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scratches and swirls

3K views 21 replies 14 participants last post by  Jibberish18 
#1 ·
i have a lot of scratches and swirls in my paint is there any options other than a whole respray to make it look any better. will waxing help?
 
#3 ·
Depending on how deep the scratches are, A PROFESSIONAL DETAILER can try to wetsand and buff the nasty ones.

They can also try to machine polish the swirls out. I would actually try that before going to a machine buff.

Since your car is black, you will have to do a 3 stage polish/buff job on it anyway.

If you were in my neck of the woods, I'd hook you up...

dave.
 
#9 ·
I am a professional Painter @ a ford plant the best way to remove swirls and sctraches is like someone said a 3 step process.
First wet sand area with 1500 or 2000 wet sand paper
then used a wool pad with polish to buff out sand marks, then use a foam orbital buffer to remove swirl marks.... Have Fun
 
#10 ·
Slick773 said:
I am a professional Painter @ a ford plant the best way to remove swirls and sctraches is like someone said a 3 step process.
First wet sand area with 1500 or 2000 wet sand paper
then used a wool pad with polish to buff out sand marks, then use a foam orbital buffer to remove swirl marks.... Have Fun
Please be advised........

If you wetsand or make a habit of wetsanding, sooner or later you'll burn through the clear.....ESPECIALLY on a factory finish.

If you have the need to wetsand MINOR swirls, then please just use 3000 grit. 2000 can be safe if used in moderation....

You can successfully remove SOME light scratches and swirls without sanding, but you must have good rotory buffing skills as well as polishing skills.

On a black car, you'd better hope that your skills are better than average....

This is a Porsche Carrera Turbo we detailed. See any swrils? Nope! Didn't think so.

This car was swirled up from improper washing and we removed ever single surface mar and swirl with just polish:

(A 3 step is for worse cases of course.....)





dave.
 
#11 ·
Black cars are always tough. It's probably the best looking color when it's perfect, but it never stays perfect for long it seems. For your basic schmuck, like me, I use meguire's deep crystal 3 stage polish\wax either by hand or with a random orbit buffer. It does a nice job removing 90 plus percent of swirls and scratches and is all user friendly suff. I'm always too paranoid to use any serious buffers since I worry about burning the paint and all that good stuff. A good rule of thumb is: if you can feel the scratch with a finger nail, it's thru the clear. If not, you can probably polish it out.
 
#12 ·
Hope you don't mind me joining in ... I have a 2000 ford focus in silver metallic which I've kept in very good condition, but whilst away on a business trip some family members decided to treat me so when I got home they'd done a thorough wash

.. except on dirty areas they'd used --wait for it-- a (mild-medium?) kitchen limescale remover, and unknown cloths. I now appear to have quite a lot of areas of the car that looks rather scratched as in surface scratches but a bit like a kitchen scouring pad mostly on lower parts of doors and often a combo of circular and straight (they were cleaning the oil/gunk.. I normally use wd40....)

The problem looks to be abrasion rather than chemical -- I do know they thoroughly washed afterwards.

I've posted some photos here -> http://www.flickr.com/photos/organize/?start_tab=one_set72157604609991249

I'm figuring out the next course of action. I could try some off the shelf scratch-x or t-cut metallic, or not bother and just regularly wax, but I'm considering going to a a professional for advice/work.

ANy thoughts on the scratches? Is this recoverable do you think? What's a fair price? Around 300 UKP? (the relative feels really bad about it and has offered to pay). Best way to be sure of getting a good professional? Or is it worth trying something basic myself first?
 
#14 ·
#16 · (Edited)
I ended up buying some scratch X but when i washed the car real good b4 hand i noticed that the paint had started to crack in several spots on the hood. So i guess i will let it be untill it looks really bad. Then i guess i will start looking into a new paint job. oh well it still looks way better than my toyota as its been wrecked 4 or 5 times and been offroad more than most trucks:D
 
#19 ·
when your paint cracks like that there is no fix. To top off having to get it repainted they will charge more for prep because itll have to be sanded down to the bare metal so the cracks dont show threw the new paint. So when you do get it redone make sure that they do sand it down bare and do not just scuff seal and paint because the cracks will show withing a couple months if they are not showing right after you pick it up.
 
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