My rear bumper made contact with a fender of another car. It was basically a bump; no damage to the bumper, slight damage to the fender. As stated, there was no damage such as dent to the bumper, but it did leave a scuffed looking area on the bumper. The bumper is black so the scuff is not real noticeable, except to me. I attempted to remove the marks with Pinnacle Paintwork Cleansing Lotion, but that failed. Before trying something else, I decided to get advice from some people that have more experience in this type of removal than I have. Obviously, I can take it to the dealer's body shop and I am sure they can take care of it, but I thought I would see what I can do first. Your advice would be appreciated.
I'm no expert (just a beginner) but it sounds like you need a more aggressive product. Assuming you don't have a DA, you could always try some meguiars ultimate compound by hand. Any chance you could upload a picture?
Pinnacle paintwork cleansing lotion is very mild, I don't think it has any abrasives, just cleaners. That was the right first choice. Without a picture I'm just guessing but here's what I think the scenarios are at this point.
1. The scruffs are only paint transfer and you did not use enough elbow grease with the pinnacle product. If you are confident that you work the product effectively by hand, then this scenario is unlikely.
2. The Pinnacle removed the paint transfer, but you are still seeing scratches that were not removed and a more aggresive product is needed, probably start with meguiars ultimate polish for something available locally and reasonable priced. The move up to meguiars ultimate compound.
3. Both paint transfer and scratches are still present, refer to #2 for recommendations.
4. scratches are too deep to safely correct and regardless of what product you use, you will not like the results.
I agree 100% with Audios S6. I never hit paint transfer or scuffs with transferred paint with anything abrasive first. Sure, after removing whatever transferred onto your paint it may need or benefit from an abrasive product or two becuase of some scrapes/scratches, but i always chemically clean or strip the paint transfer off first.
I used some P21 Gloss Enhancing Paint cleanser just this weekend on my wife's Nissan Altima. I removed something black she rubbed recently from her white paint. I've also worked my nanoskin mitt to remove some transfers. I have even been as aggressive as Goof Off/Goo Gone applications for stubborn paint scuffs and transfers. All of these approaches focus on removing what is on top of the paint first.
Once that's done i then look at my paint that is left underneath and evaluate the next step. I have never been a fan of aggressively attacking paint transfers with something abrasive to remove above paint problems as the very first approach. Why reduce the thickness of your clearcoat unnecessarily?
FWIW.... I've had excellent results with 3M rubbing compound for several paint transfers, as well as scratches; 1st time I used it , I was concerned being a rubbing compound, but have used it with terry cloth with HARD pressure on Jaguar paint with NO additional scratches... as well as on softer paint for scratches; can be had for cheap at WallyWorld, etc.
I have included a photo of the bumper, although it may not be helpful. The surface is smooth, so there appears to be no penetration such as one might have with a scratch.
That doesn't look too bad; totally agree on the least aggressive product first, of course; it looks even a cheap OTC product like Scratch Out would take care of that with a couple of applications... have done it several times.
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