Yellow..."Racing Stripes"!? :-/

[blessedbylani04]

Hi There,
Okay, so I'm obviously brand new to this website, and actually joined specifically to ask for some advice on this particular "issue" I have right now with my Neon. :o All I ask is that you guys try not to laugh (either at my car or my utter stupidity!)...Here goes:

So, I stopped to take a ticket at the entrance to a parking garage here in Boston, and apparently misjudged the distance I was from a rather LARGE yellow pole on the driver's side of the lane. I didn't actually hit anything, but rather, SCRAPED the side of my car (rear door, driver's side) as I turned left into the garage itself. I'll try to get a picture of the damage up here sometime tomorrow, but basically what I need advice on is how to best go about getting (at least some!) of the yellow "pole paint" that was transfered onto my "intense blue" car! I've already tried two applications of Nu Finish Scratch Doctor (Clear Coat Scratch Remover), which definitely seemed to help some of the whiter, more "generic" scratches, and--more importantly--seemed to loosen up some of the yellow paint enough for me to (VERY carefully, and through a soft cloth!) scratch some of it off with my fingernail. Underneath, my blue paint appears perfectly fine... The thing is, this seems like it would be a PAINFULLY slow process, epecially since the Scratch Doctor glosses up the finish, which makes things much too slippery for scratching off the "foreign paint." Is this making any sense??? :confused:

I'm really sorry if this whole post seems like one long "ramble." Obviously, I'm MORE than willing to answer any questions people may have about what I'm trying to describe here. For what it's worth...My "baby" is a 1998 Plymouth Neon that I just put well over $1,000 (I know, it's not worth that!) for a new clutch and cables, so I'm obviously not looking for miracles or to take it to a body shop. There are certainly some aspects of the damage that I know I cannot fix without taking it to a shop (i.e. there are 3 relatively small dents from the "impact," and a few deeper scrapes), but I'm really hoping that there's something the detailers at, say, the Allston Car Wash, might be able to do in order to make it look a little less obvious, and...umm...yellow.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks in advance for your help!

~Katie

[abrcrombe]

Welcome to the forums. I take it as though you do NOT have any type of buffer/polisher do you? If you do not, and are not planning on investing in one (probably $175+), you could try some automotive clay. Be sure to use lots of lubricant. Locally, I like Claymagic because it is the cheapest. It won't remove it completely, but it should clean it up somewhat. Maybe some pictures and hopefully other people will chime in.

[ScottB]

clay will do well at removing some paint, but using an abrasive polish usually makes quick work or removing those boo-boo's. I recently used XMT 2 and my PC (buffer) on friends truck that got bumped by a white one, in less than two minutes you could not notice the area. Further polishing and rewaxing repaired it all.

[blessedbylani04]

Welcome to the forums. I take it as though you do NOT have any type of buffer/polisher do you? If you do not, and are not planning on investing in one (probably $175+), you could try some automotive clay. Be sure to use lots of lubricant. Locally, I like Claymagic because it is the cheapest. It won't remove it completely, but it should clean it up somewhat. Maybe some pictures and hopefully other people will chime in.

Thanks so much for your response! **See pictures below**
You're right, I don't have my own buffer or polisher, and I'd prefer not to invest in one. I'm willing to pay up to/around $200 to get this "fixed", but I'd rather pay someone with more experience (i.e. a professional detailer?) to do it. Do you think I could convince a detailer to buff it for me?

I will DEFINITELY try the detailing clay first, though. Thanks for the advice!! I do have one VERY "newbie" question: is there special "detailing clay lubricant" that I can buy, or would I lubricate it with detailing spray, etc.? Any recommendations as far as brands go? I've never "officially" detailed my car before, so I'm not terribly familiar with the types of products there are out there... Thanks!

[ScottB]

before going to the expense ... drive down to the local autoparts store. Look for some ScratchX or other paint polish. Come home and use a very soft towel (even a t-shirt if needed). Wash the area ... dry the area. Apply the lotion and then move back and forth against area with some pressure. Wipe off and reapply as needed. I suspect youll remove most of it quite easily, as pics show surface transfer only.

