Toyota Echo Scratches

L

landshark

New member
Hi Everyone,

I've got another question and I know several of the forum members can offer some guidance. Pictured below is the roof of my 2004 Toyota Echo 5-Door hatch. I'm sorry about the crummy cell phone picture but hopefully the full-size image can show some of the issues with this car.

This is my wife's car and she's always kept it clean, even through long, rough Calgary winters. Bless her heart, she tried, but this car has seen frequent washings at the quarter car wash using the "foaming brush technique." Yes, I'm being sarcastic.

I've taken over caring for this car and just recently got serious about trying to solve some paint issues. As you can see, the paint is quite glossy and smooth now. I just completed a multi-step job on this car. I used the following products and tools:

Wash with Dawn, decon with Iron-X on lower panels.
Clay with Pinnacle Poly
PC7424
Polish with M105, LC CSS yellow pad
Seal/glaze with Megs No. 5, LC CSS green pad
Colonite 845

echoscratches.jpg


Hopefully the pictures show my dilemma: can you see the deep scratches that run fore and aft along the roof line? Some are quite deep yet they don't catch a fingernail or cause drag on a MF towel. Is there a way to eliminate these unsightly marks without sanding?

This car is a bit of a test bed for me with various products and techniques. I don't want to go nuts but I'd love to learn how to up my game a bit and hopefully make my wife's car look better than it does. She already receives a lot of compliments on it (even if it is just an Echo :rofl) but hey, a decent car is still an investment and we hope to drive this car until it falls apart.

Thanks in advance for the advice. I anxiously away to hear from everyone!

echoscratches.jpg
 
Man, if M105 and a yellow pad didnt get it, your going to have to go even further to remove it, try to hide it, or live with it. Light sanding will almost defiantly take care of it. 3000 grit would be the safest grit to use that would still correct the problem with a little patience. How many passes did you make over these areas with the compound? It may be that it just needs a little more work time with the PC.
 
I did one pass with the M105 and yellow pad. Based on your suggestion, I'll work it a couple of more times. Should I just go straight to the M105 after a wash, or do you suggest I strip the 845 with something first? Thanks Mr. Clean!
 
The compound would probably remove the wax, but it wouldn't hurt to clay it anyway. Dawn will also remove it.
 
I would just go to 105 after washing if you clayed recently. 105 will remove the protection. After you finish I would remove the polishing oils and any remaining protection with dawn, IPA or Carpro Eraser.
 
Landshark -

Welcome to this awesome Forum.
You did a great job of cleaning up the paint! She looks very shiny !
But if you only made 1 pass with Meguiars on a yellow pad, I dont think you got the Meguiars to go through its initial fast-dry stage and then with a little moisture, get back to work and finish down really nicely stage. Especially with a Random Orbital. It would just have to take longer and you are on speed 5-6, right ? You want pad rotation as much as possible.
However, on some paints, Meguiars 105 may leave some slight swirling in the paint, and the usual procedure is to get Meguiars 205 and finish it down really nicely with say, a white pad.
If this roof is the only area that looks this way, you can just say Im good, and no one is ever going to say - "hey your roof has some slight scratches in it". :)
You have it looking so nice now, perhaps wait till Spring and see how it looks then ?

You are doing a great job !!!
Dan F
 
Well, I took the advice of others here and took another shot at this. I taped off a 2'x2' area and re-worked the M105 in two more times, washing in between applications. I applied the M105 again with my yellow pad until nearly all of the compound was gone. The results are pretty unbelievable. I think my initial issue was technique. The scratches in question are nearly gone...like mrclean81 said, to completely get rid of the scratches I'll need to sand. Not saying this car isn't worth it, but I think that's a bit unrealistic for this daily driver. I'll complete the car in the next few days here and post up the finished product. Thanks again to everyone for their information!
 
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