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Ding #1 - What to do?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by mauricefrank, Apr 3, 2004.

  1. mauricefrank

    mauricefrank New Member

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    Greetings,

    Ding! I heard this sound the other day while driving on a highway, either day 2 or 3 of owning my shiny new Silver #7. I thought it was a rock hitting the roof. I checked the roof but did not see anything.

    Today I noticed a scratch about a quarter inch long on the hood, and next to it is another tiny round discoloration. I tried wiping them out, but it is not dirt, and I can feel the discontinuity in the surface.

    So, I can relax now. My Prius has been dinged, and I no longer need to dread the first imperfection. (Maybe I can even drink coffee in my car now, but no, that's the inside! :) )

    What do I do to repair this kind of small surface boo boo?

    Thanks!

    Maurice
     
    #1 mauricefrank, Apr 3, 2004
  2. eak354

    eak354 Member

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    toyota dealerships have touch-up paint in tubes for scratches. i purchased seaside blue last week so they must have all colors available.
     
    #2 eak354, Apr 3, 2004
  3. bookrats

    bookrats New Member

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    Maurice, I'm impressed by your attitude. When I got my first ding on my current car, I went through the 7 stages of grieving...
     
    #3 bookrats, Apr 3, 2004
  4. RobertO

    RobertO New Member

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    It's gonna happen.

    I sympathize. Got my first dings a month ago.

    Thing is the hood is ALUMINUM, so in some cases you'll get a ding instead of a little speck.

    I used the Toyota Driftwood Pearl tube/brush from the dealer for now. A little hard to spot unless your're inspecting with white cotton gloves.

    The good new is; Now it's YOUR car!!!

    Now, drive that puppy and have some fun!


    Bob
     
    #4 RobertO, Apr 3, 2004
  5. eak354

    eak354 Member

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    did you have to sand or buff it down using a special wax?
     
    #5 eak354, Apr 5, 2004
  6. eak354

    eak354 Member

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    this website seems to have all colors available for the '04 prius (and can also supply larger amount of it if you need it, as opposed to the tube from toyota)

    http://www.paintscratch.com/cgi-bin/makepaint2.cgi

    i checked color code for my seaside (on doorpost) and it matches the 8S2
     
    #6 eak354, Apr 10, 2004
  7. Frank Hudon

    Frank Hudon Senior Member

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    if you use the Toyota colour pen it has the base colour and a clear coat on the other end. Unless the scratch is really deep if you just use the clear coat end most times it'll bleed enough colour out of the underlying paint to perfectly cover the scratch. If it's really deep, Duplicolor makes a small kit with primer putty and a bit of very fine wet and dry sand paper and some primer all done up as a package. Use it to fill the scratch then dab on some colour from the pen wait a week or two and clear coat it then after another week or two take some rubbing compound and polish the area and the a coat of wax and it'll be almost as good as new. Dings are another problem all togther. On clear coat cars it's very difficult to get any sort of blending done on anything over a paint chip.
     
    #7 Frank Hudon, Apr 10, 2004
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