The Truth About Scratches

[John VonJeep]

* It’s not going to buff out.

* Ceramic won’t help with scratches. It will help with surface contaminants.

* To really prevent them, you need full paint protection film.

* PPF is always expensive. Painfully expensive. Like $5-7k expensive.

* Scratched plastic will remain scratched. You can’t fix it or heal it.

* The hardtop is painted. If you scratch it, it will remain scratched.

* Waxing and polishing can cover scratches temporarily but won’t remove them. An orbital buffer won’t remove them (unless they are extremely superficial).

* When you drove through that brush, you damaged your paint. Call it character if you want. But you damaged your paint and reduced your resale value.

* If you really plan to use your Jeep (and you should!) your options are 1) white paint so scratches are hard to see, 2) not caring (good luck with that, deep down), or PPF. That’s it. There’s no ceramic shortcut or anything.

* Driving carefully when near brush can really help. You’ll avoid many scratches, and the ones you do get won’t be as bad.

* There’s nothing wrong with caring about your paint. Just don’t let it stop you from enjoying your Jeep.

Thank you for attending my TED Talk.

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[Jim1964]

White paint FTW.

Other techniques I have used:

Trade on a rainy day.
Trade it in dirty and unwashed.

Seriously, most dealers don’t give a damn, insofar as valuation. I’ve traded vehicles wet, dirty, and full of dog hair. Didn’t change the bottom line one bit.

The last private party sale I did was a Texas border patrol vehicle before I bought it. Every part of that thing was pinstriped, even the glass. I didn’t care when I bought it. Neither did the guy I sold it to.

 

[entropy]

Keep your Jeep long term. You will stop caring so much about scratches. The party buying it from you is expecting a 7~10 year old car to have scratches. Even 5 years. A professional detailer will polish it and it'll look so nice the buyer won't really care. Enjoy life.

 

[ViperJon]

Ceramic coatings are one of the biggest detailing scams ever perpetrated on the car buying public. They are marketed as some kind of protective coating but as noted above they do NOTHING. A $20.00 wax or sealant a couple times a year will work equally well, which means not at all against scratches and surface damage. And save a lot of money for gas. And beer.

 

[Jeepeto]

It's all made up and the points don't matter

I choose #2, the first few are the hardest, and then it's smooth sailing.

I absolutely could not do this with my WRX, and I had to sell it because of that. I was so meticulous about the paint and keeping everything pristine that I couldn't enjoy the vehicle. Somehow the Jeep fits in the category of "tools" in my brain. It's my adventure tool and for it to show wear is acceptable in the same way having wear on a table saw or drill doesn't break my heart.

I've also noticed that even after so much attention to keeping the WRX perfect, after 3 years it was spotless save for ever so slight swirls in the top coat from inevitable wash marks (try as I might with two bucket hand washes, it's hard to be perfect) It makes almost zero difference to the next buyer who immediately drives it through an automatic wash and goes about their day. It didn't fetch any more money than it would have if I had driven it through an automatic wash each week. I guess the moral of the story is, enjoy your rig, your way. and if you can manage to convince yourself that it's a tool it's quite rewarding.

(edit: I didn't mean to compare "love marks" to brush stripes here, but here we are)

 

[MeatRack]

It's all made up and the points don't matter [my favorite show]


I absolutely could not do this with my WRX, and I had to sell it because of that. I was so meticulous about the paint and keeping everything pristine that I couldn't enjoy the vehicle. Somehow the Jeep fits in the category of "tools" in my brain. It's my adventure tool and for it to show wear is acceptable in the same way having wear on a table saw or drill doesn't break my heart.

I drive a 2015 Subaru Impreza, not a WRX sadly, and I think Subarus get scratches and door dings if the wind gets above 5MPH (even if the car is in the garage). I had a previous 2004 Impreza and it was bad too. Thinnest damn panels on any vehicle I've ever had.

The idea of a Jeep as a tool is a good one. I'm going to try and think that way. I hope I can do it.

 

[Jeepeto]

I drive a 2015 Subaru Impreza, not a WRX sadly, and I think Subarus get scratches and door dings if the wind gets above 5MPH (even if the car is in the garage). I had a previous 2004 Impreza and it was bad too. Thinnest damn panels on any vehicle I've ever had.

The idea of a Jeep as a tool is a good one. I'm going to try and think that way. I hope I can do it.

Like I said, the first couple hurt, just like dropping your drill for the first time, but in time, you forget that it was ever an issue. (short of body damage). I drag branches across Jeepeto without much thought. It leaves marks but nothing drastic (usually), from 10 feet with a coat of wax you can't really tell, and that's good enough for me. The marks that are there are reminders of good times, I'm never mad at them.

 

[brennaman]

Ceramic coatings are one of the biggest detailing scams ever perpetrated on the car buying public. They are marketed as some kind of protective coating but as noted above they do NOTHING. A $20.00 wax or sealant a couple times a year will work equally well, which means not at all against scratches and surface damage. And save a lot of money for gas. And beer.

Not sure why you think ceramic coatings are a scam. To say they do NOTHING is not true. If you like a car that looks waxed, but don't want to wax it as often, a ceramic coat is nice. Will it stop scratches, no but that is not what it is for. It lasts longer than a wax, and that alone is why some people like it.
There are snake oil salesmen that make it out to be more than it really is, you can still scratch your paint, but it is a good protectant that lasts longer than wax.

 

[jessedacri]

* It’s not going to buff out.

* Ceramic won’t help with scratches. It will help with surface contaminants.

* To really prevent them, you need full paint protection film.

