Scratched paint

[TriviumParticipant 1029]

A few weeks ago I decided to be a charitable chap and get my car washed by a bunch of handicapped children with all the proceeds going to a good cause.

Unfortunately they managed to not only clean my car but cover the entire thing in tiny little scratches as if one of the sponges they used was an abrasive sponge or something.

I gave it a good rubbing with a cloth and a coat of wax which helped but liquid wax eventually comes off and now I can see the scratches again. I don’t really have the tools to just buff all that stuff out although I am considering renting them. Before I do however I have two questions:

1. Does anyone know anything that actually helps to (preferably permanently or long term) mask the scratches (black car)? Like one of those magic scratch remover things that are advertised everywhere but one that someone actually tried and was happy with.
2. Can anyone tell me if doing it with a buffing tool is something I can actually do myself without making things worse? I have no experience doing this type of work (only ever buffed floors and myself) although I tend to be decent with most power tools I worked with so far.

Your help is greatly appreciated, it’s really eating at me and the mgtow logo I scribbled in the dirt of my car door only helps to cheer me up so much before I notice the scratches again.

"Listen to all, Follow none"

[Anonymous 43]

[Anonymous 42]

Use a later model variable speed buffer at low speed to start feeling the surface by hand to get an idea of how much heat you’re generating, burning the paint is the most common mistake for beginners.

Start with heavy machine liquid compound and spur the pad often (with a screwdriver if you don’t have a spur wheel) and buff away a micro amount down to the scratch depth of any micro scratches, you’ll see them disappear as you reach the depth of the scratch, look at it like you’re resurfacing a vinyl disk record, if the scratches are deeper but not through the clear coat, you can use a 1,200 grit wet sandpaper like sanding out the music on a vinyl disk without going past the bottom of the grooves.

After heavy machine compound, finish it with buffing swirl mark remover (fine grade liquid buffing compound) hard to reach places, edges, and dangerous protrusions should all be done by hand and elbow grease.

You can do it, just stay away from any edges, windshield wipers, and things that can grab the buffing pad.

Never lay the pad perfectly level to the finish and never go at the surface from a steep angle unless you know what you’re doing, wash between grits and never use the same pad on two different grits without washing and drying the pad first. X contamination and you’ll be creating the swirl marks you’re tying to get rid of (the secret to a mirror finish)…

[KeymasterKeymaster]

Trivium wrote:

1. Does anyone know anything that actually helps to (preferably permanently or long term) mask the scratches (black car)? Like one of those magic scratch remover things that are advertised everywhere but one that someone actually tried and was happy with.

There is a process known as “wet sanding”. I don’ know how deep your scratches are but if it’s swirl marks a GOOD detailer (who does wet sanding) may be able to help you.

I know its’ an intricate process but I have seen the results in person – on exotic automobiles – and it’s remarkably amazing. See if you can find any places that “wet sand” exotics and go check it out, but I can’t recommend anyone (or it) as a solution to your problem. A professional would have to look at it.

I have seen it done on an early 90s BLACK Honda CRX and it looked like it was just painted.

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?32497-What-is-Wet-Sanding#z6MY4pBCEyeGHfhr.97

http://makezine.com/2016/05/10/wet-sanding-gives-your-projects-a-scratch-free-finish/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBENX1uvZak

If you keep doing what you've always done... you're gonna keep getting what you always got.

[TriviumParticipant 1029]

Thanks 2020, tower and keymaster. That’s some really solid input there. I will follow up on that research/ info you’ve provided and hopefully get this sorted out without a hitch. Seems like there is at least some hope left for the paintjob.

edit: just read through the links and watched the vid. amazingly useful stuff. I think I should be able to just compound and polish it afterwards given the right tools but I will check to see if I need to clay it after all. Doing some research on a decent polishing machine that won’t punish me for being a noob but doesn’t look too expensive.

So again thanks for your help, really appreciate it.

"Listen to all, Follow none"

[Anonymous 24]

Sometimes just dropping whatever you are using to clean the car on the ground is enough to scratch up paint. My guess is these handicapped kids did just that, often, and picked up a bunch of stuff in doing so from the ground. Rule of thumb is if you drop it, that is it for that item until it is thoroughly rinsed or thrown in the wash machine then inspected.

[TriviumParticipant 1029]

Since I started this topic I’ve been milling on it for a while, did a significant amount of research and came to the conclusion that to have my car done by a specialist it would run me about 300 euros. The tool and all the things needed like pads and compounds to get me started would run me less than 275.

In my mind having a tool and a new skillset is much preferred to just having a one time quick fix even if it would cost me a few days to figure out and do right so that’s the route I went.

As a reminder this was what about 80% of my car looked like before I got started and basically what triggered this topic.

Lovely isn’t it?

As my car is only about a year old I was obviously not happy about this and a solution had to be found and I eventually decided to buy one of these. A DAP900 (excentric polisher) with a decent sized bottle of Monello Raffini Veloce, a much smaller bottle of Monello Raffini Finale and a set of pads running me at around 263 euros (I bought and extra wool pad not shown and a clay bar that I ended up not using because my car really didn’t need the claying)

In terms of pads the woold (purple) pad had the highest cutting factor so was my best bet to tackle these scratches followed by the yellow pad with a slightly lower cutting factor my hope for the scratched plastic components (the painted bumper parts and whatnot).

So I started off with the wool pad, the Raffini Veloce and spent a good hour on the hood of the car significantly reducing the scratches down to this

The minor scratches have all but vanished and only the big guys remained.

I switched to the yellow pad for a while and did the hood again and the mirrors which initially looked horrible (the last scratch on the picture below I also was able to remove).

After that I did another full round on the hood of the car with the wool pad. The big scratches are still visible in the right light now but the difference between this and the first picture is absolutely huge and I fully intend to give them another polish next weekend to see if I can make them go away completely.

Even the spider likes it

That’s where I left it for the day (today). I spent a good 4-5 hours in total and took a longer break in between to clean and dry the pads. I still need to do parts of the side panels, the roof and a small section on the back and then do a full run with the Raffini Finale as well as a wax coat.

The results are pretty satisfying and I have absolutely no regrets in buying the tool vs just having a shop do it.

One of the neighbors was watching me for a while and has already expressed an interest in me doing his car as well and I am thinking I can recoup my full cost on the machine and accessories in as little as 2 other cars.

"Listen to all, Follow none"

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