Help with this scratch (newbie question)

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comma

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I just bought a Honda Element (black). After owning it for a few weeks I noticed a scratch along the entire passenger side of the car. Looks like a branch or something side swiped it at some point. Not sure if it was there when I bought it or not honestly.

Pics attached here. Sorry for the reflection. It doesn't seem that any of the scratch can catch my fingernail.

Couple of questions.

Does this look like a clear coat scratch, or through the paint?

I tried Meguiars scratch x, vigorously for about 30 minutes (by hand) with only very slight noticeable results, if any. I also bought Meguiar's G18116 Polishing Compound I plan on trying before a wash/wax.

By doing this, did I harm all of the clear coat that the scratch x touched?
Should I keep going with the scratch x?
Is there another safe option for a newbie like me to try by hand?
If not, does anybody have any idea how much a paint shop would charge to fix this?

Thanks!!

B7NHGaY.jpg

tVN8795.jpg
 
Working by hand probably won't end with the results you're after, and if it runs the length of the vehicle, it could be a lot of work.

I don't know about body shop rates in your area, but buying a DA polisher, pads, compound, and polish and trying to correct it yourself or getting a reputable detailer in your area would probably be a far better, and less expensive option than a body shop.

If it doesn't catch your nail, there may be hope. Even if it can't be made to totally disapear without risk of going through the clear coat, a little machine correcting should make it nearly invisible.
 
Desertnate said:
Working by hand probably won't end with the results you're after, and if it runs the length of the vehicle, it could be a lot of work.

I don't know about body shop rates in your area, but buying a DA polisher, pads, compound, and polish and trying to correct it yourself or getting a reputable detailer in your area would probably be a far better, and less expensive option than a body shop.

If it doesn't catch your nail, there may be hope. Even if it can't be made to totally disapear without risk of going through the clear coat, a little machine correcting should make it nearly invisible.
Click to expand...

Thanks, that's what I figured.
Do you think the hand scrubbing with the scratch x I've already done has caused damage to my clear coat?

I'm debating just trying to ignore it.

Would any kind of polish or wax help in this case or no?
I do have the Honda touch up paint for my car. Is that an option?

Thanks again
 
That looks fairly deep. You can try some Megs Scratch-X and a microfiber applicator in one spot, maybe even some ultimate compound. But honestly, that looks like primer is showing.... The rule of thumb is if you can get your fingernail into it, it's generally too deep.
 
LSNAutoDetailing said:
That looks fairly deep. You can try some Megs Scratch-X and a microfiber applicator in one spot, maybe even some ultimate compound. But honestly, that looks like primer is showing.... The rule of thumb is if you can get your fingernail into it, it's generally too deep.
Click to expand...

How do you tell if it's primer? I don't seem to be able to catch my fingernail on it.
You can only really see the scratch if you look hard.

If it's too deep, what are my other options? Who can fix it?
 
comma said:
How do you tell if it's primer? I don't seem to be able to catch my fingernail on it.
You can only really see the scratch if you look hard.

If it's too deep, what are my other options? Who can fix it?
Click to expand...

I can only go off your picture. The truck is black, the scratch is white/gray in nature in the photo... Could be lighting, could be how the camera interpenetrated the photo.. If it's too deep and after doing a test spot with some various compounds, the only other option is body shop.
 
IMO this looks very easy to repair. I would compound and polish to get that out. I recently worked on a BMW which had a deep scratch. It was corrected with my Flex 3401 with an Orange Lake country Pad with Menzerna FG400 and followed up with a White Pad and Menzerna Super Finish 3800. I will try to figure out how to upload the pics from my new cell phone. But my method worked fine.
 
The white coloring may be just the nature of the scratch in the clear coat. Hopefully it isn't clear to the primer.

A good example of marring turning white is the pictures below. My father-in-law's truck was scuffed by the garage door and I polished it out. You can tell from the second picture they aren't completly gone, but visibility is far less. A few of the scratches would catch a nail, but they were down to the base coat, not the primer as no white/gray showing. With marks there I had no intentions of a perfect correction, just make them far less obvious. The work was all done by a machine using various Lake Country orange and white flat pads along with some Meguiars Ultimate Compound and Ultimate Polish. I don't think I could have come close doing the work by hand...at least not in the 20 minutes-ish I worked on this tailgate.

IMG_20170902_120413_2_.jpg


IMG_20170902_122857_2_.jpg
 
you can also buy some touch up paint and cover it up. Done it with my black truck .applied touch up paint with a small fine brush ..let it dry for about a day then lightly sand and buff..looked better than a white scratch thats for sure!
 
