Severe Over-Land "Trail Rash", do you say; "oh no", or "who cares"?

[Outdoordog]

Got a ton of pinstriping from bushes, under my jeep there are plenty of dent gouges etc.
Probably hurts the resale, but I plan on keeping her as long as she will run (lifetime warranty should help).

 

[tinricky]

Been living with desert pinstriping on our vehicles for years. Goes with the territory! "Only" four months old vehicle? It had to happen sometime. Reminds us of a friend years ago who brought home a brand new jeep. His wife walked out of the house, looked it over, said, "Yeah! Sweet!"... and kicked a dent in the front quarter panel. Her response to his somewhat anguished, "Why'd you DO that?" was, "Now you don't have to worry about getting the first dent!" True story.

My friend did the same thing to his new truck years ago with a hammer. Said the same thing. Later the Same day we dropped a tree across the hood and scratched and dented it. Did not seem to bother him very much. Ten years later it was still going strong.

 

[Son of the Norse]

Here is what I finally decided to do. My ultimate success, or my ultimate failure? LOL You decide.

 

[Red_Leaf_Overland]

Pinstripes I am fine with but if it's through to bare metal I need to repaint. I live in the rust belt and things rust overnight... fairly heavily too lol. My wife says I have 2 states of jeep ownership ... breaking parts or painting parts.

 

[NotGumby]

My rash is so bad!

 

[GMC Tank]

Honestly it bother the hell out of me. That being said it's pretty stupid for me to own a black truck!

 

[billum v2.0]

There's pinstripes and then there's Pinstripes (refer to post #6 & #25, TahoePPV/NotGumby for the latter).

$150 for dual action polisher, couple cutting pads and some light cutting compound have taken most scratches down to nearly invisible. Once you can catch it with a thumbnail it gets tougher, may be time to visit a pro detailer.

Can usually get most scratches from Colorado out on my own. Arizona and Utah Pinstriping tends to be more permanent. Arizona in particular left the most permanent scars on our JK, even after a pro's attention.

Light colors help. These polished out completely (except for that annoying little son-of-a-gun between the two F's).

 

[keith.gowan]

With my wife's Jeep (a month after it was new) we got more than average trail rash. Cracked a tail light, and gouged the Rubicon sticker on the passenger's side of the hood. As my wife says, "Jeeps look stupid unless they're scratched". My rig (100 Series) is too wide to care. Character lines, I say.

 

[Tundracamper]

went with a vinal wrap before mine got too bad.

How does a wrap really help? Don’t you just end up with gouged and torn vinyl as opposed to scratched paint? I would think the wrap would be almost impossible to repair without some sort of chemical to just dissolve it or something.

 

[Deleted member 14476]

went with a vinal wrap before mine got too bad.

How does a wrap really help? Don’t you just end up with gouged and torn vinyl as opposed to scratched paint? I would think the wrap would be almost impossible to repair without some sort of chemical to just dissolve it or something.

A wrap just helps protect the paint from further damage, wraps are a lot cheaper to fix than paint. It’s also thick enough,made of a strong material, and applied in a way where tears happen far less than you’d think.

 

[Matt9]

so far i do have 1 dent with a tear where a lawn mower (not mine) kicked a rock into it. so far rest of the rash hasn't torn the wrap i'm sure if the brush is sharp and jagged enough it could the wrap does still show rash but just in the wrap material the shop that did mine saved the pattern and can replace each section if needed

 

[CR-Venturer]

Just took "Tank" out on the trail to shoot some video for my YouTube channel, as I try to do every weekend, and I went through some extremely narrow paths and got a ton of trail rash. The right side of my truck looks like I had a close encounter with a pissed off wolverine LOL!
So...On the one hand, I was upset since my truck is only 4 months old; but on the other hand, I was like; "Oh well, that's over-landing".

Where do you fall on this subject? Do you try to "fix" or buff out your scratches, or do you let your rig proudly display it's battle wounds?

I appreciate your opinion,
Skol ~ SotN
Land Viking Adventures

Up here we call it BC Pinstriping. There are a TON of uber narrow, overgrown tracks up here in the wilds of BC. It's the price you pay for exploring the awesome wilderness. Most guys see it as a badge of honor - it shows you use your 4x4 for what it was built for :)

Here's a nice example of the two badges of honor on my rig:


If it bothers you, it's generally nothing more than clear coat scratches that can easily be buffed out with a little wax and a buffing wheel. For me, my car is over 21 years old now, so I don't even spend a moment worrying about it.

 

[Craigm]

I have a rear panel scrap from sliding in the snow a year ago that I still haven't taken care. Everytime I see it I smile, because that was a good day out. And now we've added on some pin stripe from large bushes and narrow trails on a 4 day wild camping expidition

 

[Fireskyte]

Picked up my first ever pin stripes on my first ever trip, which just so happened to be to Baja. I proudly announced them to all in the group over comms. Just about everyone was as excited as me for all of my first o an epic first trip. I have been told that all future trips just would not compare to being able to get to go on a bucket list trip for my first trip. Not true I get just as excited with each transition to dirt or switchback on the trail.

 

[CR-Venturer]

Picked up my first ever pin stripes on my first ever trip, which just so happened to be to Baja. I proudly announced them to all in the group over comms. Just about everyone was as excited as me for all of my first o an epic first trip. I have been told that all future trips just would not compare to being able to get to go on a bucket list trip for my first trip. Not true I get just as excited with each transition to dirt or switchback on the trail.

You have come to the right place :)

 

[matthewstobia]

I had a debate once with a friend who had just purchased a new 4x4 that went something like this-Him "I just spent $XXX on this truck, why would I take it out and risk damage?"

 

[BCMoto]

I leave the scratches, I bought it with the intention of using it and a few times throgh the the brush wash doesnt bother me.

 

[old_man]

I definitely try to keep it shinny side up. But if i keep buffing out desert stripes im going to end up with no paint.

I do all my own body and paint work I did 5 coats of clear but every couple of years I wet sand it down, mask it off and re do the clear coat before I get down into the paint.

 

[9Mike2]

I do all my own body and paint work I did 5 coats of clear but every couple of years I wet sand it down, mask it off and re do the clear coat before I get down into the paint.

That's a real good looking Cherokee!

 

[CR-Venturer]

I had a debate once with a friend who had just purchased a new 4x4 that went something like this-Him "I just spent $XXX on this truck, why would I take it out and risk damage?"

My answer is: because that's what it was built for. If you're never taking it off road, you wasted your money.