Some people are jerks

[poyo150]

According to Chris fix on youtube he has a video on this matter, he gets a screw driver and digs it into a pt cruiser clear coat leaving a huge scratch.

The pro at the start explains that clearcoat is as thin as a baggy, then he just goes and sands down the scratch taking pretty much all the clear coat off, but yet explains that its thin before doing it.

I am poking fun at the video i do realize that this doesn't help you, but dont go to town trying to sand it down, you will get the scratch "out" but will cause clear coat failure very fast.

Repaint or the touchup are the only realistic options, in sorry this happend to your car. And the person will get theres some way.

I saw that video.


Sent from my LG-H811 using Tapatalk

 

[Joe@NextLevelDetail]

I saw that video.


Sent from my LG-H811 using Tapatalk

So many mis leading videos on youtube that make people ruin there cars.

Any scratch can be removed if you sand enough, as long as its not through the primer and color coat, the purpose of "removing a scratch" is to do it safely.

If your removing 95% of the clear coat you defeated the purpose.

So if anybody that has a nice car watches that video, can and will destory there clearcoat.

The part that he knows how thin clear coat is and still shows you how to sand that deep of a scratch is what bothers me the most!

 

[asap2stacks]

Saw the video of him touching up a g wagon.100k truck and have to revert to that,no thanks just paint it.

Lol why would he not try first ? Plus red is one of the best colors for this bad situation but a touch up should fix it

 

[poyo150]

So many mis leading videos on youtube that make people ruin there cars.

Any scratch can be removed if you sand enough, as long as its not through the primer and color coat, the purpose of "removing a scratch" is to do it safely.

So if anybody that has a nice car watches that video, can and will destory there clearcoat.

He made it sound easy and safe, but didn't measure the paint after the sanding.
Wet sanding should take cautions because the clear is really thin

Sent from my LG-H811 using Tapatalk

 

[LSNAutoDetailingLSNAutoDetailing is verified member.]

I'm so sorry to see what happened to your car. Moreover, I'm horrified that you know who did it and that it was intentional.
I hope there is some justice served, i.e. an insurance claim, or police report filed, perhaps a small claims lawsuit.
With that said, (as I plan my own trip to AZ), I have my own jerks in my neighborhood to deal with. They seem to live everywhere.

I think you've already got some of the best advice from some of the best members on this forum already, so there is not much else I can say.

Please continue to update this thread and let us know if you need more assistance or at least let us know how you make out.

 

[SirTanon]

I'm so sorry to see what happened to your car. Moreover, I'm horrified that you know who did it and that it was intentional.
I hope there is some justice served, i.e. an insurance claim, or police report filed, perhaps a small claims lawsuit.

Unfortunately, even though I'm pretty sure I know who did it, I have absolutely zero proof that they were responsible, and without proof, I'm not going to 'stir that pot' especially since it may just trigger them to do it again. I'll be contacting my insurance to find out what they can do to help, if it turns out I need to repaint it, but beyond that, I'll just be fixing this myself.

Besides, what better way to tell the person responsible that their behavior is inconsequential, than to completely undo their misdeeds in less than a week?

With that said, (as I plan my own trip to AZ), I have my own jerks in my neighborhood to deal with. They seem to live everywhere.

Yes, unfortunately, they do, and in this case my bad luck is these ones live right next door to me.

I think you've already got some of the best advice from some of the best members on this forum already, so there is not much else I can say.

Please continue to update this thread and let us know if you need more assistance or at least let us know how you make out.

Agreed. There has been some excellent advice provided so far. I'm actually taking Friday off of work (paid day off) so I can get started on fixing this. It's only supposed to be 100 degrees for a high that day, and so if I can get up early and start on this in the morning, I'll have some nice weather to work with. I'm hoping to be completed with the fix by Sunday evening. Guess we'll see!

