Need help on removing scratches in exterior

[RichOnLI]

Hi all,
I did a search but I cannot find what I am looking for. Long story short, I have another vehicle on lease I am hoping to ditch this month so I can get my 1st Fronty. The off-lease inspection is the 9th, so I have until then to resolve a paint issue I have.

My wife sideswiped the entry to the garage. It didnt do as much damage as you would think, but the passenger door has some nasty scratches about the length of the door. The car is a magnesium color.

I tried 3m rubbing compound and I waxed/buffed it with Mothers. It usually looks good for a day or so, and then reverts back.

The goal here is to not get charged. I suppose worst case, I can buff it the morning of the inspection and hope it holds all day. But if anyone had a suggestion on how to fix (or better hide) these scratches, I'd love to hear it. Or if you think I am messing something up, please send me some details, maybe there a specific method to using the rubbing compound that I have screwed up?

Thanks!

[cctmobiledetail]

how deep are the scratches ? Can you feel the scratches with your fingernail ? If she hit the entry to the garage, is it only paint transfer from the garage color ?, of which laquer thinner will take it off. Wet sanding is the best method for removing scratches that are too deep to be buffed off, short of repainting the scratches. You can run 1500 grit wet paper, followed by 3M heavy duty compound to bring the clear back after sanding. Pics will help to diagnose your fix. Your can also tape off both sides of the scratch and repeatedly apply touchup paint to the scratches until they reach the same level as the rest of the paint, then let dry for a day, and polish afterwards. Too many variables to say this is the exact fix, for your particular problem. Most clients I service that have sideswiped the garage, now have garage paint on their car, which is easily wiped back off with thinner, then polished as I said above...again, pics will help and answers to the above questions will help too.

[RichOnLI]

Thank you for your reply.

The scratches are pre-fingernail depth, so I thought they were superficial enough to buff out. There is one that is actually more of a "crease" than a scratch - that one I know there isnt much to be done with, but even at the worst the scratch isnt deep.

I'll try wetsanding and see how that goes. I appreciate the advice.
If I still have problems, I'll post some pics.

Thanks again!

[03SCRunner]

CCT, if I post some pics of a couple scratches on mine, could I get some advice on how to fix them? It'll have to wait a couple days cuz my truck's at the dealer right now but I would really appreciate the help...

[cctmobiledetail]

Originally Posted by 03SCRunner

CCT, if I post some pics of a couple scratches on mine, could I get some advice on how to fix them? It'll have to wait a couple days cuz my truck's at the dealer right now but I would really appreciate the help...

I'll do my best to help !

[03SCRunner]

Thanks! I'll post pics as soon as I get it back, prob. on Thursday

[Jag2500]

Are you sure the wife isn't hitting the garage again, after you buff the car each time?

[RichOnLI]

Thats it! Why didnt I think of that?!?!

[03SCRunner]

CCT; here are the pics of the scratches that I want to fix the most; any suggestions you have would be GREATLY appreciated;

This one is from a predatory moving gate; I will have to try lacquer thinner as you suggested above to see if that gets the rest of the gate paint off, and they're kind of hard to see but it's basically just abrasions down my fender:



These ones are actually kind of funny: they're horse bites. Yes you read that right... my horse got jealous of the truck one day and took it out on my hood. She didn't shear off any of the metal but they are down to it:




These next ones are on my back bumper and mysteriously appeared yesterday after I picked it up from the dealer >



I completely understand if you don't have the time/ patience to help me fix them all but any advice you can give me would be awesome; I know absolutely nothing about paint/ body work but I want to learn because obviously I'm rough on my paint. Thanks for taking a look!

[cctmobiledetail]

The scratches on the fender can be buffed off or wetsanded first , then buffed with a heavy duty compound, followed by polish. The bumper scratches need to be painted, because the black showing through, is the base color of the bumper, and you can't buff whats not there, if that makes sense. If the scratches happened at the dealership, I'd make them fix them.

On wetsanding- if you've never done it, you may want to have a professional detailer or body man do it. If you want to try it, Get some 3M 1500 - 2000 grit wet sand paper, soak the paper in a bucket of cool water for about 20 minutes, then put the paper on a sanding block, to insure even sanding. Then, sand in a horizontal motion, using very little pressure ( enough to hold the block to the surface ) and sand 10 strokes back and forth all the while keeping the surface wet . then stop and wet the surface sanded to see if the scratches have disappeared, if not rewet the surface and the block and sand 10 more strokes, recheck the surface that the scratches are gone.......the tricky thing is to sand enough, without removing all of the clearcoat, it only takes a milisecond to go too far so you could try 5 strokes, etc. Once the scratches are gone or are gone enough, use 3M heavy duty compound or 3M perfect-it II or III Heavy duty compound to blend it out, once again making sure you don't go through the clear ( once you go through the clear, it'll need to be reshot with clearcoat ). Once you've gotten it blended with a high speed buffer used on low speed ( in fact buffing compound or anything else should always be run on a low speed as to not burn the paint ). Then follow with a 3M wax or polish and it should be good to go. You can also find and old car or body part some where you could practice on before attempting to do your truck.

Good Luck !