Uh oh....I removed some clear coat!

[LK84]

Hello everyone!

Long time lurker, first time poster here. I just caused major damage to a portion of my car's paint, and I'm very embarrassed about it, because I should know better.

My car got a scratch in the rear hatch, six inches long or so, presumably from a twig hitting it when the wind was blowing pretty hard. No matter, I thought, I'll just correct the problem with a yellow foam applicator pad and some Scratch-X. I've gotten scratches out before using Scratch-X, so the product isn't new to me. However, the angle of the hatch on my car made it pretty hard to get the scratch out by applying the Scratch-X in circles. So, instead, I rubbed a portion of the scratch with Scratch-X in a straight, horizontal direction. Back and forth, back on forth, harder and harder....and then, to my horror, I noticed that the spot was suddenly lighter that the surrounding color, and the pad was turning silver. I immediately stopped when I was doing, and applied wax to prevent further damage. My worst nightmare had occured....in trying to remove a minor scratch, I did major damage to the clear coat. Well, actually, it's much worse than that. The clear coat is completely gone from that spot. And no, it's not dirt on the pad. I definitely went down to the car's paint. If you look at the spot at an angle in sunlight, you can see that there's no longer a hard, shiny coat on top.

The car in question is a 2009 Toyota Yaris. The color is called meteorite metallic, and it's a kind of a bluish-silver shade. I've seen people on this forum say that's it's pretty much impossible to remove clear coat when applying anything by hand. However, I clearly did it. Since this car is Toyota's least expensive on the market, it could be that the clear coat isn't the thickest or the hardest.

What can I do to correct the problem? The spot of missing clearcoat isn't very large, maybe 1 inch x 1/2 inch. I don't want to have the whole panel repainted. I'm not rich enough to do that, not to mention that it's not economical to spend hundreds of dollars re-doing the paint on an economy car for such a small area of damage. My fear is that the damage will spread. I don't want the surrounding clear coat to start peeling in the future. Is there any way to restore the shine in that spot, and to prevent future damage? I've seen clear coat pens sold in stores. Are those any good?

Thanks for you help!

[Kornercarver]

Re: Uh oh....I removed some clear coat!

A body shop might be able to spot paint the area with no clearcoat. Other than that, I suspect you might need to get the whole panel repainted. Using a clear coat pen would probably make the problem more noticeable.

[Rcktsled]

Re: Uh oh....I removed some clear coat!

I was going to suggest the clear coat pen too. I think that is going to be your only choice besides a trip to the body shop. Try paintscratch.com

[LK84]

Re: Uh oh....I removed some clear coat!

I just called a body shop (one that got good user reviews on google maps), and the technician told me that, from the sound of it, it's something that can easily be fixed, and it would be completely unnecessary to repaint the entire panel. He said that it would be easy to spot-fix the problem area. The cost would be somwhere between $75 to $100, but he can't be sure of the exact price without seeing the car first. Anyway, that's pretty darn inexpensive, and I'm hoping that the price stays that low. The area where I rubbed the clear coat off is no longer metallic-looking like the surrounding paint, so I'm hoping that the area doesn't need to be completely repainted, either.

[Spidey]

Re: Uh oh....I removed some clear coat!

pics? the scratch may have been too deep and when you were rubbing hard you may have slowlly been rubbing the edges of the scratch away... slowly having the cc chip off.... neways... stupid pearls in factory paint these days make it hard to spot paint, but i cannot imagine it costly THAT much to get one panel repainted... silver metallic with pearl is a tough one to match though

[LK84]

Re: Uh oh....I removed some clear coat!

Sorry, I can't get photos. A relative borrowed my digital camera, and has yet to return it. Even if I had it, I'm not sure if it would do much good. It's an older camera without a lot of zoom, and doesn't allow for close-ups.

For all the paint experts here, if there are sections of clear coat much thinner than the surrounding areas, is it possible for the clear coat in the affected areas to eventually flake off, or for the paint to fade unevenly? Just so you know, my car sits out in the sun/snow all day when I'm at work. he area where I rubbed off the clear coat is very obvious to the eye, but I'm sure the surrounding areas, where I rubbed in the Scratch-X, were very close to being completely removed as well. I'm wondering if the cost of repairing my mistake is now going to go up.

There are a few other spots on the car where I've used Scratch-X in the recent past, sometimes aggressively (but not aggressively enough to remove the clear coat entirely). Should I have the body shop take a look at those areas as well? I'm sure it will probably cost less to have the clear coat in the affected areas scraped off and replaced now than have entire panels repainted a few years down the road.

I've learned my lesson: Next time my car gets a scratch, I should take it to professionals. Either that, or learn to live with it.

[Spidey]

Re: Uh oh....I removed some clear coat!

Sorry, I can't get photos. A relative borrowed my digital camera, and has yet to return it. Even if I had it, I'm not sure if it would do much good. It's an older camera without a lot of zoom, and doesn't allow for close-ups.

For all the paint experts here, if there are sections of clear coat much thinner than the surrounding areas, is it possible for the clear coat in the affected areas to eventually flake off, or for the paint to fade unevenly? Just so you know, my car sits out in the sun/snow all day when I'm at work. he area where I rubbed off the clear coat is very obvious to the eye, but I'm sure the surrounding areas, where I rubbed in the Scratch-X, were very close to being completely removed as well. I'm wondering if the cost of repairing my mistake is now going to go up.

There are a few other spots on the car where I've used Scratch-X in the recent past, sometimes aggressively (but not aggressively enough to remove the clear coat entirely). Should I have the body shop take a look at those areas as well? I'm sure it will probably cost less to have the clear coat in the affected areas scraped off and replaced now than have entire panels repainted a few years down the road.

I've learned my lesson: Next time my car gets a scratch, I should take it to professionals. Either that, or learn to live with it.

I doubt that the other areas are affected the same way.. You either did something wrong with this recent scratch, or something is up with the paint on your car in general.. MILLIONS of people have used scratchx, including myself, without any problems.