 

[Klasse Act]

I thought about something, maybe get a door from the junkyard. The advantage is color match and orange peel match

Sent from my LGLS990 using Tapatalk

 

[DaveT435]

I would use the Dr Colorchip. If you fill it to the point there is paint sticking up there is no need to sand. Take part of the blending solution and mix it 3:1 with mineral spirits, you can add more mineral spirits if you need to. Wrap the cloth that comes with it around the squeegee and use it like a sanding block with the mineral spirits and blending solution. You'll find this removes the excess much faster and it's much easier to get a level surface. When it's really close to being level you can switch back to the regular blending solution still using the squeegee like a sanding block. It will remove excess paint slower, but use very little pressure so you don't remove too much. I've got a thread on here where I repaired some large chips...actually there were some rust spots about the size of a dime I removed the rust and repaired with Dr. Colorchip.
Dr Colorchip is great to work with. I was working on a 72 VW so matching the paint was about impossible. They ended up sending me a bottle of pure white so I could lighten up the paint and get an almost perfect match.

 

[SirTanon]

Just an update for those who are curious. I was able to apply the touch-up paint on Friday as planned. Took about 3-4 hours to fill the scratch in, over the course of 3 different applications. Had to build it up slowly, making sure that the paint went on in layers to keep the metallic finish properly distributed.

To apply, I used an ultra-fine acrylic paint brush I picked up at Michael's. I used the cap from a water bottle, poured small amounts of the touch up paint in, and then dabbed paint on the tip of the brush, then gently poked the tip of the brush into the crack so the paint 'flowed' into the crack, then pulled the brush out slowly, leaving a little 'bubble' of paint where the brush had been. Did this all along the crack, one painstaking millimeter at a time, until the whole thing was filled with interconnecting dots.

After the first application, I went inside for about 15 minutes to let the paint dry, and then came back out and continued with the next application. I also took the opportunity to fill in a few other chips in the paint that were there when I bought the car, and for which I had purchased the touch up paint in the first place.

Ultimately, I made 3 full passes, and a 4th one to fill in a few 'low' spots. I'm pretty happy with the results of 'stage 1' of the process. Stage 2 was to leave the car parked out in the full sun for at least 24 hours to 'cure' the paint. Saturday afternoon, it rained some, and left the car covered in dust spots, so that evening I washed the car, and Sunday the car got full sun for most of the day. Unfortunately, I did not have time to move on to Stage 3 - sanding the new paint down to level It with the existing paint - as we ended up with some house guests, etc.. I plan to start Stage 3 tonight, followed by Stage 4 - Polishing the paint - hopefully tomorrow.

As it stands right now, the scratch looks like this:

I'm pretty happy with it, but I'll be even happier once I've got it leveled and properly polished.

 

[Klasse Act]

Thanks for the update. I just hope karma comes in for the person who did

Sent from my LGLS990 using Tapatalk

 

[asap2stacks]

Looks good yea wet sand that area and use a compound and polish and finish it off with some wax and you will be good as new. To minimize the wet sanding to the area that only needs it

 

[andy2485]

that looks amazing, i really think you can't ask for better results without spending more money.

 

[asap2stacks]

3m makes a denibbing tool that will work great for this sanding it goes all the way down to less then 1"

View attachment 49254

And then a rupes nano 1" pad to buff it out

 

[SirTanon]

I picked up one of these, although I'm not completely sure if I'll end up using it or not. It should allow for some pretty fine sanding control.

View attachment 49281

 

[SirTanon]

So I finally got to the last two stages - Sanding and then polishing. I used the Rustoleum kit shown above, and also purchased some 2000 grit wet/dry sandpaper to finish.

I wish I had a smaller polisher, like a Rupes nano, or even a 2".. but I'm not a pro and have limited equipment at this point. I ended up using my HF DA polisher and a Hex Logic orange pad, with some Meguiar's #83 compound to finish. I then gave it a quick hand wash down, and dried it using the last of my Turtle Wax wax-as-u-dry to give it some quick protection.

While I can definitely say it looks far better than it did, I'm still not completely happy with the results. In certain light, I can still see where the scratch was.

Having said that, considering this is the first time I've ever done this myself, I feel that it turned out pretty good.

Here's the door that had the scratch:

.. I also hit a few other chips on the car that have been there since I bought it. Only have this pic at the moment. This was on the passenger rear door. The chip was about 1/2" long by about 1/4" wide. I circled the spot in yellow.

As I mentioned already, the last clean-up I did was using an orange pad and Megs #83, which obviously isn't really a "finishing" polish.. so I plan to go back over the entire car, once I've finished addressing the "road rash" chips on the hood, and a few more remaining chips elsewhere.. Should clean up nicely once I'm done, and I'll top it with wax and post the final results.

I welcome any feedback or suggestions.

