Right now, I don't know how I should be reacting.

I head out to work very early (before sunrise). When I got to work this morning, I noticed a bunch of what looked like black "rain" all over the front bumper, fenders, hood, mirrors... well, you get the point...

It looked to me like tar, but I quickly felt one drop, and it felt slick.

There is some road construction on one of the highways that I take, but I don't recall construction this morning.

Nonetheless, this evening, I started wiping off the crap, and I noticed a few sections of my hood that have scratches in it! It almost looks like someone keyed it, but it is a very fine scratch.

I just got the car detailed 2 weeks ago, and those scratches weren't there.

So now I'm wondering if it got vandalized last night when I was parked at a local outdoor mall.

I left a message for the property management company there to see if they had any reports of vandalism.

Anyways, it is a white car, and I can definitely feel scratches. Once again, perhaps this was caused by road construction, but usually when gravel, etc. gets kicked up, I know it -- and it chips the paint, not scratches it.

Is there anything I could use to "repair" the scratch marks? I really don't want to use the touch up paint, as I don't do that great a job with it.

I am hopeful that it was just the wax that got scratched & the paint is ok, but I really doubt it...

 

my advice,try and find some body in your area thats really good with a wheel (buffer). Hopefully he can get the scratches out. But if you can feel it with your finger nail,they may not be able to get them out.

 

Hi Dan,
I hope it's not the same thing, but what you describe sounds a lot like what my wife and I have seen on her 2000 RX300 (two-tone with white on top).

We first noticed something odd with the paint on the hood over a year ago. When I would clean or wax I noticed some odd marks that looked like scratches. Things seemed to slowly get worse to the point where the paint on the hood has crackled and is flaking off. There is a large oval-shaped section on the hood where there are a lot of scratches but the paint doesn't seem to be coming off so much now.

It's a mystery to me. My only guess is that, for some reason, the paint on the hood just didn't adhere properly. But why would it only go bad after 8+ years?

 

The scratches may have very well been there before, if you never looked for them before. Very fine scratches dont sound like an act of vandalism, more like touchless carwash occurances..

When you get a vehicle detailed, the polish with the cutting wheel will mask all these things. However, when you wash your vehicle, a lot of them will re-appear. So, you wiped off your hood, then you noticed them. Sounds about right. Just grab some polish, not wax, and buff your hood often.

 

Thanks for the responses.

I'm hoping that I don't have the same issues that you're described, JuLink.

NINmh, the scratches aren't very fine; there are a bunch of them, but in one spot in general. Sure, it is very possible that they were there before I got the car detailed (and I'm hoping they were). I guess I'll know for sure when I get it detailed again sometime this spring.

Sometime over the next few daysI'll try to post a few pictures to see what you guys think.