Small chip on hood - suggestions?

[Astrozombie138]

I have a small chip on my hood. It’s pretty small, but it definitely penetrated the surface of the hood. My gut feeling is just to leave it alone but would bar keepers friend or some light sanding help?

 

[HaulingAss]

I have a small chip on my hood. It’s pretty small, but it definitely penetrated the surface of the hood. My gut feeling is just to leave it alone but would bar keepers friend or some light sanding help?

The metal of the body panels used by the Cybertruck is not brittle enough to chip, and I'm pretty sure nothing actually penetrated it. Do you have a photo? Most likely it is a scratch or small gouge in the surface of the metal caused by impact with a hard object.

If so, the approved repair is to refinish the surface with the damage as detailed here:

Exterior Stainless Steel Panel Refinishing (tesla.com)

Basically, using an abrasive pad on a sander to remove it and transitioning through one or two more increasingly finer grits until the surface finish matches adjacent panels.

 

[Crissa]

I have a small chip on my hood. It’s pretty small, but it definitely penetrated the surface of the hood. My gut feeling is just to leave it alone but would bar keepers friend or some light sanding help?

A chip?

If you do, you'll need to do the whole truck, as it will change color when you do.

-Crissa

 

[HaulingAss]

The metal of the body panels used by the Cybertruck is not brittle enough to chip, and I'm pretty sure nothing actually penetrated it. Do you have a photo? Most likely it is a scratch or small gouge in the surface of the metal caused by impact with a hard object.

If so, the approved repair is to refinish the surface with the damage as detailed here:

Exterior Stainless Steel Panel Refinishing (tesla.com)

Basically, using an abrasive pad on a sander to remove it and transitioning through one or two more increasingly finer grits until the surface finish matches adjacent panels.

I should add that it may take a month or two for the freshly exposed metal on the re-worked panel or plane to age naturally so that the exact color and sheen matches the unworked panels.

The good thing is all four of the planes of the hood (three vertical planes in front and one sloping plane on top) can be finished in isolation, according to Tesla's official refinishing procedure. That's because surfaces in different planes don't need to exactly match for your eye to not notice the slight mismatch.

On the side of the truck Tesla recommends refinishing the four planes (two doors and two quarter panels) all together. You don't have to do the entireity of the four body panels, only the portions laying in the same plane.

That said, it makes sense to let small scratches and imperfections build up over time, and then just refinish the entire truck periodically, to bring it back to like-new condition all around. Unlike paint, a hand-worked re-polish of the entire truck will look more amazing than when the truck was brand new because Tesla never put a lot of elbow grease into making the finish perfect to begin with. I suspect that's because they knew small scratches would build up over time, at least for any truck that wasn't a garage queen, and that owners would periodically give them a full polish anyway.

Some will disagree with that line of thinking but, to me, it makes perfect sense. Because the materials and construction of the Cybertruck leave it out of financial reach for most people who might want to own one, anything Tesla can do to keep the price more affordable will be appreciated by those who had to do the "financial stretch" to afford one.

 

[Woodrick]

I have a small chip on my hood. It’s pretty small, but it definitely penetrated the surface of the hood. My gut feeling is just to leave it alone but would bar keepers friend or some light sanding help?

How deep is it? Are you willing to take that much metal off?

Leave it alone. It's your battle wound, be proud of it.

Damn big bug hit truck, truck won!

 

[Astrozombie138]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Here is a picture, and I would agree that its probably better defined as a large scratch and not a chip. Each of those spots is probably 3mm wide.

 

[Deleted member 17810]

You'll have to refinish the entire panel for it to match. Since there's no other neighboring panels on the same plane you should be able to just do that panel:

 

[Astrozombie138]

You'll have to refinish the entire panel for it to match. Since there's no other neighboring panels on the same plane you should be able to just do that panel:

Thank you, that was very helpful. I think that waiting for more scratches before refinishing makes sense. I wonder if we'll see this as an offering from detail shops at some point.

 

[FarAway]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Here is a picture, and I would agree that its probably better defined as a large scratch and not a chip. Each of those spots is probably 3mm wide.

If you get a chance re-post your photo with dime, penny or even a 6" ruler next to the "chip". That would really help with perspective.