[ScottB]

http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/autogeek_1928_23968120http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/autogeek_1928_24991260http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/autogeek_1928_116744344

All should be easily found locally ...

[blessedbylani04]

before going to the expense ... drive down to the local autoparts store. Look for some ScratchX or other paint polish. Come home and use a very soft towel (even a t-shirt if needed). Wash the area ... dry the area. Apply the lotion and then move back and forth against area with some pressure. Wipe off and reapply as needed. I suspect youll remove most of it quite easily, as pics show surface transfer only.

So should I try to buy something other than the Nu Finish Scratch Doctor that I used on it a few days ago? Again, it did seem to help "loosen" the yellow paint some, but I was afraid to keep using it over and over for a bunch of applications. I was being REALLY careful not to cause anymore damage with my fingernail (covered with the soft cloth), but it seems like it would take forever...and won't repeated applications eventually start to cause new surface scratches? I'm sure I'm just being paranoid, but the last thing I want to do is make it worse because of my ignorance and/or lack of knowledge!

Also (okay, so obviously I'm a girl!!), does it make a difference how long ago this happened?? You see, I just got my Neon back after being in the shop for 3 weeks (new clutch, clutch cables & motor mount :mad: ...and then I couldn't afford to pick it up right away...), so this "pole incident" happened about a month ago. Plus, it's getting pretty cold up here in New England. Not sure if any of this matters, but I just thought I'd put the info out there...

[blessedbylani04]

This is the stuff I used...

[ScottB]

very similar to the above products. When using via hand , it will take much longer than a machine. Your hand cannot orbit at 6000 rpms per minute. The other thing to try is Goof Off (water, or poly version) at most hardware stores. Wont ruin your paint, as it long dried and cured, but will reduce these scrapes. Then polish and protect as needed.

Oh ... and I like girls !!! My wife would say much to much ....

[Nica]

So should I try to buy something other than the Nu Finish Scratch Doctor that I used on it a few days ago? Again, it did seem to help "loosen" the yellow paint some, but I was afraid to keep using it over and over for a bunch of applications. I was being REALLY careful not to cause anymore damage with my fingernail (covered with the soft cloth), but it seems like it would take forever...and won't repeated applications eventually start to cause new surface scratches? I'm sure I'm just being paranoid, but the last thing I want to do is make it worse because of my ignorance and/or lack of knowledge!

Also (okay, so obviously I'm a girl!!), does it make a difference how long ago this happened?? You see, I just got my Neon back after being in the shop for 3 weeks (new clutch, clutch cables & motor mount :mad: ...and then I couldn't afford to pick it up right away...), so this "pole incident" happened about a month ago. Plus, it's getting pretty cold up here in New England. Not sure if any of this matters, but I just thought I'd put the info out there...

Hi and welcome. As for your question about length of time of the scratches, don't be too worried about it. I have a Volvo that has had the same thing happened to it but instead of a yellow pole it was the garage, the bumper rubbed against the wood of the garage and it left small scratches. When this happened I really don't know but I've managed to remove them all with the PC and XMT products.

The only thing that I would be worried about is if the scratches are deep enough to go through the clear coat but killrwheels said that they aren’t deep enough and that is a good thing.

Oh...and there is nothing wrong with being a girl and detailing...I find it appealing if you ask me ;)

[blessedbylani04]

Thanks you guys for all of the wonderful advice so far! Unfortunately, the New England weather doesn't seem to want to cooperate today (it's currently 37-degrees and RAINING...:(), so I'll have to wait at least until tomorrow before I can try out any of these suggestions. I'm sure I'll have a whole new "batch" of questions once I start (which has to be soon, since my Spring semester starts up in a week!), and I'll definitely make sure I post up here how everything turns out.

Also, I heard back this morning from one of the guys at Allston Car Wash (they've been voted "Best of Boston" several years in a row now) after sending them an e-mail last night regarding my "yellow paint problem." He seems to think that they could "take it right out" with some paint thinner... What do you guys think? Assuming the price is reasonable (say, around $50 or less), would this be something I could even consider trusting someone to do? Would this be equivalent to me using Goof-Off to get the paint off, or should I be skeptical of their enthusiasm?