Well it took only 48 days for the first damage to occur. The wife left the rear hatch open this morning and started to close the garage door. Result: 3 scratches...one to the bare steel

I knew something was wrong as soon as she walked in the door. Actually I had a premonition it was going to occur while I was sleeping in this morning (I guess you could call it a nightmare!).

Anyone have a recommendation? Touch up paint? The scratches were about 2 inches long at the very bottom of the rear door. I might be able to buff out 2, but the deep one really needs some help (about 1/2" of bare metal).

 

So sorry to hear that... Well, let me tell you my story! Only 4 days old, and gravel got kicked up and onto the tailgate, left side rear quarter panel and some on the rear left door; don't know if its jealousy or accidentally. It left chips, some showing dark gray metal If I ever find out who did it, just call the police cause I'll be arrested. Paint shop quoted $1700 to repair. For a temp fix, I put clear nail polish on to hopefully prevent rust.

 

golly THAT SUX

last year I backed out of the garage in my wife's IS and "grazed" another car that was parked in my driveway - damaging not just one but TWO vehicles - I was so pissed and embarrased I took the IS down to the Lexus bodyshop the next day and had it fixed... for over $1600

I'm being WAY overprotective with my RX330 - but nearly had the same problem - my daughter opened the rear hatch with our garage door up and we hadn't tested the height yet - and I about had a heart-attack - it barely missed the door (phew).....

 

Unless you're willing to spend a lot more for a dealer to repair it, I would just go with some touch up paint for what you can't buff out.

We've had our RX for 6 months but still treat it like new when parking the car. (Avoiding tight spots, parking farther then usual, going for the end spots where only one side is exposed, or flat out taking our Explorer if we're going to some place where we know parking is just awful.)

 

My wife used to tease me about taking these kinds of precautions, but ever since she's had her new RX, I find it pretty entertaining now that she's doing the same thing!

Actually I think with the cost of touch up work these days, it's just makes good sense - when you squeeze into a crowded spot at the mall parking lot you are just asking for a several hundred dollar dent.

 

Trying to quick park one windy day at a theater, we returned to find a major dent in the side that cost us ~$700 to fix. And I always parked away from trouble,except that day!

 

Unfortunately public parking wasn't the problem...it was parking in my garage of all places. My wife used to be the same way, always looking for the first open space. But she has been real careful to park away from others and take up two spots since we bought our RX. I looked at the damage again and could barely see it. I guess it just seemed like a bigger deal because I like to baby my cars.

I'm thinking about going to a place called Chips Away that specialize in using airbrush touch up for paint chips. I had them fix a deep scratch and a few rock chips in my Grand Cherokee before I sold it. It only cost me $150 and they did a real nice job. I'm concerned that the Lexus paint won't be as easy to match and I don't want it to look any worse.

 

Couldn't you just buy the touch up paint from a local Lexus dealer's parts department and give the paint to Chips Away? If they can't use it, at the least they might be able to come up with a very close match.

 

I've been told that Lexus uses a 3 step paint procedure to get the colors and finsh. I'm afraid it may be difficult for Chips Away to replicate it and make it look "normal". I'm sure they could use a factory touch up paint, but I'm not convinced touch up paint will even be an exact match. I'm going to get an estimate in the next few days and see what they think. I'll probably buy some touch up paint next time I visit the dealer.