New car scratches 2018 Civic

[missabyyee]

Hello everyone so I recently just bought a brand new 2018 Honda Civic. I am in love with the car as it is my first Honda.
However I’ve been noticing some very little scratches on the paint. I’ve only driven 900 miles. Haven’t taken it to any automatic car wash. I’ve just been running Thise high pressure soap and water do it yourself washers at my local Brown Bear Car Wash. I haven’t even taken a cloth to the paint yet it’s so brand new. However what looks like tiny spider webs up close are tiny scratches that I’m wondering how they got there. Does anyone have any idea I’ll try to post some pictures

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[warsaws]

“High pressure soap and water”

 

[missabyyee]

Thanks everyone. I’m just sad I already have scratches and haven’t even hit 1k miles yet. Good to know thank you

 

[ramnj]

Exactly. Better yet, mix Meguiar's Gold Class wash in a Snow Foam cannon and you get this as a pre-wash.

Which Snow Foam cannon do you recommend? Just checked Amazon and there's several version.

 

[Hondaman_MI]

I wash mine at home. All you need is a garden hose, 2 buckets(1 for clean soapy water, 1 for dirty water), a microfiber mitt, soap made for car washes. After that I use a gas powered leaf blower to dry it off, that way I don't have to touch it and there's no swirls. Takes 15-20 minutes. If you dry it with a towel, use a damp microfiber towel on the car, never a dry towel because it'll scratch. Couple times a year, polish it by hand, followed by waxing.

 

[nouseformonkeys]

Fine scratches like these are unavoidable on a daily driver, and they are especially noticeable on a dark car. For your sanity’s sake, I think you should take a deep breath and just accept that it will happen. If you keep polishing your car to remove swirls and scratches, you’ll wear away the notoriously thin Honda clear coat in no time. Keep it clean and protected on a regular basis and polish once or twice a year. And definitely don’t use the high pressure wash anymore.

Enjoy your new car!

 

[missabyyee]

Thank you for the great reply!

 

[Oogalee]

Try blot drying with large towels instead of wiping.

 

[Touring]

If you haven't washed it yourself, chances are they are dealer installed scratches. I believe they generally wash the car before a customer takes delivery. When I picked up my car there was swirl marks in the paint and a ton of them inside on the interior plastics

 

[MavicTB]

If you haven't washed it yourself, chances are they are dealer installed scratches. I believe they generally wash the car before a customer takes delivery. When I picked up my car there was swirl marks in the paint and a ton of them inside on the interior plastics

This is the most likely reason.

I use "high pressure soap" at one of those places you describe and my paint is glass. I of course take care of using distance with the nozzle as to not peel up paint or induce scratching. after the soap and rinse I use a microfiber or waffle towl that is soaked in detail spray (meguires gold) and dry the car in 2 passes. then use adams detail spray with some nice fresh microfiber detail towels to finish it off. Looks as good as day 1 and is quick and easy. Any more effort is silly for a daily IMO but this is a highly subjective topic.

 

[HarlowQuinn]

Thanks everyone. I’m just sad I already have scratches and haven’t even hit 1k miles yet. Good to know thank you

If you think that's bad, my car is not even driven in rain or inclemenate weather and has less than 500 miles on it but has swirls and scratches on literally every surface area of the car. It's something that likely happened because the dealer carelessly washed (dried) the car but due to the color (Energy Green) and the lighting when I picked it up I really hadn't noticed. I bought the car in the winter so it went right into garage storage until the snow cleared. When I took the car out around March or so I noticed pretty bad swirling all over the car. Unfortunately because of the time that had passed the dealership pretty much gave me the finger on that one and I guess I can understand that. I was planning to have the car ceramic coated and having brought the car to five different places every one of them agreed the car required not one pass but two passes of compounding to get the scratches out ($$). :-(

Personally I usually use foam to wash my car is or wash them gently using a multi bucket method, and drying I usually use my electric leaf blower. Never had a problem with swirls or scratches until unfortunately my not inspecting the car close enough before taking it home.

 

[HarlowQuinn]

If you haven't washed it yourself, chances are they are dealer installed scratches. I believe they generally wash the car before a customer takes delivery. When I picked up my car there was swirl marks in the paint and a ton of them inside on the interior plastics

Exactly my point… Somehow miraculously no scratches on my interior except just the other day I noticed a heel gash on the top of the side still on the passenger side. Since I never enter the car from that side and have actually never had any passengers in my car yet, I know that happened at the dealership.

 

[Hondaman_MI]

If you think that's bad, my car is not even driven in rain or inclemenate weather and has less than 500 miles on it but has swirls and scratches on literally every surface area of the car. It's something that likely happened because the dealer carelessly washed (dried) the car but due to the color (Energy Green) and the lighting when I picked it up I really hadn't noticed. I bought the car in the winter so it went right into garage storage until the snow cleared. When I took the car out around March or so I noticed pretty bad swirling all over the car. Unfortunately because of the time that had passed the dealership pretty much gave me the finger on that one and I guess I can understand that. I was planning to have the car ceramic coated and having brought the car to five different places every one of them agreed the car required not one pass but two passes of compounding to get the scratches out ($$). :-(

Personally I usually use foam to wash my car is or wash them gently using a multi bucket method, and drying I usually use my electric leaf blower. Never had a problem with swirls or scratches until unfortunately my not inspecting the car close enough before taking it home.

Did the similar thing here, wish I would have inspected it better before buying it. It was an overcast day. Later I noticed, a tiny dent on rear door that you can only see at a angle in bright light. I suctioned it out but doesn't look perfect. Some minor scratches, tried touch up paint which makes it stand out...not doing that again. Didn't look at the door jam sticker to see that it sat on the lot for 10 months. It was a low price for this area. And, I was impressed with the features coming from a lemon Cruze. But if I was patient and did my research I could've done better. It's my daily driver and overall I love the car and plan on keeping it until it dies.

Now I don't even touch my car when I wash it. Paint is too fragile. I rinse it with a garden hose and use a leaf blower to dry. Micro fibers towels DO scratch.

 

[Aurelleah]

Did the similar thing here, wish I would have inspected it better before buying it. It was an overcast day. Later I noticed, a tiny dent on rear door that you can only see at a angle in bright light. I suctioned it out but doesn't look perfect. Some minor scratches, tried touch up paint which makes it stand out...not doing that again. Didn't look at the door jam sticker to see that it sat on the lot for 10 months. It was a low price for this area. And, I was impressed with the features coming from a lemon Cruze. But if I was patient and did my research I could've done better. It's my daily driver and overall I love the car and plan on keeping it until it dies.

Now I don't even touch my car when I wash it. Paint is too fragile. I rinse it with a garden hose and use a leaf blower to dry. Micro fibers towels DO scratch.

must be nice to live in a place where the dirt/dust doesnt stick to the paint enough to not rinse off lol

 

[2tango2]

That's what I bought a silver car...hides swirls and dirt than almost any other color lol The only thing I don't like on the car is the piano black trim pieces...these things mark up just looking at them

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