Removing Scratches in Our Long-Term Toyota 4Runner's Paint

Key Points

• The black paint on our long-term 2025 Toyota 4Runner has picked up a few minor scratches and blemishes during our ownership.
• We used a ceramic paint-correction product to polish out some small scratches and other blemishes in the 4Runner’s paint.
• We noticed a rough paint texture on the 4Runner’s lower body, but it’s not a defect; it’s a chip-resistant coating.

We’ve owned our long-term 2025 Toyota 4Runner for about six months now, and we’ve now passed the 8,000-mile mark on the odometer. Over the course of all our daily-driver duties, long-haul road trips and some off-road driving, we’ve worn off our 4Runner’s showroom-fresh feeling.

Related: We Bought a 2025 Toyota 4Runner Hybrid, And It Wasn’t That Hard

Our black paint job has picked up a few blemishes along the way, including some faint scratches in the driver’s side rear door that occurred during our off-road testing. Black is an unforgiving color when it comes to showing paint imperfections, so we wanted to see if we could fix those bodyside scratches along with some water spots and other blemishes (that were likely caused by bird droppings) our SUV’s finish has acquired.

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For a comprehensive overview of the best practices for cleaning and maintaining a black paint job to avoid scratches and imperfections in the first place, check out Managing Editor Joe Bruzek’s How to Prevent Scratches, Swirls on a Black Car article. The tips and techniques detailed aren’t just for black cars, though; they apply to any paint color.

If your car’s paint already has scratches and blemishes, most minor issues can be polished out without too much trouble. For our 4Runner, we used Mothers California Gold Ceramic Paint Correction and applied it with microfiber applicator pads we picked up at Home Depot.

Car-care products marketed as “ceramic” have gained popularity over the last decade or so. Most of them contain silicon dioxide, which has a number of desirable properties when it comes to automotive paint care. It has a hydrophobic effect, so it repels water and other liquids, and it forms a durable, glossy protective layer, making it a useful ingredient in car wax. Silicon dioxide can be also used as a mild abrasive, as it is in the Mothers paint correction product.

Scratches and Spots Be Gone

• Takeaway: The ceramic paint-correction product took care of the blemishes on our 4Runner’s hood very easily, but a couple of scratches required an application with a power buffing pad for fully satisfactory results.

I applied the paint-correction compound per the instructions, using a circular motion with the applicator pad and wiping off the product after a minute or two with a clean microfiber towel. The product went on fairly smoothly, though it took a little vigorous rubbing to work it into the finish. On the 4Runner’s hood, it removed those water spots and blemishes like magic; after buffing the compound off with the microfiber towel, I couldn’t see where the problem areas had been.

The bodyside scratches took a little more effort, however. Even though they were light, they cut into the paint’s surface more than the other flaws and were hence harder to remove. After applying the compound manually four or five times, the scratches were minimized enough to be invisible from a step or two away (in normal daylight, at least), but when I got up close, I could still see them slightly. Good enough, really, unless you’re nitpicky like some of our editors are.

The Mothers product is designed to be applied by hand or via machine, and Bruzek has an orbital polisher in his collection of tools. So, he took a couple of passes at the door scratches with that power tool and got them out completely. Another round or two of hand polishing might have done the trick, too, but the orbital polisher made things quicker and easier — and again, even the earlier applications removed enough of the scratches that the average bystander probably wouldn’t notice them.

Orange Peel on Purpose?!

• Takeaway: Some off-road-focused Toyotas — including the 4Runner — get a factory-applied polyvinyl-chloride coating on their lower body that helps protect against rock chips.

Through the course of all this up-close time with our 4Runner’s finish, I noticed the factory paint isn’t particularly smooth compared to some other mainstream-brand vehicles (let alone luxury makes, which typically have higher-quality finishes). There’s a fair amount of surface texture visible in the paint — commonly called “orange peel” since it looks similar to the skin of an orange — and that texture is all the more apparent with black paint.

That orange-peel texture gets heavier and more pronounced about 5 inches up from the bottom of the body, but it’s not a defect. It’s a thick PVC coating that Toyota applies underneath the primer and paint at the factory for extra protection against rock chips and such during off-road driving. Toyota has been doing this for years on the 4Runner, Tacoma mid-size pickup and Tundra full-size pickup. Some shoppers might find it unsightly, but it’s extra insurance against paint chips that can lead to corrosion problems down the road — and Toyota says no special care is required

We’ll stay on top of our 4Runner’s paint care and report back if any new issues pop up.

More Long-Term Toyota 4Runner News From Cars.com:

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• Is the 2025 Toyota 4Runner Good for Families?
• How Much Cargo Space Does the 2025 Toyota 4Runner Have?
• Is the Toyota 4Runner’s JBL Flex Portable Bluetooth Speaker Any Good?
• What Makes Our 2025 Toyota 4Runner TRD Off-Road Premium … Well, Premium?

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