I noticed at the lower/front area of each front door, there's a small area on the clearcoat that looks like it's a bit worn from the crap that gets kicked up from the front tires. It's not real noticeable until I wash the vehicle. My hunch is it's easier to see on black Elements. The previous owner did not have splash guards but I installed them (they don't protect that area anyway). So, I'm wondering if anyone else has had this 'worn' area in your paint and how you may have fixed it. I don't have a buffer but I'm wondering if that and some kind of polishing compound would fix that then wax it to protect it. I have hand rubbed polish on there and it seems to help for a while but I think I'm just hiding it as I eventually see it again. Thanks.

Any pics of where you are talking about ? I'll go out and take a look later at both front doors .......

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Went out and took a look at the front doors , all's well .........

Any pics of where you are talking about ? I'll go out and take a look later at both front doors .......

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Went out and took a look at the front doors , all's well .........Hey thanks for looking at your doors. No, I didn't get a picture. I washed her up yesterday and really had to look but I did see them in the 'right light'. When it warms up, I may snap a before/after pic if I get a hold of a buffer. I'm probably getting a bit picky. Was mainly wondering if this was typical with all Elements.

I bought the E when it was 3 years old so I blame the first owner :roll:

Just picked this up in Aug , and let me tell ya , I don't think the previous owner knew what a car wash or repair bay looked like ...... but it was garaged .....

Nothing shows up imperfections like a black paint job. Sure it looks pretty when its clean - like in a showroom, but the real world is a dirty, dirty place.

Our last vehicle previous to the Element had a pretty, black finish that was an absolute PITA to maintain. I hate to think about the environmental impact of the thousands of gallons of potable water I expended to wash it every single week we had it. That's why the cladding of the original Element appealed to me, and I got one with a grey metallic finish. I wash it approx 8x/year, and it looks good most of the time.

I had splash guards installed soon after I got my E back in 2004, and there's none of that kind of damage on my doors in their lower front quadrants. I couldn't say for sure that the splash guards protected the doors, but I suspect that they helped, because further back, the rocker panel cladding surfaces have become roughened.

Clearcoat protects the underling color layer, but is itself very thin; polishing it away may be counterproductive.

If you can't get the surface smoothed using claybar, and don't want to have the doors professionally refinished, think about having strips of Scotchgard Paint Protection Film across the bottoms edges of all the doors, up to the top edge of the rocker panel flares.

Our last vehicle previous to the Element had a pretty, black finish that was an absolute PITA to maintain. I hate to think about the environmental impact of the thousands of gallons of potable water I expended to wash it every single week we had it.


:lol: I couldn't stop laughing every time I read that.