New forum member and in full blown panic mode :(

[jdsabin1]

Hello everyone - I am hopeful I can get some help with a problem that is entirely my fault. I have a brand new yellow Camaro that is my pride and joy. Last week I inadvertently ran over a road surface that had holes that were filled with black asphalt that apparently wasn't dry yet and it wound up sticking to the car along the bottom where the tires kicked it back Some of it actually jumped up as high as the middle of the door on the drivers side. Like an idiot I grabbed some cheap rubbing compound and sure enough I got the tar off the car but unbeknownst to me it also left small 'sanding' spots where I did this and now in any light you can pick these spots out. Most of them are very small (narrow and about the size of a quarter) and just a few spots where it's larger. Still, it looks like I literally took sandpaper and went to town.

I am literally sick to my stomach when I look at it.

I am no detailer and have no power tools like a orbital sander, etc.

Is there a Meguiars product and process that can remove these scratches or am I really out of luck.

Anything anyone can suggest would be most appreciated.

Thanks!

Jeff

[Marc08EX]

Re: New forum member and in full blown panic mode

to MOL Jeff!

Sorry to hear about your experience. I would feel the same if I see that happen to a gorgeous car like that.

I think it really depends on how deep the rubbing compound marks are. Since the affected areas are small, I think that working by hand is more achievable.

I would pick up a bottle of Ultimate Compound in your nearest Walmart. Get a fresh foam applicator pad and apply some product on it. Work on each trouble areas at a time and make sure to apply pressure while working the product it. Using this product is not the same as a wax where you just apply it on the surface and call it good. You have to concentrate on the work area (in your case a spot at a time) and apply whatever motion you prefer (circular or straight line) until you've covered the area 6-8 times. Again, make sure you apply some pressure while doing so.

Let us know how that works out. Hope this helped and good luck with your endeavor!

[Marc08EX]

Re: New forum member and in full blown panic mode

Here's a good video that was taken in a Saturday Class in Meguiar's HQ:

I would apply the same principles but shrink down your work area to the damaged area. Do it one at a time.

[Murr1525]

Re: New forum member and in full blown panic mode

Just to note, you can shrink the work area down, but you do not want to just use one finger to rub the applicator with a lot of force in one area. You need to stay somewhat like the video and keep an even pressure of a bit of an area.

And then you can also look at different ways of removing tar in the future....

[tguil]

Re: New forum member and in full blown panic mode

I agree with all of the above. However if you are a complete newbie, you may want to take your "pride and joy" to a very good detail shop and have a pro buff it out. Then take over on your own. Meguiar's products and the information on this forum are difficult to beat. Meguiar's Ultimate Compound is great stuff, but still you have your work cut out for you if you do it yourself. By all means do as Murr1525 suggests. It is possible to go through clearcoat even if you are just working by hand.

Tom

[Michael Stoops]

Re: New forum member and in full blown panic mode

Just to note, you can shrink the work area down, but you do not want to just use one finger to rub the applicator with a lot of force in one area. You need to stay somewhat like the video and keep an even pressure of a bit of an area.

The above comments are critical when correcting small areas by hand. We're really hoping that in your initial removal of the tar spots that you did not scrub vigorously to get them off. If they came off pretty easily, with almost no scrubbing, then we can easily blame the old school compound you used for the marring. In that case, you're actually lucky because the marring should be easy to correct with Ultimate Compound and the techniques shown in the above video. If, on the other hand, you needed to really scrub to get rid of the tar and you did so in just very small areas, you could have seriously compromised the clear coat thickness. As Mat points out here, aggressive rubbing in a very tight area is dangerous to the point where you can actually rub right through the clear coat, even by hand.

[gsaintchar]

Re: New forum member and in full blown panic mode

If you ever run into this problem again, try using kerosene to remove the tar. I've been using it for years and have no problem using it on my nicely modded LPE Corvette. Just neutralize the area when finished. After cleaning the area, I use Ultimate Detailer to remove any residue and neutralize the area.