How to deal with thin fine scratch?

[MrOneEyedBoh]

My cousin has a few thin scratches on his black paint, so it shows up easily... You can catch them with your nail, so I know they cannot be eliminated but they can be lessened, from what Ive heard and remember reading. I was wondering whats the best way to deal with them? They're very fine and deep, I was thinking wet sanding but Im afraid of cutting though the clear. Any thoughts/recommendations? Is wet sanding alright? One is situated in an odd tight spot, but some are easily accessible.

[MarkD51]

I've been thinking about such, since I've seen such many times.
Dr. C-Chip, nope it isn't the right-optimal product IMO for this. Reason is, is filling a clear coat damage with base color might stick out even worse than before.

Thus, I was thinking about this as a method, but it's an investment in time as you'll see when I mention the process.

Take almost any clear coat duplicolor-factory paint, is there really a difference?

Amply overfill those scratches that you know they are at least filled, with not too much elsewhere outside the scratch. Wait 1-3 weeks. Now come back with a small 3M 3000 grit Trizact Pad to level-smooth. Finish with a compound and polish, done.

Yeah, no? Dumb? Or not so dumb?

[rangerbay]

I think I would try it on a test panel first. I don't think the outcome will be what you want.

Bill

[2black1s]

In addition to the obvious risks involved with trying to remove a scratch like the one(s) you describe, you must also consider the texture change to the finish from sanding and/or polishing as much as necessary to remove or minimize the scratch.

It's really a judgement call on how far you want to go. If you end up with a one-inch wide smooth area within the sea of the typical orange peel it may look worse than the scratch.

Another consideration has to be location of the scratch. Is it in the middle of a large flat area? That would be the worst case. Or is it near an edge or other contour? In that case you could get away with a little extra sanding/polishing.

Personally, in most cases I would only sand/polish to the extent that you do not alter the paint texture significantly and live with what's left of the scratch.

[2black1s]

...

Amply overfill those scratches that you know they are at least filled, with not too much elsewhere outside the scratch. Wait 1-3 weeks. Now come back with a small 3M 3000 grit Trizact Pad to level-smooth. Finish with a compound and polish, done.

Yeah, no? Dumb? Or not so dumb?

I've done chip and scratch repairs with a process similar to what you describe. Again, as I mention in my previous post, it's really a judgement call and depends a lot on the severity of the defect. The less severe the defect is to begin with, the less likely I'd be to perform the repair.

You have to ask yourself (and be honest with yourself - wishful thinking doesn't count)... Can I perform the repair such that it will be less obvious than the defect I'm trying to remove? And how great is the risk of the repair looking worse than the original defect?

If you answer those questions honestly then you should have a pretty good idea of the action to take.

[Rsurfer]

Lightly sanding with 3000/5000 should not adversely affect the surrounding area. Just go lightly and clean often. Once the area looks even then you can buff it out. It won't take a compound to get 3000 scratches out.