear but didn't go all the way through it.

 

I cant tell if its scuffed clear or if its to the primer... If the former, you are in luck. Some work on your part will do fine (ie: rubbing compound, polishing compound, #80, wetsanding, etc). If the latter, yuo are in need of either a body shop or a paitn repair deal. If I was you, I would go to the nearest FMC dealer, get a touch up pen, and try it. It is a paint code match and should get pretty close. But if that doesnt look good, go t the body guys. They can get a great match if they are good.

I would ove to be of more assistance, but the touch up I did sucked-- the paitn didnt get very close... And I am too cheap to get it repainted since there is body damage anyways. But do a search-- there is a plethora of info on here.

Sorry to hear about this, sorry to be late to the thread, and I wish the best of luck to you.

 

Thanks for taking time out of your weekend to help out guys, i do appreciate it. You cant imagine how this incident ruined my weekend. Ill be going at it tomorrow to see what i can do.


I used med pressure with an applicator pad. Tomorrow i might go at it with a MF and a bit higher pressure. I dont mind repolishing and rewaxing, but i dont think its going to get it.


So worse comes to worse, im going to need a body shop to do some work right? I might have a go at it with some wetsanding.
Its really hard for me to tell if it went thru the paint or not.
It is a very very thin scratch, but when you look at it, its pretty bright white, which is why i think it may have taken the blue... but like i said its super thin.
Im not sure how many coats of clear the factory does, or how thick they spray it.


So heres what i think im going to do, please add suggestions if you feel inclined to do so, especially on the grit i need to be using for wetsanding.

Im going to clean the entire two doors (its been raining, you tx guys know what i mean)

then i think im going to go at it very lightly with some wet 800, then go a little further out with some wet 2000 or so.

after that, im going to hit it with turtle wax rubbing compound. i may pull out the dewalt rotory for it and go slow and light otherwise im going to use a small pad on a rotory acc on either the drill or a small air rotory. i think the two latter ones would be easier and more controlable for the small area.

Im going to probaby hit it hard once then do a light one then switch to a bit of scratch-x to get any remaining swirls/ fine scratches.

then polishing compound. Ill do the same drill/air rotory for the polishing.

hit with some glaze and then rewax.

Now heres the million dollar question, should i fill the scratch with some touch-up first then start this process or just try it and see if it comes out, and if not then go the touch-up route?

If it werent on such a prominent panel i wouldnt mind going at it with the wetsand, but one mistake and im screwed on a very noticable panel.

damn, i just remembered that i have some touch-up mixed too, from when we sprayed my door handles and mirrors, but it needs to be cleared as its only the base. If all else fails im probaby going to fill it and then keep it waxed till i can get it resprayed...


Thanks once again guys, ill get some pics of either my success or my failure tomorrow eve.

 

Fabian06SC,

I am home all day today .. if you want to bring it by .. we can take a crack at it and see what we can accomplish ..