Repair Scratches

[mis3]

I was not paying attention when I backed out my car and hit some kind of wooden fence. My car is silver and there was black paint transferred to my bumper. I applied DC1, DC2 and SwirlX vigorously and while this did manage to remove the paint, there are now horizontal scratches on the corner my bumper. I can definitely feel the scratches if I run my fingers on these scratches.

I will leave it for now for the winter. What can I do to improve the appearance? Should I try rubbing compound or wet sanding?

[Markus Kleis]

Re: Repair Scratches

Is there any chance you could take some digital pictures and post them on MOL for us to get a look at the scratches?

My first instinct tells me that if they are deep enough to be felt with your finger nail, there is a strong chance you won't be able to fully remove them.

The factory paint on modern cars is incredibly thin and when a scratch deep enough to catch your fingernail it occurs it often goes too deep to be safely removed - but not always.

If you have a macro mode on your camera that will likely help as well to get good close-up shots.

Here is the How-To on hosting and posting pictures.

[mis3]

Re: Repair Scratches

Thanks for your quick response, Mark. Somehow I cannot find my digital camera now.

Because of the coming winter, I am not going to repair it right away. So, just to improve the
For now, I'm thinking to do the following:

1. Apply rubbing compound to smooth out the surface
2. Apply touch-up paint
3. Wet-sand the surface.

The scratches are in the bottom half of the bumper. I am hoping just to improve the appearance.

[Markus Kleis]

Re: Repair Scratches

Well, before you do that, you really should determine if touch-up is your best option.

Also, there is no need to compound first or wetsand before applying the touch-up paint. You do want to make sure the surface is clean, and I recommend an isopropyl alcohol wipe down before applying the paint.

As for the next steps, many find that simply laying the paint and calling it a day in the end is the smartest and safest approach. When you wet sand paint you are removing a significant amount of paint, and risk burning through the clear coat.

Additionally, unless you are familiar with the removal of wet sanding marks (typically via rotary) it can turn into a major headache. Hitting your paint with sand paper is the easy part - it's the removal of the sanding marks that is the tough part.

Do you have any experience wet sanding and buffing?

[mis3]

Re: Repair Scratches

Too bad, I am no experience in wet-sanding and buffing.

I guess I will just apply touch-up paint for me. One note is layering the touch-up paint never did anything for me. I had some rock chips and I did apply many layers of paint and the "holes" are still there.