Mission Impossible or is it?

[Cyress]

Hello All

Ill try to make this as short as possible.
So i got a nasty scratch (see pic 4) after visiting what was supposed to be the best hand car wash in my area. i was going to get it fixed in a detailing place but wheres the fun in that. I started to read and watch videos to see if I can remove the scratch myself, and thanks to all the information on this website and the excellent products I finally decided to give it a shot, since in the future I would like to wash and detail the car myself anyway.
I have an idea on what products I need but would love to get some recommendations from anyone who did this before.
In summary I would like to:
1. remove the scratch and imperfections shown in the pics
2. maintain the beautiful shine on my car and rims in the future

 

[kimandbrad21]

no putting your hopes down, this is just my thought you will get some better ones.. but i go by if you can feel it with your nail, your going to need to see a paint shop

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Hello All

Hy Cyress,

Since this was your first post to our forum...

Welcome to Autogeek Online! :welcome:

In summary I would like to:

1. remove the scratch and imperfections shown in the pics

2. maintain the beautiful shine on my car and rims in the future

Are you working by hand or machine?

If you're working by hand get some Meguiar's Ultimate Compound, it works great to remove swirls and scratches by hand on modern clearcoats without leaving a scratched looking finish behind. You may still have to follow this with a less aggressive product and then a wax or paint sealant.

See this article for a complete how-to on working by hand...

Man versus Machine


If you're working by machine then just about anything we sell for compounds and polishes will work, that plus the right pads and good technique...

 

[spike]

It's hard for me to tell, but is your scratch more of a scuff, and not a deep scratch? And it looks like it's on the plastic bumper, and not on painted metal, right? If so, what Mike said about using Ultimate Compound will work. I have recently used UC and a terry cloth towel (for extra "bite") to get out some really tough scuff marks that a friend had on her black PT cruiser. It seems it was car vs plastic mailbox...boy did it put some scrapes in the paint...but the UC took care of it, no problem. Of course I had to rub, and rub, but I got all the scratches off. Now if the mailbox had been metal, well, we'd have a different outcome...

 

[Cyress]

Thank you for the welcome. Your posts and videos are a tremendous help for someone like me who is new to this.

I decided to get the Porter Cable 7424xp +
Yellow Cutting Foams 6.5
Orange Light Cutting Foam 6.5
White Polishing Foam 6.5
Microfiber cloth

Im still debating on which compounds, polisher, wax, paint sealants or any additional pads i might need

Hy Cyress,

Since this was your first post to our forum...

Welcome to Autogeek Online! :welcome:



Are you working by hand or machine?

 

[Cyress]

All of the scratches and imperfections ar on the paint
Pic 1 shows a failed test of some over the counter scratch remover my cousin swore works like magic :bash:

Pic 2 and 3 are pain scuffs which hopefully can be removed by a compound, now what would be a good product to bring out the shine after the compound?

Pic 4 is a monster on the side of the door, the entire scratch feels smooth but the last quarter of an inch i can feel with my nail, after reading and watching some videos I dont have much hope of completely removing it, but i will be happy with making the scratch smaller and less visible.

It's hard for me to tell, but is your scratch more of a scuff, and not a deep scratch? And it looks like it's on the plastic bumper, and not on painted metal, right? If so, what Mike said about using Ultimate Compound will work. I have recently used UC and a terry cloth towel (for extra "bite") to get out some really tough scuff marks that a friend had on her black PT cruiser. It seems it was car vs plastic mailbox...boy did it put some scrapes in the paint...but the UC took care of it, no problem. Of course I had to rub, and rub, but I got all the scratches off. Now if the mailbox had been metal, well, we'd have a different outcome...

 

[Cyress]

If the scratch feels smooth do i still wet sand it?