* PPF is always expensive. Painfully expensive. Like $5-7k expensive.

* Scratched plastic will remain scratched. You can’t fix it or heal it.

* The hardtop is painted. If you scratch it, it will remain scratched.

* Waxing and polishing can cover scratches temporarily but won’t remove them. An orbital buffer won’t remove them (unless they are extremely superficial).

* When you drove through that brush, you damaged your paint. Call it character if you want. But you damaged your paint and reduced your resale value.

* If you really plan to use your Jeep (and you should!) your options are 1) white paint so scratches are hard to see, 2) not caring (good luck with that, deep down), or PPF. That’s it. There’s no ceramic shortcut or anything.

* Driving carefully when near brush can really help. You’ll avoid many scratches, and the ones you do get won’t be as bad.

* There’s nothing wrong with caring about your paint. Just don’t let it stop you from enjoying your Jeep.

Thank you for attending my TED Talk.

Meh. I bought my Jeep to use it and enjoy it to its fullest, not to care about the person who buys it 8 years later or the extra thousand dollars that person may pay. Mine is white, so I have that going for me - but worrying about or even thinking about scratches every time I brush against some twigs sort of defeats the purpose for me.

Here's mine, topless and doorless coming out of a weekend of camping amidst thunderstorms wheeling up Gold Mountain yesterday, with a tarp bungeed to the cargo area to keep the stuff dry. It's a Jeep, use it!

 

[acomputernerd]

I will say Kentucky pin striping is painful but a couple weeks ago it crossed a line and scratched my hood for the first time. Though I would get away with it but oh no seemed like a sxs trail but we went anyways.

I still love the Snazzberry color and would buy it again if offered even though I try and use it as much as I can. What about adding stickers? Full body decals to distract the eye. No plans to sell it with the fun I am having.

 

[roaniecowpony]

Friend was driving my, then 1 year old, white, crewcab GMC and wanted to show me a new place to hunt quail in SE AZ. Took a trail that started ok, but narrowed up with brush. No turn around spots. It was tight enough that it would have rubbed a Jeep, let alone that wide truck. We were pushing a 6ft wide truck thru what looked like 4ft wide trail. It completely schredded that paint. Worse brush rubbing I've ever been in a vehicle. And I've been in a lot. But those were old battle-scarred vehicles. Mine was new-ish.

Fast forward 6 years later...I decided to shine up my neglected truck in 2021, while the pandemic was still restricting some activities and I was retired by then anyway. I put my long throw orbital to use on it and quickly found out 2 things: the scratches are deep, and the clearcoat was hard as nails. Coarser pad and compound...not good enough. Sanding block and 1500 grit. That got it done. More buffing with multiple pads/compounds and it looked damn good. I even went to my rotary that clear was so hard. No burns or burn throughs. I left a few scratches that were deep enough I worried they were thru the clearcoat. But damn, that was a lot of work. Finished the front and cab. The bed still isn't touched. Maybe this year. LOL.

 

[rickinAZ]

Friend was driving my, then 1 year old, white, crewcab GMC and wanted to show me a new place to hunt quail in SE AZ. Took a trail that started ok, but narrowed up with brush. No turn around spots. It was tight enough that it would have rubbed a Jeep, let alone that wide truck. We were pushing a 6ft wide truck thru what looked like 4ft wide trail. It completely schredded that paint. Worse brush rubbing I've ever been in a vehicle. And I've been in a lot. But those were old battle-scarred vehicles. Mine was new-ish.

Fast forward 6 years later...I decided to shine up my neglected truck in 2021, while the pandemic was still restricting some activities and I was retired by then anyway. I put my long throw orbital to use on it and quickly found out 2 things: the scratches are deep, and the clearcoat was hard as nails. Coarser pad and compound...not good enough. Sanding block and 1500 grit. That got it done. More buffing with multiple pads/compounds and it looked damn good. I even went to my rotary that clear was so hard. No burns or burn throughs. I left a few scratches that were deep enough I worried they were thru the clearcoat. But damn, that was a lot of work. Finished the front and cab. The bed still isn't touched. Maybe this year. LOL.

Your story was exceptionally kind to your friend. Good rule-of-thumb: let the vehicle owner incur the first scratches.

 

[roaniecowpony]

Meh. I bought my Jeep to use it and enjoy it to its fullest, not to care about the person who buys it 8 years later or the extra thousand dollars that person may pay. Mine is white, so I have that going for me - but worrying about or even thinking about scratches every time I brush against some twigs sort of defeats the purpose for me.

Here's mine, topless and doorless coming out of a weekend of camping amidst thunderstorms wheeling up Gold Mountain yesterday, with a tarp bungeed to the cargo area to keep the stuff dry. It's a Jeep, use it!

We were up there in June. Nobody there on a weekday except for a couple dirtbikes. When we were airing up on the other side, 3 jeep 4 doors were pulling in to run it downhill.

I'm planning on running Holcomb and John Bull this year after I get some tires and a lift.

 

[ZigZag]

I firmly believe that a good coat of dirt/mud will sacrificially protect my paint and body from almost all things.

 

[Mudduck]

White paint FTW.

Other techniques I have used:

Trade on a rainy day.
Trade it in dirty and unwashed.

Seriously, most dealers don’t give a damn, insofar as valuation. I’ve traded vehicles wet, dirty, and full of dog hair. Didn’t change the bottom line one bit.

The last private party sale I did was a Texas border patrol vehicle before I bought it. Every part of that thing was pinstriped, even the glass. I didn’t care when I bought it. Neither did the guy I sold it to.

I went with white Raptor Liner........ No scratches.

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