a few scratches
- Thread starter Dan_335i
- Start date
Evan.J
New member
- Sep 18, 2012
- 4,915
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Mike Phillips
Active member
- Dec 5, 2022
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Sounds like RIDS to me, that is Random, Isolated Deeper Scratches.
What are you working on? Daily driver?
If it were me, (not knowing how deep they are), I would try using the Uber Compound and a foam cutting pad.
Buff on the for the normal 6-8 section passes and wipe off and inspect. If they are still there then understand removing them is going to remove more of your preciously thin paint where are the UV protection to last the paint over the mechanical service life of the car resides.
IF you still want to remove them more then....
Continue compounding till your happy.
You could also get really specialized which is how I would approach it and either get a smaller pad on a rotary buffer, like a 3" or 4" pad and do what I call surgical or precision buffing.
You could also do this with a dual action polisher.
The idea being to reduce the size of your foot print.
You could also machine sand using 3" #3000 or #5000 sanding discs and then remove your sanding marks with the Uber compound.
You could hand sand them out, takes more skill than working my machine.
And you could get some terry cloth or a microfiber applicator pad and work at a 90 degree angle against just the scratch by hand with the Uber compound. The idea being is that you can EXERT a LOT of FORCE with just a few fingers to a very small area.
Somewhere I wrote about how to work by hand to remove swirls and scratches by hand on this forum just recently. Most people, in fact the majority of people don't know how to use their hand to remove paint and thus they do it wrong and thus they get frustrated and think it can't be done.
It can be done you just have to use good technique and good technique is moving your hand at light speed while pushing down firmly, (really hard), and rubbing for a few minutes.
Also understand this will put light scratches in but you'll achieve the goal of removing the deeper scratches and then all you have to do is remove the light scratches left behind.
Hope the above helps...
Tato
New member
- Nov 27, 2013
- 2,157
- 0
Greetings,
It would be great to do some test spots.
Always start with the least abrasive method, that based on your knowledge, should get the job done.
You've showed you have good products and still is willing to use by machine. I do a lot of scratch removal (sometimes even more than I should...), and I can advance that scratch removal by machine (sometimes even with some prior sanding) is a lot more straightforward.
The first thing I would do is getting a 10x10 area or smaller where a scratch is, and do some passes (5-6) using a polishing pad with adv. swirl remover.
After doing this, you'll be able to get some answers:
- How the paint reacted to polishing:
a) Nothing changed. If that's the case, you have a 'hard paint', and to proper removing defects on it you'll need to step up products, pads, or both.
b) Changed Slightly. This answer tells you're almost there. Maybe increasing speed or pressure solve the case. If not, step up slowly because you only need slightly more power.
c) Scratches are gone. Maybe you can remove the scratches on the test spot. If that's the case, reproduce what you've done on the rest.
There are a lot more hypothesis, but I'm sorry not having enough time now to describe everything.
The main thing you need to do is a test spot, and then trying to follow like directed above. You need to ask your questions 'to the paint'. It'll give you most of answer.
Good luck,
Kind Regards.
It would be great to do some test spots.
Always start with the least abrasive method, that based on your knowledge, should get the job done.
You've showed you have good products and still is willing to use by machine. I do a lot of scratch removal (sometimes even more than I should...), and I can advance that scratch removal by machine (sometimes even with some prior sanding) is a lot more straightforward.
The first thing I would do is getting a 10x10 area or smaller where a scratch is, and do some passes (5-6) using a polishing pad with adv. swirl remover.
After doing this, you'll be able to get some answers:
- How the paint reacted to polishing:
a) Nothing changed. If that's the case, you have a 'hard paint', and to proper removing defects on it you'll need to step up products, pads, or both.
b) Changed Slightly. This answer tells you're almost there. Maybe increasing speed or pressure solve the case. If not, step up slowly because you only need slightly more power.
c) Scratches are gone. Maybe you can remove the scratches on the test spot. If that's the case, reproduce what you've done on the rest.
There are a lot more hypothesis, but I'm sorry not having enough time now to describe everything.
The main thing you need to do is a test spot, and then trying to follow like directed above. You need to ask your questions 'to the paint'. It'll give you most of answer.
Good luck,
Kind Regards.