Scratches question

[Grifffx4]

May be a dumb question but I'm trying to learn...

If you have scratches visible on the surface that appear white, does that mean it's through the clear coat into the paint even if you can't feel the scratch or get a fingernail catch on it?

Is it possible to get these type scratches out with compound? Or is touchup and wet sanding the only way?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[RevitalizeAutoSpa]

If your fingernail isn't catching, you can at least reduce their visibility by a significant amount. Compound, then polish, then a wax or sealant will typically make them quite a bit less noticable.

[Tato]

Not such thing as dumb question mate, it's actually a very tricky question which in turn is very difficult to answer.

If they appear white, it can mean many things. One of them is that you 'scratched on' something white and it's showing color transfer into the scratch. It also can be a sign of too deep to be corrected, but even when you 'catch your fingernail', it can be corrected to at least 'unseen from small distance' state.

I always make this 'joke' with customers, saying the repair I've made is to be observed at 1-meter distance, but they always end up saying: 'No, it's awesome!, can't see the damage anymore, thank you!'.


Touching up paint is a difficult task, unless you're a Picasso, Monet, or Da Vinci, touch-up will have that '4 y/o child painting look' to it.

That said, I try to prepare surface most I can before adding the touch up.

For that, I'd:

- Clean the surface (or wash entire car)
- Clay over surface to remove everything above it (this step removes many things that looked like only being improved by touch up / sanding). Clay will also remove most of paint transfer in a scratch.
- Don't go crazy now, but do at least one compounding step over area to see how it will respond to your process.

Just after that, looking at what's left, I'll think about where I'll sand it down, and where I'll touch up.

Please, notice, this is not the best / correct / only way to do this, this is the way I deal with scratches.

I have a thread on a PT cruiser showing ~this I told above, so you can see how I've tried to minimize defects even before sanding or touching up:
http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/show-n-shine/76365-2010-pt-cruiser-fully-detailed-black-label-coating.html

Doing this, I avoid sanding / touching up a larger area without needing to, and reduce touch to a minimum avoid the 4 y/o paint job look.

If you have a picture of your scratch that may help us visualize it better and give more directed opinion.

Hope that helps, please, do not hesitate asking if you need further explanation, support,

Thanks in advance.

Kind Regards.

[Grifffx4]

Thanks for the help. I'll try to get some pics on my phone. The car is a friend of my boss. It's a black Lexus. He's going to bring it back Friday and I'm going to do some test spots on it to see what I need do a correction for him.

Another question I have is, if compound works, do I need to do the whole car or just where the scratches are?

I know the rule is to use least aggressive as possible. Wondering if I can compound by hand or DA the scratch and polish the rest of the car?

So far the only product I have is Meg's Ultimate Compound, Meg's 151, Poorboy's Polish & Sealant AIO, Wolfgang Finishing Glaze 3.0, Meg's Ultimate Wax, Yellow LC CCS pads, Tang LC HT pads, Red LC HT pads


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Tato]

Dear.

I believe that this issue (doing the whole car or much larger area) would be more critical if you sand down a large area (~ an entire door) and the sanding procedure removes factory orange peel to a level that the whole car has the factory orange peel but the door you've sanded is 'flat'. That difference is ugly to see.

Compounding via DA will not give this difference. That said, I always try to tackle a slightly larger area than the damaged to compound and/or polish evenly, that section.

Imagine just like a repaint... when they say they 'will need to re-paint' the entire door to avoid noticeable differences, this is ~how I think, I stretch the repair area a bit (example: the whole door, or whole hood, or whole trunk lid). Generally I'd compound the scratched area, and polish (with a finishing polish the entire panel to get an even look.

If you have a DA, I recommend you to polish the area by machine, giving you faster, but better and even results.

Based on what you have, I'd try the UCompound and Tangerine HT pad. If that's not enough, I'd step up to yellow pad, but this pad is very aggressive and generally will need more steps to finish well.

If you need to step up to yellow pad, then you can use FGlaze on Tangerine pad to polish the area.

After that, you may use the finishing (Red Pad) with either 151 or the Wax (or wax by hand) to seal your job.

Again, please, feel free to ask if you need any more info,

Keep in mind I'm Brazilian and sometimes it's difficult to express correctly what I'm willing to say. That's why you may ask for further explanations, I'll try to do my best.

Kind Regards.

[GreatAvalon]

You can do whatever you want! You can compound and polish the one spot and not touch the rest of the car. Or anything else you want to do. Where ever you compound be sure to polish.

The answer the first post - it varies. My car is dark grey, and I got a door ding w/ scratches in it. The scratches were white on my dark grey. However, I spot compounded M105 with a PC and LC Orange Flat 5.5" pad and it got rid of the scratches. Stepped up to Menzerna polish to finish the spot off.

In my case, I did not compound the whole car, simply because the whole car didn't need to be compounded. Or really even polished for that matter. Only do what is necessary and leave the clear there :xyxthumbs:

[trekkeruss]

Where are these scratches? Can you feel them doing the baggie test?

Before you even think about compounding and/or polishing, wash the car, and see if clay will remove the defects.

[Grifffx4]

Where are these scratches? Can you feel them doing the baggie test?

Before you even think about compounding and/or polishing, wash the car, and see if clay will remove the defects.

I just had a look at it in the parking lot while it was here. I didnt have any product or baggy to do anything other than look and touch with my finger.

I asked my (weekly job) boss to have her (bosses friend) bring it back Friday. His hobby is photograghy so Im sure I will get some good pics to share.

Thanks for all the help!