How to Fix Scratched Paint????

[James19]

guys, i am obsessed with using the car wash and from using it every week through out winter i have found with this newly discovered sun in Melbourne that my car has all these circular motion scratches.

IT LOOKS AWFUL, need help guys

how can i fix this? will a cut and polish help it???

[commoVT]

yes
(10 chars)

[TinSnips]

photos please.

[showxpony]

Depends on how deep those scratches are. But knowing the damage some car washes do to a car, it may not be good. TinSnips will be able to give a clear diagnosis.

[SV6.07]

i wont use car washes.. those brushes can easly pick up crap. even rip out screws. and when other cars come in.. they tear into the paint. your better using either brushless ones or just wash it yourself and keep your paintwork ok. but even brushless ones are not good. having a very high pressure washer on the paintwork. i just make the time and wash mine by hand.

[showbags]

O think what your referring to is called cob webbing. Very fine scratches that in the sun, it looks alittle like cob webs. Depending on your paint condition, this can be polished out. Juice Black Scratch Remover is an excellent product for this.

[James19]

I will Upload a Picture 2moz.
as bermuda said it does look very much like cob webs.
i dunno how to tell if i have damaged the clear coat

[brgsv6]

swirl marks or cob webs ARE damage to the clear coat somewhat but usually relatively easily fixed with a cut and polish. time consuming but well worth it. find someone with a random orbital polisher and that knows what theyre doin n let them rip

[DAKSTER]

i wont use car washes.. those brushes can easly pick up crap. even rip out screws. and when other cars come in.. they tear into the paint. your better using either brushless ones or just wash it yourself and keep your paintwork ok. but even brushless ones are not good. having a very high pressure washer on the paintwork. i just make the time and wash mine by hand.

I took delivery of a brand new Mazda in 06, had owned it for 6 days when I took it to a BP car wash. When I came out of the car wash, I noticed scratches all the way from the front of the roof to the back, on the edges of the roof on both sides. Of course I marched into the servo and demanded to know what they were going to do. They told me they would contact me the next day.

BP rang me the next day. They told me to get 3 quotes, so of course I picked the most expensive panel shops in town (Perth at the time). They then sent their own inspector to view it, and he told me the quotes were too low, because the paint was a heavy metallic and would be almost impossible to match correctly, so the whole car should really be resprayed.

At his suggestion, I got some higher quotes on this basis and submitted them. It all happened so quickly - 3 weeks after the damage was caused, I received a cheque for $5400 from BP. They just gave me the money, they werent interested in the car anymore.

Once I had the cheque in my hand and I knew BP didnt want to see the car again, I spent 30 minutes with a polisher removing all of the scratches.. came up like new again

Love car washes

[Xonar]

Use Meguiars swirl x to get rid of it if there are no deep scratches

[gossie]

Never never ever ever use car washes. Very bad news.

[DAKSTER]

Never never ever ever use car washes. Very bad news.

You dont like free paint jobs? If they mess your paint up, they will fix it. You just gotta have the commonsense to ask, unlike most people who will just moan about it to their mates.

[UFO]

If they mess your paint up, they will fix it. You just gotta have the commonsense to ask, unlike most people who will just moan about it to their mates.

I dont think it's lack of commonsense bud, it's more than likely a more realistic attitude to be honest. I've never heard of a carwash place getting a car repainted.... which is what is really required if they actually did "fix it". Buffing it out and recoating doesnt equal good as new in my books. Far better to not take your pride and joy to car wash places in the first place, because they'll never look after the paint like you could. Avoiding the scratching all together is the best option!

[Fekason]

Has anyone any experience with the following product?

Scratch Remover Pen Clear Coat Car Scratch Repair Fix | eBay

[TinSnips]

sadly, "as good as new" isn't necessarily that good. I see a lot of brand new cars in pretty horrible condition. Be it marring from transportation, a dodgy pre-delivery detail or whatever (a staff member kerbing the wheels - it happens) - and even a lot of panel shops don't take the care they should. They may do a great paint job, but you'll still get your car back covered in swirls and scuff marks.

It's common sense to not take your car to an auto wash or brush wash if you care about the finish (unless you are actually fortunate enough to score a respray each time) - but to say that no 'car wash' place will take care of your car as well as you do, is inaccurate. Please don't think I'm taking offence because of my job - but there are a number of incredibly skilled detailers around this country (and no, I'm not putting myself in that group - mine is a very small operation) who will undoubtedly take better care of a car than the average owner is capable of.

I agree completely that car wash cafes and the shopping centre car washes are horrendous - I have sat and watched them molest cars in front of the owners, who stand and watch and smile because they don't know any different. And I have also had to repair the damage caused by these types of places - which can be quite expensive for a meticulous owner. It's sad to me to see cars of any type mistreated like that. I spent my saturday removing auto wash scratches from an 04 Maserati for god's sake, albeit not done by the current owner who wants to look after his new car.

