light scratches under door handle and wax recs?

[desmo907]

I have an 04 4Runner Sport 4x4 V6 in white. I notice that there are light scratches (apparently from my finely tuned nails) in the recess area of the door handle area.
Its sorta odd ... should i just use wax to try to take it off?


I have not yet waxed my 04 and am wondering what wax to use also. Thx!

 

[momo.75]

Welcome to the board.

I would suggest using a "Swirl Mark Remover" to get the scratches out the apply some wax. They should just be surface scratches and not into the paint, so wax might even work to fill them in.

I am not sure how much detailing you have done, or are even interested in doing, but if you go to this page and download the pdf of the deatailer's handbook, you will get some really good tips for whatever might come up. Personally I love and only use Griot's products, but there are a lot of people here that use Zaino's products, as well as tons of other products.

http://www.griotsgarage.com/support.jsp

Anyway, just enjoy your 4Runner and welcome to the board.

 

[fflan513]

Mr. Hard to please

I am not at all easy to please, I expect excellence and abhor incompetence. All that said, I recently took my baby (2004 Black 4 RUNNER) to a Simoniz (brushless, of course) car wash and I later noticed swirl marks on the hood, so many in fact my first inclination was to accuse vandals....my cooler head prevailed however.
I polished the hood with Meguiar's nxt generation TECH WAX (two applications with an orbital polisher) and was astonished at how perfectly clear, shiny, and most of all scratch- free my baby was after using this fine product. Meguiar's is awesome!!

I will now revert back to washing my own vehicle because no one will take the same tender loving care with it as I do.

SCRATCH-FREE BABY!!! ...and loving it!!MY 4 RUNNER

 

[linhsy]

fflan513, did you only use Tech Wax for your new 4Runner? are any other products involved?

 

[fflan513]

1. I simply applied 2 applications of Meguiar's TECH WAX with an orbital polisher

2. After each application dried to a haze, I buffed it off by hand with a "lint free, 100% cotton" finishing cloth

3. As a finishing touch I buffed it out with a soft lambs wool cover on the orbital polisher.

** this only took about 45 minutes and I have ZERO scratches

 

[4route]

my favorite products are Griot's and Meguiar's.

as far as Griot's goes, you can use their hand polish (or machine polish 1-3 varying degrees of abrasiveness) and then their Best of Show wax.

with Meguiar's, after I washed my truck, I used their Deep Crystal paint cleaner (step 1 of 3), Deep Crystal polish (step 2 of 3), and then their Gold Class Clear Coat wax (step 3).

Griot's is a long time favorite of mine, and keeps the paint looking and feeling smooth and great ... but Meguiar's is nice as well and really leaves that deep, wet shine look.

I have also used Meguiar's NXT Tech Wax, but I have to admit that I didn't find it nearly as nice or reflective/deep as their Gold Class Clear Coat wax.

http://www.griotsgarage.com

http://www.meguiars.com

 

[fflan513]

I have heard great things about Gold Class Clear Coat wax; I may give it a try eventually but I know I've gotten great results from the TECH WAX.
Meguiar's makesome awesome products.
Keep'em shining fellas

 

[tkr128]

The Meguiar's Tech Wax only fills in the swirls and scratches. It's pretty effective at doing that and looking astonishing. It's one of the better "consumer" products available. However, once it wears off, the swirls/scratches will return. Gold Class is also a really good looking product but lacks durability. IMO, Tech Wax is much better than the GC.

To truly rid your problem of swirls, you'll need to use a REAL polish, something with abrasives in it like momo suggested.

 

[4route]

Meguiar's has polish too though, as does Griot's, and those are for scratches and swirl marks as well.

I didn't recommend the harsher products because if they are just little scratches from fingernails, they should be taken care of easily with less abrasive products. However, if you're going for a powerful product, 3M makes some rubbing compounds that work well.

 

[tkr128]

The Meguiar's Polishes are very good products. The #9 SMR and the DACP are some of my favorites. 3M's products are also good, especially the 39009 SMR and the Perfect-It III Machine Glaze (a polish named as a glaze). I just meant to say that the Meguiar's waxes don't really remove the swirls/scratches, they only fill them in. To me, the #9 SMR and 39009 are pretty mild, they'll remove very light swirls/scratches without having to resort to using a rubbing compound. I've never used the Griot's products, but I've heard nothing but good things about them.

 

[fflan513]

tkr128, You're probably right,,....so I bought some Meguiar's ScratchX, I will use it in a few days and then put a couple coats of TECH WAX over that. Should be awesome.

 

[linhsy]

tkr128, You're probably right,,....so I bought some Meguiar's ScratchX, I will use it in a few days and then put a couple coats of TECH WAX over that. Should be awesome.

Is the ScratchX one of the polish product. In other word, if i use ScatchX, I don't need to use another polish product for Polishing right?

 

[fflan513]

ScratchX is a polishing product for scratch removal and depending on the severity of your scratches may be just the thing.....my scratches were minor (not deep) ....I will follow up this post after I actually use the product with my personal accessment of its effectiveness. However there are several reviews of the product under the ""ScratchX" " link on the following page, check it out:

Meguiar's ScratchX

 

[fflan513]

Well finally felt like detailing the 4 Runner. I polished the hood (location of the swirl marks)with Meguiar's ScratchX and then gave the whole truck a coat of TECH WAX; I must say she looks fabulous!

The Meguiar products work as advertised. (in my case)