I elected not to get door guards because they ruin the look of the TL. I take extra care to park far away from other cars to avoid door dings. So wouldn't you know, this morning, as I was trying to park very close to a wall on the right side to avoid potential door dings from the car to my left, I scraped the wall with my TL's right rear end! I had my 1990 Maxima SE 5MT for 15 years and I had the car's dimensions down cold. I've had my TL for 7 months and for some reason it's taking me longer to judge the dimensions of this car than any of my prior cars. Go figure...I guess you can be too careful. Does anyone know the best way to remove paint? Can you remove paint with a claybar? Thanks.

 

buff it

 

Yup! you can remove paint with the claybar, however, if your paint is chipped it will not help much. Usually I park on the rightmost spot in reverse with my left mirror tilt to look the curb and walls on my left. 11 months and no dings. (knock on wood)

 

try buffing out the paint transfer, if the clear coat is scratched try wet sanding and buffing, if the scratches are too deep you may need to refinish the panel.

 

I feel ya man. I screwed up big time yesterday at lunch. I totally misjudged how low the TL was to the ground. I pulled into an uneven gravel parking lot and scraped the shit out of the underside and front fender. Bad scrapes, but you can only see them if you poke your head under the front of the car. I still know they are there.

 

Use a clay bar but it's not easy to repaint. G'luck!

 

You know what? I'm having trouble judging the TLs dimensions too... maybe it's because you can't see the rear end on the car. It's always shorter than I think... And I misjudge the width too. Very strange because I'm usually good at judging that kind of thing. Gotta start using the tilt-down mirror thing more often.

 

Do I know what you mean! After asking my wife to be careful when parking next to a curb, I was behind the wheel when I HIT a curb trying to park close to avoid a scratch. Man did I feel it. Had to buy a new wheel to keep the peace. Hope I don't have that much fun for awhile.

Bob

 

Well I washed the area with Zaino car wash and then used the clay bar using the recommended mixture of Zaino car wash and water as a lubricant and the paint came off like magic leaving a few small barely noticeable scratches and two pea sized area where the paint was scratched off the plastic bumper. I believe I will be able to use touch up-paint on that area so it's not nearly as bad as I anticipated. I do agree, however, that of all the cars I have driven, the TL has the most difficult to assess dimensions in regards to clearance and parking issues. Not sure why.

Yeah BUSH

 

Outstanding!!!

 

my TL has tilt down mirrors?

 

Move the mirror switch to the left mirror adjustment position and when you put it in reverse the left mirror will tilt downwards, and putting the switch in the right mirror adjustment position will cause the right mirror to tilt downward. Leave it in the middle and nothing happens.

 

thanks. whats funny is that i remembered they had them but when i was backing up one day i looked and didnt see them tilt so i thought i was wrong.

i assume everyone keeps it on the right since most parrallel parking is on the passenger side. unless you are in europe of course.