hey Guys I just bought a 2005 Xterra last thursday!! I need some help with something. Some hero decided to key my Xterra on friday. I was so choked. Fortunately, the scratchs dont seem to have gone down to the metal from what i can tell. I was also readong on-line about Nissan's Scratch Guard Paint. I dont know if this applies to 2005 Xterra's since its a used car, I dont want to go through the dealership cause they'll charge me an arm and a leg.

Does anyone have any recomendations?

please feel free to e-mail me at theironbull@hotmail.com

Thanks

I'd love to find these assholes that walk around keying cars one day and just beat the ever loving s*** out of them. I've had 2 cars get keyed man and I know how you feel.

Congratulations on the Xterra! Don't feel bad... 2 weeks after buying mine I side-slammed a tree offroading and tore off the wheel well trim and put a nice dent in the back door. That was on top of so many scratches it looked like somebody tried to paint my X with a broom!

If it's not too deep, you can try what I do for all of the "pinstriping" I get when I'm offroading through the trees. Get a good medium grade buffing compound and hand buff the scratch. Depending on how deep it is, it may not remove it entirely but it will definitely make it less noticeable. The best thing is to do a full body buffing then go back with a good wax/protectant. This is a tiring and long task to do but if you're worried about scratches and don't want to repaint, it's the best way to go. I did my '04 Xterra from bumper to bumper like that and it took me roughly 4 to 4 1/2 hours and I didn't do the roof. But when I was finished, I was shocked at how well the scratches come out.

I was thinking of purchasing a touch up paint pen. as well as a clearcoat pen. can I use them after the buffing? The problem is my Xterra is silver so when I shine a light on it, the scratch looks silver that matches the paint (I hope its the paint and not the metal), with white scaring indicating to me that it just was the clearcoat that was damaged. Would you recommend that?

Mine is silver as well. If it's just the clearcoat the compound will take it right out. But understand what a buffing compound does. You are basically sanding away a really fine layer of the clearcoat to even it out with the scratches. You can use a touch-up after buffing but NOT after waxing. But try the buffing compound first. I think you might be really surprised at how it comes out.