removing lacquer scratches

markwi

hi,does anyone have any tips on how to remove lacquer scratches on silver metallic paint.my 7 year old daughter decided to clean my car with a scouring pad while i was at work,luckily my wife stopped her before the entire paintwork was wrecked and fortunetly the damage was limited to just the lacquer on one panel being scratched,i think its just the lacquer because when i wet the scratch or it rains it dissapears,any tips appreciated.

brazilianwax

You could try Meguires detailing clay - it's a bar and a spray and you just rub over the paintwork (use loads of spray though) and it takes out tiny imperfections in the paint.

About £12 from Halfrauds.

joshm_2

You could try something like TCut scratch remover cream although I didn't think too much of it. Meguiars do an equivalent which I'm guessing might be better. Failing that a course polish or rubbing compond might do (I recently used 3M Perfect-it III fine compound but had to go to a specialist to buy it). If you can feel the scratches with your fingernail, you won't get it out with such off-the-shelf products and will need something more hardcore (again, I suggest 3M Perfect-it III course compound - you need to be careful else you'll take all the paint off with this bad-boy!). Make sure you wax the car afterwards - it will protect it and quite often further reduce appearance of swirl marks and fine scratches.

"Reduce the appearance of sqirl marks and scratches".. I sound like one of those bull**** cosmetics adverts on the telly!

p.s. looking at brazilianwax's post, I'm not sure that clay will do the trick. I was always under the impression that clay was good for perfecting new paint rather than fixiing damaged, old paint. I might be wrong though!

wolfehouse

I used turtle wax colour magic plus
you get a scratch remover+wax all in one product and a 'crayon' for deeper scratches.
for about £9

only problem is car has to be washed clean and dry before you use it.

joshm_2

M £0.02 - I never found the turtle wax crayons to work well, maybe I was using them incorrectly!!?

saintjanet

I have had good results with QUIXX scratch remover,T cut for metallics is also useful it depends on the severity of the scratches really.

imho

I be careful with T cut as it will take a layer of lacquer off ! I would try it on a bit of paint work in the boot first . if it works then polish up with a good polish .Mer is excellent .

rikbar

Depending upon the damage an off the shelf product might work, or might cause further, more serious damage.

If your daughter has gone through the clearcoat, using a compound may rub through the paint underneath while you attack the scratches in both, making the problem worse. I understand that the water seems to get rid of the problem, but even a flatted base coat will appear to gloss when water is put on it prior to a top coat of laquer being applied.

I would recommend that if you have 5 mins and a local sprayshop, to pop along and just let them have a quick look to be sure of what damage has actually been done. Most will give you a couple of mins for nothing and let you know what can be done. They may even give it a quick mop there and then with all the tools and solve the problem in seconds. If however it has gone through the laquer a repair will be so much better if the base coat is not damaged. As a metallic, it is notoriously difficult to get the flake to sit right so the car does not look like a panel has obviously been sprayed, so any action that might cause this is best avoided.

It is very difficult to determine exactly what damage has been done without seeing the car, which is why I would at least get the opinion of a specialist even if you wish to do the work yourself.

Hope this helps

Rikbar

dnc1781

See:
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/products/products/202269/scratch_removers.html

bigtel_2

brazilianwax wrote: »

You could try Meguires detailing clay - it's a bar and a spray and you just rub over the paintwork (use loads of spray though) and it takes out tiny imperfections in the paint.

About £12 from Halfrauds.

That won't take scratches out, only remove bird droppings, tar and fallout etc from the surface to make it feel as smooth as glass after.

Like Rikbar says it needs to go somewhere with a machine buffer (i.e. Porter Cable 7424)

It shouldn't take long to correct maybe an hour at most.

The products dnc recommend are ok but not really for hand use. I have used Meguiar’s Scratch X previously to remove swirl marks the previous owner had put in and also used Poorboys SSR 2.5 and it didn't do much, mainly because the Porter Cable rotates at thousands of rpm's and can breakdown and restore the lacquer and no human could do this by hand.

If it anything like these then it needs a machine on it...





Guide on removing swirls etc... http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog/guides_polish.html

These swirl marks have been caused by Automacic Car Washes and when people use a sponge to clean the car. All the grit stays on the top layer of a sponge so your making it like a sand paper as you rub the panels causing the lacquer to scratch, thats why its better to use a lambswool mitt.

Type Porter Cable 7424 on google and it will show you how easy somebody can removethe swirl marks (Can't get the link as I'm in work and YouTube is blocked)

What ever you do even if you just polish it out apply a wax after as poilsh cuts the lacquer slighty leaving it open to the elements.

Can you tell I spent four hours cleaning my car yesterday :d

markwi

thanx again for all the responses