Scratches

[AaronC]

Soo I was going to polish a car today but did a test spot for the customer. After doing the test spot the products worked great no swirls etc but there we some scratches like in the paint. I did cg 32/34 with orange pads and still the scratches wouldn't leave. I was not able to get pictures cause camera wouldn't pick it up. I told customer and showed them but they just didnt want to move on with the whole detail so I stopped there. But anyone has had that issue. I touched the paint and it was as smooth as it can be. but the scratches were there. To me it seemed like they painted the car and did wet sand it but with a tough paper and then did the clear coat and created those scratches. Any feedback on how to tackle it or maybe go with a yellow pad etc. thank you.

[Derek Short]

My dad has a 71 GTO I'm pretty sure I am going to have this same issue.. It has been repainted and you can see the deep sand marks. I will see if I can get some pics of the car and post up. Pretty sure it's a single stage paint still with the repainted but who knows. If it's single stage paint still I'm guessing they will probably be able to come out... I look forward to hearing repomces on this topic and what others have to say that may have ran across this issue before

[AaronC]

Yup I was disappointed I wasn't able to do it since the paint with the 34 and orange pad looked awesome, but if you pay very very close attention to it and by an angle you could still see them.

[AaronC]

anyone?

[2black1s]

It sounds to me like you are talking about a painter's phenomenon called "sandscratch swelling" or "die back". Do the scratches appear to be "in the paint" rather than "on the surface of the paint"? If so, this is what you're dealing with.

This condition is rarely seen in factory paint but can be quite common in run-of-the-mill production repairs.

If the color you are working on is solid, i.e., black, white, red, etc., without any metallic, then the scratching can usually be sanded smooth and polished to an acceptable finish. If the color has metallic in it you will never get rid of the appearance of the scratches. Even if you sand the clear coat to a smooth finish the scratches will show up in the metallic color beneath the clear.

The cause of this condition is the filling of scratches with primer/surfacer, when those scratches should have been removed before applying the primer/surfacer. The solvents in the subsequent topcoat(s) will "swell" the primer/surfacer and then as the finish dries/cures, shrinkage will occur and that combination of swelling and shrinking will result in scratches below and through the finish.

If you are working with a metallic color the only way to properly repair this condition is to strip the entire area, ideally to bare metal, but at least as far as the offending scratches in the previous repair, and redo the repair with proper sanding before applying any primer/surfacer or topcoats.

If the color is solid it maybe possible to sand out the scratches and then polish.

Probably not the news you were looking for - but unfortunately this is probably what you are dealing with.

[AaronC]

thanks 2b, yes the color is metallic and thank you very much for the feedback!