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Greetings All, my 2005 Ultra is fairly spotless inside and out save for some indents and small scratch on the exterior of the glovebox from the previous owner. Pictures below. The indents appear as if a stiletto had been pressed against the glovebox and it's been driving me nuts. A replacement is $600+, and besides those marks the rest of the glovebox exterior is in good shape. Before going the replacement route, for my own sanity, I was curious if any forum member had an ingenious solution for an inexpensive fix. I've been mulling the idea of either using a sharpie (not my preference) or perhaps even black shoe polish. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
I don't know if a black marker or shoe polish is going to do the trick, what about an auto upholstery shop that is near you that can give you a quote?
When I bought my used LS430 the glove box was broken into and never closed proper, drove me crazy. Lucky enough I found someone that was parting their car and picked it up for $80 (the whole glovebox).
I would not use sharpie or shoe polish - it wouldn't color match or look right and may make it look worse.
Finding a matching glove box in great condition at a junk yard is a possibility but could be difficult. I bought one years ago for about $50 for a different car I had that had glove box latch break.
Another route is to take it to a used car lot interior touch up guy. These guys work mobile out of a pickup truck or van mostly and are in different used car lots every day in most big cities. Call your local Lexus dealer other other high end dealer and ask for used car sales manager - ask them for the contact's name and number or what day he is on their lot and go meet him and ask what he can do. Most of these guys are extremely good at repairing scratches and tears on interiors very inexpensively. They can custom mix a color and use micro airbrush and other similar tools to repair. Note the interior touch up guy is generally not also the exterior touch up guy - make sure you are talking to the right person.
Just paint the spots. Take the glove box lid off, take it to Home Depot, and ask them to do a sample (3 oz) for their best interior flat latex paint. Then using a small art paint brush, fill the scratches. I have done this with perfect results for small nicks. Your scratches look like they have burrs. You may have to sand those down.
I have used this method for my steering wheel leather and you can't tell it's been repaired. I took the gear shift **** off and used it for the paint match.
I know this sounds crazy, put give it a try. If you put it one and you don't like it, just wipe it off while it's still wet. What have you got to lose?
You don't want code colored dye. You need to use paint matched to the surface you're working with. By paint matching at Home Depot you take care of any color change from aging. And, it will only cost less than $5.
12-07-17, 08:44 AM
Glovebox Exterior Fix Ideas?
