Quick question- new Rav4

Y

yamichi

New member
Ok it's not NEW... it's about a year old. My wife's 2008 black Rav4 is in need of some love.

It has three places with some shallow scratches. One is from our border collie trying to see in the window from the outside, one is a pigtail across the rear quarter, one is where I initially thought it got keyed then my wife told me she drove through a bush... sigh.





So... I'm a noob to this stuff but I have a PC and I have used it a little bit but I wanted a little reassurance/input before I tackled my wife's shiny new ride. I know I need to start with the least aggressive setup possible. What I'd like to know is if any of you have worked on late model toyotas... is it a thick and/or hard clearcoat? Is it something that is going to be forgiving or something that I need to be super delicate with? Any thoughts or input?
 
Heyas, yamichi, sorry to hear about the scratches... especially on black paint!



If it were me, I'd think twice about trying to actually *remove* the scratches. However, I would do my best to make them less visible.



Again, if this were my vehicle, here's what I'd do...



1. Thoroughly wash and then clay the car.



2. Use a PC with an orange LC pad and meguiar's M205 polish. You'll probably need to do at least two applications over the entire vehicle to get all the swirls out, and the larger defects (like your scratches) minimized.



3. Do one more application of M205 with a zero bite pad. Whatever make/color you decide is fine, just make sure it's a zero bite pad. This will *really* pop the gloss on that black paint.



4. Use a highly concealing glaze. If you're going to use a sealant as an LSP, then I'd recommend using Danase Wet Glaze, followed by your sealant of choice. If you're going to use a carnauba based LSP, I'd recommend Red Moose Machine Glaze or Meguair's Show Car Glaze, followed by your wax of choice.



5. Learn a good maintenance wash method to prevent the swirls from coming back. 99.99% of all swirls are caused by washing. Hint: The two bucket method ain't gonna help, but this will: http://www.autopia.org/forum/guide-detailing/35232-accumulator-s-non-marring-wash-technique.html



I like new Toyota paint. While the old stuff was a bit on the soft side, the newer paint is a bit harder. Still easily correctable without being too easily marred.



Let us know how it goes? :)
 
Excellent advice.

Rather than your step 3, my plan was to go to Megs No. 3 on a black or red LC pad. How would that work out?



None of the swirls are from my care of the car. The pigtails were there when we got the car and the other scratches appeared in the incidents I mentioned. My 16 year old supra has super soft paint and I haven't had any trouble at all with swirling so I'm fairly confident of my ability to wash and clay them... I'm learning but I need to practice polishing. Thank you in advance and I'll get to work.
 
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