Paint Correction: Hood Scoop and Spoiler

[Chriswrx85]

Hey everyone, going to be correcting some scratches and swirls on my 2006 Subaru STI and had some questions about polishing the hood scoop and spoiler.

1) Should these be done by hand or machine? I have a PC with 5.5" and 4" pads.
2) Also should I tape off the edges?
3) If I do it by hand should I up the aggressiveness on product and pad?

Here's what they look like for those of you who don't know:

[arisking]

I've always done my scoop by machine on my 04 STi. And when I had my ironing board on the car I did that by machine too. 5.5" pads.

[Legacykid]

I've always done my scoop by machine on my 04 STi. And when I had my ironing board on the car I did that by machine too. 5.5" pads.

Haha

[Legacykid]

Hey everyone, going to be correcting some scratches and swirls on my 2006 Subaru STI and had some questions about polishing the hood scoop and spoiler.

1) Should these be done by hand or machine? I have a PC with 5.5" and 4" pads.
2) Also should I tape off the edges?
3) If I do it by hand should I up the aggressiveness on product and pad?

Here's what they look like for those of you who don't know:

I would tape edges off as you correct around said locations. Than once ready use machine on said areas, if you need to in tight edges do it by hand.

Dont go to aggressive at first, see how it turns out than go to the next step until you are happy.

[fly07sti]

How deep are the scratches, can you post pics of them? Might get away with a good polish. From my experience, the paint on the scoop and luggage rack are fairly thin, so I would use caution when compounding them.

[Chriswrx85]

How deep are the scratches, can you post pics of them? Might get away with a good polish. From my experience, the paint on the scoop and luggage rack are fairly thin, so I would use caution when compounding them.

There not deep ... It's basically just swirls. I don't plan on using any compound. I've got some SF4000 and going to work my way up if needed. I know the paint is soft so I figure it should't take much to get them out.

[TS656577]

Hey, I have an 05 in WRB. The spoiler is fine to do as long as you're careful. When i did my hood scoop, I used a 4" pad, and then took out the windshield sprayers. I also taped off the hood when doing the scoop, and taped off the scoop when doing the hood. As far as aggressiveness, the WRB paint is super soft. I had no problem using a LC orange and Menzerna SIP.