Removing scratch marks on doors

fjon

My car doors have quite a number of marks from people parking beside me hitting my car with their doors.
Most are white, but there are some red and blue ones too, so it's starting to look a bit ugly.
Is there a DIY way to remove these or would I have to bring it into the professionals?

Neilw

You could try and remove them by hand, pick up some meguiars scratch x from halfords. Work it into the paint well, till it goes clear and then buff off. Should remove some of the minor scratches/paint transfer.

Scratch x is better then t-cut before people start rabbiting on about it

SAABMAN

Don't forget to seal it with a good quality polish after.

AmyG

I good clay bar and wash/wax /polish should do it, i use tech wax and maguires products and it helps...

stratos

You have to really carefull with clay bars lubricate lubricate. If its only paint transfer any mildly abrasive compond should remove it, the milder the better. As your removing the transferred paint you may also be removing the topcoat lacquer. straight on you might not notice but at a shallow angle clearcoat removal will leave dull spots on the finish. Polishing will only mask these dull spots.

Neilw

stratos wrote: »

You have to really carefull with clay bars lubricate lubricate. If its only paint transfer any mildly abrasive compond should remove it, the milder the better. As your removing the transferred paint you may also be removing the topcoat lacquer. straight on you might not notice but at a shallow angle clearcoat removal will leave dull spots on the finish. Polishing will only mask these dull spots.

A mild claybar will not do any damage to the paint, no worries there. If not enough lube is used it will just stick, thats all, won't do any damage.

As for removing clearcoat, you could use scratchx for a week by hand and not see any reduction in clearcoat with the naked eye. Your talking microns here.
Scratch x is a very mild abrasive.

A-Trak

I've a few paint chips on the bonnet, some seem to be deeper than the clearcoat but not to the metal.

Would scratchX work on these?

I've a few bits to do to the car and was going to donate a whole sunday to washing and waxing - what should I pick up in Halfords?

Neilw

A-Trak wrote: »

I've a few paint chips on the bonnet, some seem to be deeper than the clearcoat but not to the metal.

Would scratchX work on these?

I've a few bits to do to the car and was going to donate a whole sunday to washing and waxing - what should I pick up in Halfords?

No, scratch x wont help with these. You would need a respray or touch-up.

I would buy a couple of buckets in b&q.
Some car shampoo, meguiars nxt is good.
A wash mitt, microfibre or lambswoll.
A drying towel, not a chamois.
A couple of applicator pads for wax/sealant.
A couple of microfibre cloths for buffing off wax/sealant.

Then I would look elsewhere for wax as most of the ones Halfords sell are not very good i.e, don't last very long. Pick up some collinite 476s wax, it's very good and lasts ages.

stratos

A clay bar used badly won't do any damage. The particles embedded in the clay bar will. The clay bar pulls out tar and metals ejected from the brakes. These particles stick to the clay bar and will act as sandpaper on your paint if not used very carefully.

Neilw

stratos wrote: »

A clay bar used badly won't do any damage. The particles embedded in the clay bar will. The clay bar pulls out tar and metals ejected from the brakes. These particles stick to the clay bar and will act as sandpaper on your paint if not used very carefully.

Thats why you fold the clay every so often to expose a fresh surface, when the clay is completely contaminated bin it.

Bit ott with the sandpaper comparison, you may get marring if a really aggressive clay is used but it's not going to remove clearcoat.