How do different colors hold up to the abuse of branches running along side of the Jeep?

[JROOO]

White here. Held up really well during my Rubicon trips. Some lighter scratches easily are resolved by wax. The hinge chips are so easy to fix with a Mopar paint pen and can’t tell the difference.

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[Bluebeast]

Turtle wax makes a kit called the black box. I used to use it with my black truck. It's kinda a pain in the butt to use but looks awesome when you're done.

 

[McGilli]

Salesman told me if I'm bushwackin' to get billet silver if I want the least visible scratches from branches.

I got black. I can see the scratches pretty easily - that's another reason I don't wash my Jeep now lol so the dirt just hides it all

 

[Gorilla57]

Mojito seems to hide pinstriping rather well, at least until it goes down to the dark primer.

I'll second that. Here in AZ, every plant out there is trying to stab you. So, I was pleasantly surprised when the Jeep came home after it's first wheeling trip with only scratches in the fenders and hardtop.

 

[shekmark]

Anyone tried ceramic coat or some clear film application? I would think it would help?

 

[aldo98229]

I have several coats of Klasse (synthetic polymer) on my JL and it helps.

We went off-roading four weeks ago, and we got into a tight trail with lots of overgrowth. The Jeep got pretty banged up by some pretty thick branches.

I was certain I was going to have trail striping. But when I washed the Jeep, to my surprise all the scuffs came off!

 

[Bryce]

Sting gray is holding up well for me. Ya, if you are inspecting with a magnifying glass you can see the stripes, but back up a few steps and it looks good.

Surprisingly, the painted parts of my fenders look better than the black plastic.

 

[Bruce Willys]

Sarge Green is not holding up very well to scratches, but luckily it's usually too dirty to see them. I live in the Pacific Northwest and frequent overgrown/rarely used trails, all of my 4x4s have ended up looking this way sooner rather than later, it's unavoidable on a lot of narrow forest trails. I'm grateful that the fenders are unpainted. This is after one month of use/ownership:

 

[The Fixer]

I'd have to say Billet Silver is one of the best at hiding scratches and such. My son drives a silver '03 KJ that my wife bought new in September of '02. While it hasn't been offroaded, it's been daily driven and never garaged in 18 years. Silver has held up really well to parking lot battle scars and other stuff.

 

[Token]

Sting Grey ..... LOTS of pinstripes. Probably doesn’t help that I’m in a group that does local trail development, and often find myself being the “benchmark” to see how wide of a vehicle can make it through. Wouldn’t have it any other way!

 

[Chief_Dan]

Sting Gray here as well. As Bryce said it is doing a great job. My 1990 Toyota 4x4 is Silver metallic & it has always hidden scratches well.

Black fenders & top, not so much. But, I am going to try Raptor/Line-X color matched on them & see how it looks. I may do the mirrors & door handles if it looks good.

But, I am impressed with Sting Gray.

 

[Abend]

I've driven through lots of trees, brush, and bushes on narrow trails here in Kentucky and it takes A LOT for a scratch to show up on my Hellayella. It just got its first visible scratch down the whole length of the jeep from a cut-off tree branch that was sticking into the trail and unavoidable. I need to put a bit of wax on there to get rid of it, but just rubbing it with my finger is enough to make it disappear. I'm certain if it were a dark color like black or blue it would take a whole lot more work to get rid of.

I'd give silver a big thumbs up too - my old F150 was silver and it never showed any scratches, dents, or dirt and it was covered with all three.

 

[1996cc]

Here’s a video of the damage a stiff branch did to mine. I was on a Search and Rescue call in the snow and dark. I didn’t give myself as much clearance as I thought and this happened. My detailer got most of it out, but even he said it was pretty bad.

Video of scratch

 

[mgroeger]

Black is so bad it will even show your thoughts if they have scratches... lol, but it is what it is. Tried to tell the Mrs. that and she now agrees Granite Crystal would have been a better choice. We've had one paint correction done already to fix some very deep scratches we got in Ouray. But hey... it's all part of off roading so you accept it and enjoy the Jeep for what it is... #NOTamallcrawler.

 

[Need4Speed]

I think that part of the question should be what color does the clearcoat become when scratched. Having had black vehicles for over 30 years clear coat, when scrapped, seems to turn white, so a white or silver car is best at hiding light scratches (nothing through the clearcoat).

Black scratches so easily that fingernails on the door handle cup area leave white marks. Every time my father in-law drove my black truck there were white scratches on the drivers door handle and when he opened the tailgate he would drag his fingernails from the tailgate handle to the top of the tailgate. Had a neighbors dog put his paws up to the drivers window and leave scratch marks.

I have three different grits of buffing compound and as long as the scratch is not through the clear coat can get them removed. We also have a white car and a pearl diamond white one that I have never had to touch for scratches and scrapes. I assume they are just as scratched up, but you just don't see them. I do have to touch up rock chips on the white ones, but with some work can fill, sand, and buff them out.

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