CRAP! I scratched the side of the stang up.

[CManT1914]

I was going down an extremely narrow one lane rock/gravel road the other day, and to avoid scraping the piss outta my undercarriage, I moved over to the edge, and apparently ran the side of my car up against some trees. There's about 3 or 4 scratches, the ENTIRE length of the passenger side! Luckily, none of them are real deep. You can't even feel them with your fingers. I tried getting some out with some rubbing compound and a rag, but it only worked on some spots. There's a touch-up company that comes to the dealership a couple times a week, I'm thinking about asking them how much they'd charge me to get them out, unlesss anybody knows how I can get these out?

 

[87_GT]

i feel you on this one, i was driving my moms explorer the other day and a tree branch had fallen onto the road and i scratched the thing from headlight to taillight. i would like to know how to fix this as well.

 

[WHITE94COBRA]

Rubbing compound and a buffer with a foam pad, then polish with a terry cloth pad, then wax. That should get all of em out, If you can feel any of them with you hand it probably wont get them out, but the fine ones will be gone.

 

[91LX_5L]

man thats too bad, wetsanding and proper buffing im sure will get it out.

 

[nmcgrawj]

I doubt wetsanding is necessary. And if u arent a pro...i would not even try it.

But if you get a polisher, like the one on the detailing sites the guys love(cant think of the name of it) or a dewalt or something, using some rubbing compound, then polish, then use a orbital or your hand and wax it. The light scratches WILL come out and even if they are deeper, you can do ONE HELL of job hiding them.

This gives you a good excuse to get some good detailing equipment. A polisher, orbital, pads, rubbing compound, polish, and some good wax can get you a GREAT looking car. Takes some practice but you'll get good at it.

Depending on the polisher you get, the wheel i used in the past was a Dewalt...and i learned at a BMW dealership detailing. Only burned through the paint on 1 car...man o man thats a bad feeling...and awhole nother story together

 

[CManT1914]

Nate, by polisher, do you mean a polishing wheel that attaches to a drill or what? What's an orbital? Pads? lol, I only ever wash and occasionally wax the stang, I've never polished or rubbed anything (at least on the stang ). Let me know if you can think of that site!

 

[bill302]

i would try some MOTHERS CALIFORNIA GOLD® SCRATCH REMOVER. i have always had good results with this product line and good luck.

 

[bill302]

wal-mart sells a good polisher buffer for about $20

 

[nmcgrawj]

autopia.org are the detailing forums.....

Porter Cable (PC) 7424 or a rotary buffer was the machine i was talking about.

I havent used the porter cable so i dont know the details but people seem to love it. The Dewalt is a rotary buffer also with a variable speed on it. Too fast = hot paint=burned paint.

The cheaper random orbital buffers you probably see are good for putting on and taking off waxes and polish maybe, but they wont get any scratches out. To get a scratch out, you need to heat up the paint which the rotary buffers do. A random orbital buffer helps to eliminate burned paint and wheel marks since it has a random pattern.

Dont let the dangers scare you. Just go slow and realize you wont get the scratch out on your first try. Going slow may take longer but can get the same results.

http://autopia.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=105
http://autopia.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=58

 

[wytstang]

By hand Megs ScratchX would be your best bet via a foam bad. A pc will work wonders as far as apperance goes. I got lucky and got a great deal from pat (super302) on the pc 7424 look for deals on ebay.

 

[GRGT1994]

i feel you on this one . . .

Man, that just don't sound right. How 'bout instead you just try feeling his pain, rather than feeling him up?

 

[Dagz]

My buddy in town owns a detail shop, i spend alot of time there because he details all of my vehicles on my car lot. You need to have the car cut polished. If you only do one side you will regret it. One will be super shiny and the other dull no matter how well you look after your paint. It doesn't cost much but will take away small scratches, and oxcidization. If you can run a fingure nail across it and it doesn't catch the paint it is safe to say they can fix it. If you atempt this on your own you can burn the clear and even the paint, or swirl your paint. For the money it is worth it. Make the whole car look like new anyways.

Dagz

 

[nmcgrawj]

My buddy in town owns a detail shop, i spend alot of time there because he details all of my vehicles on my car lot. You need to have the car cut polished. If you only do one side you will regret it. One will be super shiny and the other dull no matter how well you look after your paint. It doesn't cost much but will take away small scratches, and oxcidization. If you can run a fingure nail across it and it doesn't catch the paint it is safe to say they can fix it. If you atempt this on your own you can burn the clear and even the paint, or swirl your paint. For the money it is worth it. Make the whole car look like new anyways.

Dagz

Going slow and not being aggressive or overly confident can avoid burnt paint. A shop can burn the paint too. It makes the car look great....10 year old paint looking new though? I wouldnt expect that good of a result.

For the money spent paying someone else to do it, i say buy the tools with that money and have the ability to do it yourself a million times over and over.