Best way to repair this scratch

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lee250

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I managed to scratch the frame above the window and was wondering what would be the best way to fix it or at least make it less noticeable. Should I get some touch up clear or use the touch up color I have? I can feel it with my fingernail but I don't think it went through the color.
 
If your proficient with some sanding that would be the route I would take.It looks borderline for a repair,maybe go to a autobody shop and see if its repairable with sanding.Touch up color would make it worse and dark do to the metallic.That really stinks and I would have it painted if it's not repairable with some sanding and polishing good luck.
 
View attachment 50234


I had customer came in for wash and wax and someone keyed his car and I decided to fix it as service.

Anyways, the picture you see is the deepest area and you can clearly see that It went through top coats and obviously I couldn't fix this by wet sanding, but rest of the area I managed to fix it by wet sanding it. I started wet sanding with 2000 grit and scratch was still visible so I went down to 1500.

Just like paint correction, start from least aggressive method.
First try compound and if that doesn't work try 3000 grit, 2500, 2000 etc etc
And of course, you will need to compound and polish to remove sanding mark and make it all smooth.

Personally, I would just compound and polish and call it a day.
It won't remove it completely, but at least it wont be so noticeable and maybe only visible at certain angle.

Hope this helped
 
How do you think it was scratched?

What correction, if anything, have you tried?
 
Try polishing with some Menzerma 3800 and see if there is some improvement. Or try some Poor Boys Black Hole polish that may fill in some and make it less noticeable. The touch up paint, even Dr. Colorchip, would probably make it more noticeable. This may be best left to a body shop. How did you get such a perfectly straight scratch there?
 
If it's gone through the clear coat, and your fingernail catches in it, then your best solution is probably going to be Dr. Colorchip, then a good polish and wax.
 
I scratched it doing something dumb. I haven't tried anything yet. I was thinking of getting some touch up clear then wet sand it and hopefully blend it. Would I be better off just trying to wetsand instead of trying to fill it with clear first?
 
You've got nothing to lose by trying to compound it first. See how that goes, and you can still wet sand or paint if you think it's necessary. I'm with Joe, though. Compound + polish, then call it good.
 
I'll give it a try tomorrow if it isn't raining here.
 
Interested in your results. I would bet a light wet sand will make it almost unnoticeable.
 
I don't repair scratches, but I have to ask: why would you wet sand, compound and polish a scratch out? Wouldn't that remove a significant amount of clear coat? Instead, why wouldn't you fill in a scratch and then do whatever sanding is necessary to level the filled in paint, blend and polish? I would think that would preserve as much clear as possible... But that's just my opinion since I don't do that sort of repair... I guess it all depends upon the depth of the scratch and whether it's through the base coat or primer, etc.

Sent via my mobile device...
 
lee250 said:
I scratched it doing something dumb. I haven't tried anything yet. I was thinking of getting some touch up clear then wet sand it and hopefully blend it. Would I be better off just trying to wetsand instead of trying to fill it with clear first?
Click to expand...

That looks like a razor cut to me. I would run masking tape along it as close as you can get, both sides, then try your clear touchup (very thinned out), then wet sand it to the top of the tape (if there is anything above), then blend what's left. Be aware touchup clear will yellow, but if you can limit it to the cut, it shouldn't be too bad.
 
op scratch doesn't really look bad at all. I had two worse ones on my hatch I was able to wetsand then fill with touch up then wetsand again, and no one can notice but me now lol.

Yours looks like if u can get some compound in there it may come right out of not wet sanding will do the trick.
 
Some scratches come out with compounding and polish. Wet sanding is a last resort before going to Dr. Colorchip. On a scratch like that Dr. Colorchip may not match perfectly and the line of touch up paint may be noticeable. Dr. Colorchip works best on chips in my experience. If the scratch is not down to the primer just compounding and polishing may suffice. Least aggressive first.
 
Well it didn't go well. I started using a fine swirl compound, XMT #2, but it wasn't doing anything so I stepped up to the #3 and it wasn't doing anything so I went with some 2000 grit sandpaper and tried to wet sand it and it still wasn't going away and I think I might have gone through the clear in one spot. I think I'ss see how much to get that part resprayed since its only the frame it hopefully wont be too much.

 
Not enough material as you can still see the scratch under the clear burn. Painting was gonna be ideal in this situation,it looked kinda unrepairable from the start.at least it won't cost you much maybe 200 bucks to make it profitable for a body shop.make sure they cover the car when painting.
 
I'm a bit late to the party so my suggestion is worthless now except for those that might take it for future consideration. Some defects are simply better off left alone. There's a fine line in determining the best course of action, if any.

In the case of the OP's defect I would have simply hand polished the scratch and if that didn't remove or improve it I would have stopped there.

Here's my reasoning...

1) The scratch on the door frame is right at eye level so any repair short of perfect is always going to be staring you right in the face.

2) Even if you could sand and polish the scratch out without going through the clear, the finish in that area would be so much smoother than the surrounding area that it would look as bad, if not worse, than the original scratch.

3) Repainting the section is an option, but also a compromise. Color match, texture match, and the durability of the refinish vs. the factory finish should all be considered before exercising this option.

For the OP, you're stuck with the repaint option at this point.
 
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