Scratch Magnet?

[phil4]

Had the car from new, bought in December, and has done 8000 miles... with a fair bit of motorway trecking.

Noticed when cleaning recently both front bumpers had a fair degree of scratching... Surprisingly not across the front, but rather the "corners", basically up the sides just outside the fog lights.

Wondered if anyone else had noticed, and am wondering if it's an aerodynamic issue... sending grit and gravel that way... or something else (car wash perhaps?).

Have attached an image showing the area of the scracthes, and fwiw they're horizontal scratches, quite fine.

[Aimhigh]

Car wash? Yikes. Death and swirls to your paintwork.

My gen2 prius has similar striations which i took to be grit in the air streaming past the car as I zoom along the motorway.

My soon to be here 2010 gen 3 will be subject to much more motorway travel so your observations are useful. Shame they don't sell some form of bumper 'bra' here (like they do in the USA)

Modern paints are water based, quite thin and brittle. Toyota paint seems to be very prone to chipping and scratches compared to my old LR Discovery 3.

Russ

[phil4]

Car wash? Yikes. Death and swirls to your paintwork.

Agreed, I've never put though a carwash, though judging by the swirls already present, I suspect my local dealer does... or something equally horrendous.

[Fluffmeister]

Nooooooooo, not a car wash. 2 bucket method for washing with a lambs wool mitten and micro fibre's for drying, then swirl free you shall be :)

Loads of info around, you don't have to be to anal with the cleaning, but a 2 bucket wash method really works.

Have a look at http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog/safe-washing-and-drying.html for some very useful guides on washing / drying etc.

[Aimhigh]

So how do you keep your highly expensive lambs wool mitten clean? sponges start to get oily and dirty very quickly but being cheaper can be disposed off when they get too bad (or relegated to the wheels and inside wheel wells.

I quite liked the Flash cleaning systems but its hard to get supplies these days. The autodry does away with the need to dry - water just runs off without leaving white marks.

[Fluffmeister]

So how do you keep your highly expensive lambs wool mitten clean? sponges start to get oily and dirty very quickly but being cheaper can be disposed off when they get too bad (or relegated to the wheels and inside wheel wells.

I quite liked the Flash cleaning systems but its hard to get supplies these days. The autodry does away with the need to dry - water just runs off without leaving white marks.

The Flash cleaning system was good for cleaning, but no good for protection, it actually strips all the wax from your paint.

My microfibres and lambswool mitt's go in the washing machine at 30 deg with a bit of fairy non bio and no fabric softener, they come out good as new. I don't use the lambswool mitt on heavily soiled area's, I normally presoak my car with snowfoam, then pressure wash it off ready for the hand wash with the mitt.

Sponges tend to soak up and hold onto grit so can be pretty harmful on soft paint.

I am no expert, but learnt a lot from having my cars detailed by a pro, picking up some tips, then buying good quality wash / wax products myself and cracking on with it.

www.detailingworld.com has all the info and help you may need.

[reece]

Why aren’t the words ’Car wash’ in the swear filter?!

[Aimhigh]

This is the flash cleaning system,

I didnt know that it removed the wax (says it doesnt)

Anyway, the car wash solution is difficult to find now and I will use the autodry feature (hard water area) as long as I can. But it is a twin bucket / lambswool mitt for my new car.

[Chris Dance]

I can usually eliminate scratches but I am getting small chips on the front of the car which are annoying to me but others say they are nothing and they have to be pointed out to see them. I do have touch up paint but it is hard to get a good chip repair on metallic paint. Most of the chips on the car bonnet have come from motorway driving. I rarely use a car wash only when the car requires under wash as well and I never employ the guys who hand wash cars at Tescos.

[Aimhigh]

Chris,

Exactly the same happened to my Gen 2, which is why I am convinced the paint is brittle or something. I have resigned myself to mixing the clear coat with the paint and just doing my best on the chips. Its inevitable if you travel at high speed on the motorway.

Phil4, with regard to your scratches, could you have brushed by some bushes - that might cause such scratching.

R

[phil4]

Phil4, with regard to your scratches, could you have brushed by some bushes - that might cause such scratching.

R

I thought exactly that, but it's on both sides... and haven't ever been anywhere where that would occur.

[Doesn'tExist]

Well firstly it is nice and soft japanese paint, secondly my wife's Murano and my Navara have exactly the same on both sides...Japanese paint quality again, aerodynamics don't have anything to do with it....Our stupidly dirty roads do...

PS. I always state no cleaning on the dealers paperwork....

[flow]

I've noticed lots of scaratches on my Black Prius - Mainly on the upper front wing near the headlight clusters. Ive also got a small stone type chip on the rear bumper but it looks like paint has literally peeled off.

How did they happen? Not a clue, but im sure the quality of the paint job is not upto scratch (no pun intended). There are quite a few posts over on Priuschat about the paintwork.