Hey Guys, love my Tesla recently I did a self car wash and even though I used the brush very lightly, my black model 3 ended up having a lot of micro scratches. Is this something I should be very worried about it since it is a lease? Or would they be fine with it if i turn it in. Only can be see. With a lot of light.
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Model 3 microscratches
- Thread starter HamZilla123
- Start date
Soul Surfer
Cancervivor, tech geek & musician
Please don’t take this the wrong way. Car washing using comes with that risk when not following steps:
What colour is yours?
- Microfibre wash mitts
- Check your detergent is not abrasive
- Finish with a quick detailer using microfibre towels and try and always remember to use one to apply and a dry one to finish.
- There are products out there for fine scratch removal. There is also the clay bar which can help a lot.
What colour is yours?
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Evpowerdan
Member
Regardless of how careful you wash your vehicle, you will get fine scratches - it happens every time you touch the paint. You can limit them by the way you wash and dry your vehicle, but if you live in a snowy climate - one must resort to a car wash to get the salt off. Point is - on a daily driver they are part of the normal process. Those micro scratches show up on darker color vehicles, as opposed to white or sliver.
Easy fix once or twice a year. If you have a orbital buffer (and a DIY who like to do those things), those micro scratches come right off with a quick lite polish and then seal it up with a sealer or spray on coating. Otherwise, plenty of details shops will do it for a reasonable amount.
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I found a permanent solution to this problem. When you get old enough you can't see them anymore.
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heavyD
Member
Never use a brush on paint. Never. The brush surely scratched your paint. The brushes at car washes have dirt particles in the bristles and no matter how light you are applying it, the dirt from other cars is coming in contact with your paint and scratching it. The paint on these cars is extremely soft and even a clean microfiber cloth can scratch the paint if you use anything more than very light pressure. The best way to keep the paint on these cars scratch and swirl free is to get them ceramic coated and never touch the paint with anything. Use the wand car washes or touchless automatic wash only and a two bucket wash once or twice a year is fine but the more you touch the paint the more scratches you are going to get.
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No, you should not be worried about this for lease return. gouges from keys and stuff, yes. micro scratches from car washing, no. They wont even notice that (nor care about it).
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canasion35
Active Member
One would argue that will chemically break down your ceramic coating in like 3-4 months.
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Yeah, no need to worry about those type of things when returning a lease. If you've tinted your windows though, I've learned that Tesla is now much more strict and they will charge you for it (I didn't used to get charged for tins on lease returns with Tesla). It's $350 for all windows. I had my local tint shop remove all but the back window as they advised against it (it can easily tear the defrost wiring). So Tesla charged me $150 for having the back window tinted.
If you're curious what is acceptable and what is not when returning, you can see all the details here: Excess Wear and Use Guide
If you're curious what is acceptable and what is not when returning, you can see all the details here: Excess Wear and Use Guide
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Solution
I found a solution for that...PPF . Really makes the worry of car washing non-existent. I wouldn't do it on a lease car but if I had a black car that I planned to keep for 5-8 years, PPF the whole freaking car
. Really makes the worry of car washing non-existent. I wouldn't do it on a lease car but if I had a black car that I planned to keep for 5-8 years, PPF the whole freaking car
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I wouldn't recommend using any of the brushes at a self car wash. When I used to use them, I brought my own microfiber towels/wash mits and only used the power washer/soap gun from the self-service wash business. Almost every car has tons of tiny scratches all over it, though (except for PPFed cars and cars that aren't driven!). It's a non-issue for lease returns.
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canasion35
Active Member
That is a big no - those are never rinsed/cleaned out. Others may have had a ton of dirt or other materials on it and never rinsed it out.
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I believe the OP meant the spray wand. It should be…although the soaps in the spray are usually harsh. The brushes…definitely a no.
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