 

[Joe@NextLevelDetail]

So I finally got to the last two stages - Sanding and then polishing. I used the Rustoleum kit shown above, and also purchased some 2000 grit wet/dry sandpaper to finish.

I wish I had a smaller polisher, like a Rupes nano, or even a 2".. but I'm not a pro and have limited equipment at this point. I ended up using my HF DA polisher and a Hex Logic orange pad, with some Meguiar's #83 compound to finish. I then gave it a quick hand wash down, and dried it using the last of my Turtle Wax wax-as-u-dry to give it some quick protection.

While I can definitely say it looks far better than it did, I'm still not completely happy with the results. In certain light, I can still see where the scratch was.

Having said that, considering this is the first time I've ever done this myself, I feel that it turned out pretty good.

Here's the door that had the scratch:

.. I also hit a few other chips on the car that have been there since I bought it. Only have this pic at the moment. This was on the passenger rear door. The chip was about 1/2" long by about 1/4" wide. I circled the spot in yellow.

As I mentioned already, the last clean-up I did was using an orange pad and Megs #83, which obviously isn't really a "finishing" polish.. so I plan to go back over the entire car, once I've finished addressing the "road rash" chips on the hood, and a few more remaining chips elsewhere.. Should clean up nicely once I'm done, and I'll top it with wax and post the final results.

I welcome any feedback or suggestions.

You did a great job, It came out better then i was expecting.

 

[Klasse Act]

I can't really see the scratch to be honest with you. I guess over time you'll either get used to it or take my suggestion which was fine a door at a boneyard which has natural aging and no scratches or dings. Then you can polish that new door to match up with the rest of your car, which I must say, looks outstanding

Sent from my LGLS990 using Tapatalk

 

[natewood70]

You did an awesome job for sure. I had to double back to the first pictures in the thread to see where the original scratch was comparing it to the final product.

From the angle you posted, it would be hard to tell that a scratch that size was ever there unless someone was aware of it prior. It really looks good!

 

[Klasse Act]

You did an awesome job for sure. I had to double back to the first pictures in the thread to see where the original scratch was comparing it to the final product.

From the angle you posted, it would be hard to tell that a scratch that size was ever there unless someone was aware of it prior. It really looks good!

Very well said

Sent from my LGLS990 using Tapatalk

 

[SirTanon]

You did an awesome job for sure. I had to double back to the first pictures in the thread to see where the original scratch was comparing it to the final product.

From the angle you posted, it would be hard to tell that a scratch that size was ever there unless someone was aware of it prior. It really looks good!

Thanks! I really tried to be patient and methodical when I was filling in the scratch and chips with the paint, to make sure that it both filled in uniformly and completely, and ended up higher than the surrounding paint, so that I wasn't left with any holes or low spots after I sanded and polished.

Where I think I could have done better was in initial prep work - I wish I had taken a file, sandpaper or something to smooth out the edges of the scratch a bit better. Up close, the edges are more noticeable than I would like.. perhaps it's just the nature of the beast.

And yeah, from that light angle, it's almost completely invisible.. which I'm happy with. From some other light angles, it's definitely noticeable. Here's the worst angle I could find:

View attachment 49321

As you can see, it didn't turn out perfect.. but I can live with it.

I can't really see the scratch to be honest with you. I guess over time you'll either get used to it or take my suggestion which was fine a door at a boneyard which has natural aging and no scratches or dings. Then you can polish that new door to match up with the rest of your car, which I must say, looks outstanding������
Sent from my LGLS990 using Tapatalk

Well if I could find a junkyard nearby that actually had a 2010-2012 Fusion to pull a door off of, I might try this... heck, there's a few parts I'd like to get ahold of. I want to get a 2nd valve cover to clean up and paint, and swap out with the one currently on the car, I want to get some of the chrome valence inserts, and I'd like to get ahold of the door sill and center console plastics to apply some carbon fiber to, and then swap out... but I can't find a single one nearby.

What I MAY end up doing, and in fact have been considering for a while, is doing a custom Plasti-Dip job on the entire car, using colors similar to what's on there now, but with some pop. Something pearl, maybe a little color shifting.. like this:

View attachment 49322

... will probably not be QUITE this shiny, although the new Dip finishes do come close. This way, the whole car looks uniform, and has some protection, but still looks good.