I used Scratch-X a very long time ago before I knew anything much about tetailing and I did some serious damage with it by hand. Take your car to someone you trust and let them try to remove the scratch before you do something you will regret. A good detailer or a body shop won’t charge much if this is just a surface scratch.
 
rlmccarty2000 said:
I used Scratch-X a very long time ago before I knew anything much about tetailing and I did some serious damage with it by hand. Take your car to someone you trust and let them try to remove the scratch before you do something you will regret. A good detailer or a body shop won’t charge much if this is just a surface scratch.
Click to expand...

What damage did you do and how did you do it?
Isn't scratch x just a polisher? By hand, it seems like it would be hard to seriously damage anything.

I have no idea how to find a good detailer or body shop. I've heard so many horror stories and I don't want to end up worse than I started. At this point I'm leaning towards just leaving it and trying to ignore it :eek:
 
comma said:
I just bought a Honda Element (black). After owning it for a few weeks I noticed a scratch along the entire passenger side of the car. Looks like a branch or something side swiped it at some point. Not sure if it was there when I bought it or not honestly.

Pics attached here. Sorry for the reflection. It doesn't seem that any of the scratch can catch my fingernail.

Couple of questions.

Does this look like a clear coat scratch, or through the paint?

I tried Meguiars scratch x, vigorously for about 30 minutes (by hand) with only very slight noticeable results, if any. I also bought Meguiar's G18116 Polishing Compound I plan on trying before a wash/wax.

By doing this, did I harm all of the clear coat that the scratch x touched?
Should I keep going with the scratch x?
Is there another safe option for a newbie like me to try by hand?
If not, does anybody have any idea how much a paint shop would charge to fix this?

Thanks!!

B7NHGaY.jpg

tVN8795.jpg
Click to expand...

That looks like a deep scratch. If by chance it isn’t and there was paint transference it might polish out. I’ve removed paint transference scuffs and scratch’s with a light application of goo gone before buffing it out.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
comma said:
What damage did you do and how did you do it?
Isn't scratch x just a polisher? By hand, it seems like it would be hard to seriously damage anything.

I have no idea how to find a good detailer or body shop. I've heard so many horror stories and I don't want to end up worse than I started. At this point I'm leaning towards just leaving it and trying to ignore it :eek:
Click to expand...


Where are you located?
 
Kamakaz1961 said:
IMO this looks very easy to repair. I would compound and polish to get that out. I recently worked on a BMW which had a deep scratch. It was corrected with my Flex 3401 with an Orange Lake country Pad with Menzerna FG400 and followed up with a White Pad and Menzerna Super Finish 3800. I will try to figure out how to upload the pics from my new cell phone. But my method worked fine.
Click to expand...

I agree. You can't be sure judging by the picture, but it appears to be a fairly light scratch. You not being able to catch your nail on it further indicates it is a light scratch.
 
I have had good success with Scratch X and an orange light cutting pad on my Porter Cable. Your hand cannot generate the amount of rotations necessary to get the abrasives working for you.
 
UncleDavy said:
I have had good success with Scratch X and an orange light cutting pad on my Porter Cable. Your hand cannot generate the amount of rotations necessary to get the abrasives working for you.
Click to expand...

Unless you're a lonely guy in your teens.........

But, yes. You are 100% correct UD.
 
comma said:
What damage did you do and how did you do it?
Isn't scratch x just a polisher? By hand, it seems like it would be hard to seriously damage anything.

I have no idea how to find a good detailer or body shop. I've heard so many horror stories and I don't want to end up worse than I started. At this point I'm leaning towards just leaving it and trying to ignore it :eek:
Click to expand...
Scratch-X is just a polish, maybe more of a compound. I put some on the end of a towel and used my finger to rub in one spot and I wore through the clear coat. This was before I knew anything about polishers or polish. You can do some damage by applying pressure and rubbing hard.
 
rlmccarty2000 said:
Scratch-X is just a polish, maybe more of a compound. I put some on the end of a towel and used my finger to rub in one spot and I wore through the clear coat. This was before I knew anything about polishers or polish. You can do some damage by applying pressure and rubbing hard.
Click to expand...

How can you tell that you've worn through the clear coat?

I think most people use an actual polisher on a drill. So if that doesn't wear through, you must have to rub very very hard and very very long haha

I applied a lot of pressure and rubbed hard but can't tell any difference in any of the areas I did it. Even the swirl marks look exactly the same as everywhere else on the car (where polish has never been applied)
 
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