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My dear, beloved 15-year-old son offered to wash my 2008 Toyota Sequoia (silver). Of course, I jumped at this surprising and welcome offer. After about 30 minutes, I went to check on his progress, and the little darling was using a scourer to clean the car! You know, those little kitchen scouring pads that have a sponge on one side and a green scourer on the other. He had used this scourer on the driver's side and the hood. Needless to say, I now have an array of scratches in various patterns. I managed to refrain from ripping his sweet head off of his body, and calmly pointed out the fault. Now, how do I remove these scratches? I have tried Scratch Doctor and Turtle Wax Compound, to no good effect. HELP! -- Ian

TOM: You need to visit a body shop, Ian.

RAY: Most cars have two coats of paint: a colored undercoat, and then a clear coat on top. In the worst-case scenario, your little sweetheart sanded through the clear coat and into the undercoat. In that case, you might want to just get used to the scratches. Because you'll have to dock his allowance though graduate school to ever have a chance of recouping the cost of a paint job from him.

TOM: If he just scratched the clear top coat, then chances are a body shop can buff out the scratches for you. They've got professional buffing equipment that they'll use with an abrasive compound, and they'll probably have better luck than you did with Turtle Wax and your right arm.

RAY: But if it's really bad, they may need to sand the car down and repaint both layers. That'll cost you thousands of dollars.

TOM: You also might want to check with your car insurance and homeowner's insurance providers. It's possible that this sort of "accident" is covered by one of those policies.

RAY: But if not -- and if the scratches don't buff out -- I'd just learn to live with them. Look on the bright side: Every time you walk up to the car, you'll be reminded of your wonderful, loving child. Even if the reminder starts with "That rotten little, no-good ..."

Dear Tom and Ray:

I recently had my 2006 Chevy HHR worked on at the dealership where I purchased it new. Long story short, the mechanic put antifreeze in the windshield-washer reservoir. Of course, the dealer believes his mechanic would never make that kind of mistake, and wanted to charge me a large sum of money to remove and flush the whole system. Is there a way that I can clean it out myself? Getting the majority of the fluid out of the reservoir wouldn't be too hard (it's now half washer fluid and half antifreeze), but how can I get the rest out of the pump and hoses without destroying or replacing everything? It's coming out on my windshield as an oily sort of mix. I have a back window washer that it's not coming out of yet, but it's probably in the hoses already, since I've used it once. I'm on a very tight budget and have to do it myself or just not use the washer fluid. Help! -- Catherine

RAY: Not to worry, Catherine. You can do this.

TOM: It IS a complete pain in the butt to remove the reservoir and clean it all out. But I think there's an easier way.

RAY: Yeah, use a siphon or a turkey baster, and remove as much of the combined fluid as you can. Antifreeze is a toxic waste that shouldn't be poured on the ground, so put the stuff you remove into a container, and then seal it and dispose of it properly (by dropping it off at a gas station or repair shop).

TOM: Once it's mostly empty, you can blot up the bulk of what's left with paper towels. And then, to wash it out, you turn the garden hose on it. Just stick the hose in the windshield-washer reservoir and let it run for a few minutes. The water will overflow, and the tiny amount of remaining coolant will be washed out with it.

RAY: Then go to a good auto-parts store and pick up a bottle of windshield-washer concentrate. That's basically concentrated washer fluid that you mix with water. Put a little bit in the coolant reservoir, and use half as much water as it says to use. Then sit in the car, and use the front and rear windshield washers until you stop seeing the greasy mix. That means the new fluid has worked its way through the rubber washer hoses and cleaned them out.

TOM: Then you're all set. Total cost: $10 in windshield-washer concentrate (but you'll have enough left over to last you a year), and $1.69 for paper towels. Go for it, Catherine.

(c) 2009 by Tom and Ray Magliozzi

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