So I just got a new, black 2011 Prius IV and opened the trunk in a garage and awesomely nicked the door on an overhead pipe. The nick didn't go all the way through the paint to the metal, but if you're anal (as I am with my new car), you can feel the divot. Is this something I need to worry about turning into a rust spot? Should I do anything? Or just have a beer and chill? Thanks.
I'd chill. You likely damaged the black spoiler, which is plastic and therefore won't rust. If you want advice on repairing a minor chip, you'll get more responses in the maintenance sub-forum. Try a search there, you'll find lots of posts.
You might want to check this out: Dr.ColorChip Custom Automotive Touch-Up Paint Kit - Dr. ColorChip: Automotive Paint Chip Repair Systems It really works as well as its advertised.
What exactly did you hit: the gloss black spoiler? BTW, there's a thread just a few down the page "need help..." on similar subject. Those damn hatches swing up too far: we have a ten foot ceiling in our garage and it's still not enough... Within the first week of getting ours I managed to nick the spoiler with the garage door: a trailing bar on the drive mechanism went up and over the spoiler, on the way down. I think luckily two of the garage door rollers jumped the track, saving more serious damage. As far as I know the thing is plastic: white(r) inside, with gloss black exterior. I pumiced and rottenstoned the worst of the damage on the edge, then filled in the tell-tale white areas with brush strokes of an automotive touch-up applicator, color described as "Universal Black". It seems solid still, ie: it's mounting points haven't loosened. There's still a fine line along the top that I'm just ignoring. It looks a fair bit better, anyways.
Yep -- the spoiler is exactly what I hit. It's a tiny nick, can barely even see it. But of course I obsess. If it won't rust, I'll probably just leave it. Though I'll definitely check out that Dr. Colorchip thing. Thanks!
Sometimes with the touchup paint you can make a small nick look worse. Thats one reason I like the Dr ColorChip kit. The paint is very thin, and it comes with a set of tools and brushes that are EXCELLENT, really letting you touch up a small nick without putting a big glob of paint on there. The idea of "smear and then buff off" I can take or leave, what I like are the tools and the thin paint...