In the end, if you're going to drive your car, it's going to get scratched. Plain and simple. The solution is to either learn how to correct them properly yourself, or find someone you can trust to take care of your car for you. But something as simple as knowing how to wash your car properly will minimise the damage to your car's finish and keep more of your money in your back pocket.

/rant

[TinSnips]

Has anyone any experience with the following product?

Scratch Remover Pen Clear Coat Car Scratch Repair Fix | eBay

I saw a video of it in action. One of the funniest things I've seen. Might as well use a texta.


edit.. just saw they've attached the video to the ebay listing. Amazing what lighting can do to what a camera picks up. Better off buying a McHappy meal. Will be about as effective at removing scratches.

[James19]

here is a picture. this was the best i could get

[James19]

that is over the whole car

[Voodoo_SV6]

My old car was about 1/4 that bad. I spent 3 days with a ROS and lots of other good products and it was better than factory when finished

Here's the drivers door 12 months after correction

[TinSnips]

wow.. that's a mess.. PM sent.

[gossie]

You may well be able to polish much of that out by using many hours of ëlbow grease".
Use a quality polish and a wet soft cloth with the polish on it and rub back and forth in the direction of the vehicle......never never in circles.......repeat, LONGWAYS. Polish one panel at a time.....i.e. the panel you have shown us. Then with a clean dry soft cloth polish off the panel to finish. When it looks reasonable move to the next section.

It will take a long time though. But there ain't no such thing as free lunch.

[UFO]

I agree completely that car wash cafes and the shopping centre car washes are horrendous...

These are the ones I was referring to Tinny. I dont count these guys as pro's like yourself. Most people go to autowashes and cafes because they are cheap (and nasty). It's these places that are worse for your car than washing it at home. Completely different kettle of fish getting a professional detailer to do the job right however, and in most cases they would definitely do a better job than people at home. not me though... my mrs thinks i'm crazy standing out there for hours 'washing' the car. pfft what does she know .

[Bravotwozero]

You may well be able to polish much of that out by using many hours of ëlbow grease".
Use a quality polish and a wet soft cloth with the polish on it and rub back and forth in the direction of the vehicle......never never in circles.......repeat, LONGWAYS. Polish one panel at a time.....i.e. the panel you have shown us. Then with a clean dry soft cloth polish off the panel to finish. When it looks reasonable move to the next section.

It will take a long time though. But there ain't no such thing as free lunch.

lol don't do this! Tinsnips do you use a rotary?

Easily fixed by someone who knows what they're doing.

Final Inspection - Auto Detailing

[DAKSTER]

I dont think it's lack of commonsense bud, it's more than likely a more realistic attitude to be honest. I've never heard of a carwash place getting a car repainted.... which is what is really required if they actually did "fix it". Buffing it out and recoating doesnt equal good as new in my books. Far better to not take your pride and joy to car wash places in the first place, because they'll never look after the paint like you could. Avoiding the scratching all together is the best option!

I just told you, they gave me a cheque for $5400, which was the middle of the 3 quotes I submitted. I got lucky, the scratches buffed out and I made some easy money. I didnt think they would buff out.

I asked the panelbeaters for quotes to fix the scratches and maybe I am just naive but I would like to think that if they believed it would just buff up they would have said so. If they hadnt buffed out, then I had a cheque for $5400 to respray the car with. So now you have heard of a carwash getting a car repainted. They paid, it just didnt happen.

Of course, I am talking a BP carwash here, not a local operator. BP would rather just hand you the cash and avoid you making waves. Its petty cash, not worth messing with for them. The whole process was unbelievably easy, they just said 'hey no problem, we farked it, we will fix it.'

It also helps that the car was 6 days old. Makes the scratches very obvious and very hard to deny on a brand new car. On a car with older paint and the normal quota of scratches that come with time, they may have argued that it could have happened anytime, and it wasnt them. I dont think they would though, its just petty cash to them and not worth any kind of loss of reputation to argue about.


To the OP.. sorry m8 I am off topic. I just couldnt resist telling about this when car washes were mentioned lol, I am still laughing about it and it was 5 years ago.


The kind of scratches you are describing sound like they would be confined to the clear coat. Whatever has caused them is probably not important as long as they are removed, but it could be as simple as someone using a dirty rag with some grit in it to polish the car with. Turns polish into sandpaper

Give yourself and your car a treat. Take it to a professional detailer and get the works. A couple hundred bucks and if your scratches can be removed without repainting, if they cant do it, no-one can. Then you also get that awesome clean interior that only a pro can give you, nice clean wheels and stuff, and a free air freshener tree for your mirror - those things are so cool !!

[TinSnips]

Tinsnips do you use a rotary?

Depends on the job and the level of correction required - but I absolutely do use a rotary quite frequently - particularly on german ceramic clears (not always so good on buttery subaru paint though). DAs and ROs just won't cut enough sometimes, or alternatively take far to long to be profitable. But for glazes or sealant application, a DA will allow a finer finish. Horses for courses.