Scratches #83 resistant?

[Tom Claessens]

I've been using Meguiars products for over a year now - the 3-step programme, #80, #83...

Last weekend I did a very "slow" pass with #83 followed with step 2 and finished with step 3. I was in the garage and the scratches were nearly invisible (and only a few of them) so I was happy that finally my hood looked clean!

However my dream was destroyed earlier today when I parked my car at work and walked by the hood (in full sun) I noticed that the majority of scratches were still there...

I've watched SCG's DVD over and over again, according to Meguiars BE I'm using the right technique with the polisher (not a DAP - but powerful enough).

You can find a picture (beware 56k, 1.5 MB) HERE

Anyone knows of any reasons why the scratches are still there? I can't feel them with my fingernail so I assume it should be "fixable" with Meguiars products.

(the car was like this when I bought it a year ago - the driver side has also the same sort of scratches over the length of the car - seems someone liked trees a lot or "bushes")

[sneek]

those loot like sanding marks from 400 grit sand paper

you could try taping off a 1x1 area and work in ScratchX very very well try about 8 applications or keep on doing it until the defect is removed.


if that doesnt do it you may have to move up to the rotary

just hope that you dont have to wet-sand the whole car

[Allroad]

Hi,

I am the same allroad as on the Dutch forum.
I saw those scratches before on an Audi coupe.
On that car it appeared al over the car.
Of course I suggested meguiars

But...

It was underneath the clear cote and could not be repaired.
A Known problem among Audi coupe owners.
Never seen this before and a great shock to me.

Maybe something simular on your car ??

[sneek]

opps, didn't think that the scratches were below the clear. Please ignore my last post !

[Tom Claessens]

Well that's the problem, since I can't feel the scratches my first reaction was "I can fix it, not too deep" but maybe they are in fact under the CC and "unfixable".

I'll guess I'll make another visit to Meguiars Belgium and ask anyone there if they could try to get them out in a 1" x 1" square - so I at least know I can get any results.

Originally posted by sneek
opps, didn't think that the scratches were below the clear. Please ignore my last post !

[Mike Phillips]

We've seen this phenomena before, and we believe it can be kind of like cracks or fissures running throughout the paint.

April's Corvette has this characteristic in the factory clear coat finish on her 1982 Corvette.




As you can see, the clear coat is smooth, gloss and shiny after a multiple-step paint polishing process with Meguiar's, however if you could see the sides of the car in person, in the right light at the right angle, you can see what looks like lines, or scratches, or even cracks in the paint, albeit microscopic cracks, and they all run in a straight line more or less throughout the paint.

Definitely a paint defects that cannot be fixed by cleaning or polishing.

[Tom Claessens]

Re: Scratches #83 resistant?

Mike

I've visited "my" mechanic today and he's been into the automobile industry for over 30 years now (did mechanical work on rally cars; now maintains mine) and had a look at the finish on the hood (as that's where most of these scratches appear) and he told me right away that it was a bad repaint job. That they sanded the hood but instead of removing the sanding lines, they applied a clearcoat layer on top of it. So what I'm looking at are sanding scratches on top of the paint layer but under the clearcoat - unlucky me

Oh well... I'm happy the clearcoat looks great after some Meguiars and it looks good from a distance