Dry, dull and lightly scratched paint!

[DFL]

I bought a used car where the previous owner never looked after the paintwork and always used an automatic car wash and the paint is was just dry, dull and it had some light / medium scratches on it/ Some scratches to the white primer.

I did wash, used Meguiars stage 1 paint cleaner and polished the car with Gold Class but it just made it reflective and not hide the damage to the paint.

After reading through the forums, it looks like Swirl X would be a wise option with Scratch X 2 an option if all the scratches aren't eliminated.

How does Swirl X compare to #80?

Please can you advise on which products to purchase

[DFL]

Re: Dry, dull and lightly scratched paint!

edit: I've seen the abrasive ratings.

Would deciding between swirl x and #80 boil down to how bad the paintwork is?

Would I need to use any other abrasive product after these products or could I just polish?

Thanks in advance - great forum

[Murr1525]

Re: Dry, dull and lightly scratched paint!

Any chance of pics?

The scratches to the primer of course cant be fixed with a liquid in a bottle (other than paint), but the swirls, and dullness possibly can be helped.

[DFL]

Re: Dry, dull and lightly scratched paint!

here are some pics. It's only reflective as its had paint cleaner and Gold Class:

[DFL]

Re: Dry, dull and lightly scratched paint!

any ideas?

[C30-Mike]

Re: Dry, dull and lightly scratched paint!

Image 1,2,3 top to botton order - Ultimate compound with PC machine or by hand

Image 4 - repaint from the looks of it

Image 5 - SwirlX

Image 6,7,8 Ultimate Compound (the white spots in image 6 has no paint left)

Overall surface Swirl X and finish up with #7 and wax

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Dry, dull and lightly scratched paint!

That paint has a lot of issues - from heavy swirls to fairly deep straight line scratches to missing clear on the bumper. That is going to be a challenge, at best, to correct by hand. If hand work is your only option, then definitely go with Ultimate Compound and a foam applicator pad. SwirlX and M80 are both quite mild and, from what we see here, most likely not quite up to this task.

You will need to work in very small areas at a time, wiping off the product before it dries. Even then, we have serious doubts about the chances of fully removing those deeper straight line scratches - they look to be quite deep.

A D/A buffer like our G110v2 would make this job much, much easier and probably far more successful as well.

[DFL]

Re: Dry, dull and lightly scratched paint!

thanks for all the input.

I've ordered some Ultimate Compound and will be using it soon.

Will post pictures after I've used it.

[DFL]

Re: Dry, dull and lightly scratched paint!

the results are in..and my arms are aching.

Washed, Dried, Clayed, Ultimate Compound, Gold Class..

Had never clayed before but it's certainly worth it, combined with the UC and GC it looks far better!

As promised, here are some pictures:

Most impressed with the scratch, I did go over it a few times. Had trouble finding it through the viewfinder!

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Dry, dull and lightly scratched paint!

That all appears to be a massively positive change! Hard work pays off, huh? Nice work all around, especially considering that paint was really hammered. At least your arms will recover on their own!

[Murr1525]

Re: Dry, dull and lightly scratched paint!

Looks great.

I am sure you will find it even better after the next regular detail.