removing deep and light scratches

easyontheeye

hi lads,

im looking for the best stuff to remove light and deep scratches. they are on the side panel of a black car. some are light and some are deep. I don't have the money to get it done properly so im wondering if there is any product out there i can use to at least make it look alittle better.

thanks

Owen

From a thread I replied to last night, hope it helps :

Get the edge of your nail, and run it across where the paint is, through the scratch, and onto the other side. If you can feel your nail go into the scratch, then yes it is down to the primer. Sometimes you'll see scratches on black cars that look like it's down to the primer, but they can be buffed out professionally.

Kenny_D

Similar question to OP. I have a metallic light blue focus with a couple of scratches that I want to have a go at fixing. Would these be the things I need to do it:

http://www.ford-shop.com/acatalog/Ford_Focus_CMax_Exterior_Accessories.html

Can get the touch up pen/spray for hopefully the exact same paint. Is it a hard job to do? Most scratches are light but there is a big chunk that came off the front bumper which might be too big for me to tackle. I'll take some pics and hopefully someone can give me some indication for what I'm getting myself in for

L-M

GStormcrow wrote: »

Similar question to OP. I have a metallic light blue focus with a couple of scratches that I want to have a go at fixing. Would these be the things I need to do it:

http://www.ford-shop.com/acatalog/Ford_Focus_CMax_Exterior_Accessories.html

Can get the touch up pen/spray for hopefully the exact same paint. Is it a hard job to do? Most scratches are light but there is a big chunk that came off the front bumper which might be too big for me to tackle. I'll take some pics and hopefully someone can give me some indication for what I'm getting myself in for

Get the pics up, and we can just from there.

I'd imagine 3 step Meguairs paint restorer/ polish/ wax would work wonders for you OP. It's on offer on Halfords for buy two get one free, so it would cost 22 euro roughly all in, plus the labour on your half.

I'm buying it soonish, so I'll let you know the results

Hal1

I t-cut light scratches out. Just apply a small bit at a time to the affected area and work it into the scratch, a circular motion works best and use plenty elbow grease. Limerickman can PS the scratches though.

Kenny_D

Cheers Limerick. I'll try get the pics up when I get home from work. I like the meguiars stuff. Got a bottle of their tech wax 2.0 lately and its pretty good. That 3 for 2 offer is great alright. Myself and the father have been stocking up on cleaning supplies

L-M

GStormcrow wrote: »

Cheers Limerick. I'll try get the pics up when I get home from work. I like the meguiars stuff. Got a bottle of their tech wax 2.0 lately and its pretty good. That 3 for 2 offer is great alright. Myself and the father have been stocking up on cleaning supplies

Pity my father thinks I'm mad when I use anything but washing up liquid to wash the car, I can't convince him to buy anything :P

When he heard I paid 34 euro for clay bays, I think a part of him died inside :P:D

Kenny_D

Ah see he's been driving bangers most of his life and always wanted a bmw. Ended up getting an older one this year so he's actually pretty good at keeping it clean. I had to explain to him not to use washing up liquid on the car as it breaks down the wax. He's learning though :P

spartacus93

Autoglym Super Resin Polish is very good. Apply by hand using an applicator pad, and buff off using a microfibre cloth. Will take a few goes, and your arm might be a bit sore after it, but it will greatly reduce the scratches.

Used it the other day on my black car when someone scratched it. It's not gone completly but it made a massive improvement. I did the whole car in SRP and it has a very high quality deep shine. I put two layers of Meguairs Tech 2 Wax on top of that and the car is looking lovely!

Kenny_D

I have two large bottles of the super resin polish. Working well on the swirl marks on the bmw but didnt make a huge difference on one particular scratch thats annoying me. I've only applied it once though. Car is due for a waxing this weekend so I'll get the pics up later and see what the best thing is for the various scratches. Is rubbing compound safe to use?

spartacus93

GStormcrow wrote: »

I have two large bottles of the super resin polish. Working well on the swirl marks on the bmw but didnt make a huge difference on one particular scratch thats annoying me. I've only applied it once though. Car is due for a waxing this weekend so I'll get the pics up later and see what the best thing is for the various scratches. Is rubbing compound safe to use?

Well it won't get rid of anything too deep, I suppose the scratches it worked best for on my car were only medium dept, and not fully down to the metal.

TomMc

If your fingernail catches it will need touch up paint. I normally use touch up paint bought in a tin (applied with a toothpick), rather than those paint pens. Paint tends to blob too easily with those.

This is one of the better products out there but only available online (I think)

http://www.micksgarage.ie/proddetails.aspx?pid=185162&pk=0AD0C

Halfords sell Meguiar's Scratch X (for extremely light scratches) or Autoglym's Paint Renovator (for the more usual ones) which are good when used correctly. Whatever you get use a very small amount of the compound at a time. Wrap part of the softest microfibre cloth you can get your hands, around your forefinger. Avoid using a t-shirt or cotton cloths. Put only a small dab of whatever product on the tip of your finger/cloth. Apply in a straight line back and forth, not circular movements. Start with light pressure and inspect the results. Increase pressure then only if absolutely necessary. On darker colours it is easy to add some more scratches if the compound isn't used correctly or applied with the wrong cloth or method.

Autoglym SRP whils't containing light abrasives (chalk) fills more so (with resins) than corrects. Like the Meguiars one mentioned, most consumer polishes are very mild so more for restoring the colour and gloss of paintwork, lessening or disguising of swirls marks, not removing deeper scratches.

Kenny_D

http://profile.imageshack.us/user/darrenjkenny

Right there's the images of the scratches. Most of them are pretty light and they dont catch when I run my finger nail on them. The big chunk, well I took a closer look at this for the first time today (only have the car about 3 months but its got worse). Looks like the bumper was already cracked and there was a repair job done on it. Made it a lot worse today when I pulled into work this morning and clipped the kerb so its actually cracked a bit along the bumper. It's gonna need a proper repair job. The white stuff in the image is actually some kind of masking tape which was filled and painted over. The masking tape was obviously holding the original crack in place while some kind of chalky repair substance was pasted/sanded over it then painted. I'll prob have to do something similar using plastic filler and sanding it/repainting it. Any ideas how much a shop would charge to do it? Is it something I could take on myself? I'm still paying off the car and cant really afford to get it professionally repaired right now anyway. Any help or advice greatly appreciated. Cheers

Hal1

It might be worth ringing these for a quote, mail a pic to them.

http://www.dialadent.ie/contactus.htm

Kenny_D

Cheers. I was actually just looking at that site about 10 mins ago :P

Neilw

It's very unlikely you will be able to polish out any of those scratches, they look very deep. Looks like bird droppings have etched away the clearcoat or there is clearcoat failure on one section.

I would say a respray is the only way of fixing it properly.

Kenny_D

Yup I'm not expecting to polish out all of them. I think a few of them could be buffed out using a rubbing compound though? Obviously the one with the little bit of rust will have to be cleaned, primed and touched up with paint. I was wondering if I could do it with a paint repair kit.

Has anyone used dial-a-dent before?