Tesla Model 3 Scratched by Dog

Hi everyone,

I'm new to detailing and would love some help. I've looked all around and it didn't really help me with a solution. So I recently got a Blue Model 3 and my sister's dog decided to use the car as a prop for her paws to help her stand up :doh:. It left about 5-15 scratches on it. I asked local shops about their prices and it ranged from $180 to over $500, as some shops claimed it needed to be repainted. I did a bit of research and found out about using a DA Polisher.

My question is based on your opinion, can the scratch be fixed with a buff/polish? I plan on getting the Porter Cable 7424 XP. Would love some advice on pads that would work and also the right products.

Thank you

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:)

Welcome to AGO.

Can you feel the scratches with your fingernail?

I can't see the scratches in the pics so that's one thing going in your favor. They must not be very deep.

Also, since your looking at isolated scratches, hand compounding/polishing is a reasonable approach to remedy. You don't need to wait on your polisher.

Give Meguiar's Ultimate Compound and Polish a try.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PaulMys

Welcome to AGO.

Can you feel the scratches with your fingernail?

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Thank you. Im glad to be here and learn!

Fortunately, I dont feel the white scratches with my fingernail. Unfortunately, there are deeper scratches where it seems like the paint color wasn't visually affected (if that makes sense)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 2black1s

I can't see the scratches in the pics so that's one thing going in your favor. They must not be very deep.

Also, since your looking at isolated scratches, hand compounding/polishing is a reasonable approach to remedy. You don't need to wait on your polisher.

Give Meguiar's Ultimate Compound and Polish a try.

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Thank you for the response and posing a solution that I can try! I will definitely look into that and try it out! Thank you

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mchang888

Hi everyone,

I'm new to detailing and would love some help. I've looked all around and it didn't really help me with a solution. So I recently got a Blue Model 3 and my sister's dog decided to use the car as a prop for her paws to help her stand up :doh:.

It left about 5-15 scratches on it. I asked local shops about their prices and it ranged from $180 to over $500, as some shops claimed it needed to be repainted. I did a bit of research and found out about using a DA Polisher.

My question is based on your opinion, can the scratch be fixed with a buff/polish? I plan on getting the Porter Cable 7424 XP. Would love some advice on pads that would work and also the right products.

Thank you

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Here's one of your pictures,

https://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...entation-2-jpg


Here's my recommendation. You have 2 choices.

1: Find and start a relationship with a professional detailer. Let them take care of these scratches as well as take care of the car for you.

2: Learn to do-it-yourself. Detailing cars is not that hard and you can keep it very simple. It will require you to invest in a dual action polisher as it's truly impractical with today's modern paint systems to realistically work by hand.


The good news is it's not that hard to learn how to use a polisher. Watch this video, it shows you a basic car detailing process via machine from start to finish. For your current car, you could get a poilsher, a few foam buffing pads and a few simple products and JUST tackle the door your first time out.

My guess is, machine polishing the door will not remove 100% of all the scratches but it will improve them to the point that they are difficult to see and you can live with them versus paying to have the door repainted.


https://youtu.be/ulWXODgg8V4


:)