I just cleaned and detailed my car yesterday and unfortunately I found a few light scratches on it. You cant feel them with your fingernail but from the right angle you can see them in the light. Any suggestions on the best stuff to remove them with that will not damage the paint/finish?

 

I use Meguires Cleaner Wax. afterwards need to go over it with a finishing wax.

 

Is this where clay bar helps?

 

clay bar just takes contaminants off the surface of the paint (works awesome though)

I'd try either cleaner wax or scratch x

 

I use 3M Scratch Remover. On the bottle it says "Removes scratches, swirl marks and water spots.......Clear Coat Safe! I've removed several small scratches on my Dodge. It works very well 'in my opinion'. You can buy it at any local parts store.

 

+1 I've used it to take out several light scratches on multiple cars.

 

Products like the Mothers Carnauba Cleaner Wax can remove very light scratches if you finesse. Meguiar's Cleaner Wax is similar. With either product, the process is one step.

Always use the least-aggressive method first.

If that doesn't work, try a Scratch Remover with a little finesse, inspecting your progress every few seconds along the way. You'll want to follow with a wax as Scratch Removers don't have wax.

 

If you can find it, Meguiars #205 ultra fine polish works great for this kind of stuff. Most of the recommendations like cleaner wax just adds filler that hides the scratch, but doesn't remove it. I'd clay that area, then apply the 205 on it, and then finally put some sealant or wax over the top of it. That should restore the shine to that area.

 

If you can "feel" them with a finger nail?, you are going to have to wet sand to remove them, or have them professionally removed. May I suggest ASC, Inc. HA HA just kidding as the Mod for this area thought that I would plug the business.

But seriously, if you can feel them, thats deep.

Can you photo, and I will give you an answer, or send it to me via e-mail or PM.

TDS

 

Well I actually don't know the name but I have idea about that. I saw somewhere that a pen like a marker can remove your scratches easily, Your car colour is any but it can remove it very finely, only the thing is you have to do that operation in sun light.

 

A good quality polish from 3M or Mothers works well in a scratch that is contained in the clear coat. You want to be careful not to concentrate all you’re polishing just on the scratch alone. That's a quick way to screw up your finish even more. Use big circles or 8 patterns to remove the scratch. Then use a good quality sealer and wax. The sealer and wax will hide a light scratch then actually removing it. If that doesn't work you may have to have it done professionally. I which case they can tell you if scratch it just too deep to remove.

 

Meguiars scratch removal- Clear coat safe.

 

OP, post pics if you can. Most likely, a little polish by hand will do the job. If you don't want to do it yourself, find a detailing guy or PDR locally that can come out and spot buff those out for ya.

 

Ugh, I just got my first scratch in my car. Was washing my car over at my in-laws and one of the little cousins decided to "squeeze" his bike by my car. Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to stop him and there is a nice little scratch down the side. I ran over to Autozone and picked up some Scratch-X, but no luck, it's still there.

 

sounds like you need a porter cable 7424 with something that has more cutting ability or keep trying with the Scratch-X a few more times to see if you can get it to remove any of the scratch.

 

I was wondering if something like the PC would help get it out, but if I run my fingernail over it, I can feel there is something there. I did try 3 layers of Scratch X, but no luck. So, unfortunately, I'm concerned it's going to be a very expensive lesson to learn.

 

Meg's or Mother's cleaner wax does 99% of scratch removal fo me. After that, it's Meg's 2.0 Swirl remover or 3M Imperial Hand Glaze.

 

If it is scratched then you cannot remove it. A scratch in paint is a fine groove.I have used in the bast the two bottles of liquid scratch remover. At the time, 10 yrs ago, they were 1 brown and 1 green. They worked great.I have also used Toothpaste.It has to be the plain paste,nothing fancy. Toothpaste contains diatomacious earth which serves as a very fine abrasive.

 

anything that removes them does so by damaging the paint...the only way to remove light scratches is by lowering the surrounding paint thickness to lower than the scratch with a very mild abrasive 'cleaner'...youre only removing very very small amounts of paint(clears fairly thick, but if you go thru youll need a touchup) but you must be careful.

my favorite is still 40 year old 'blue coral', it cuts fast as heck and their sealer is IMO the best wax ever offered- but good luck finding it (I bought a few NOS kits off ebay 5 years ago- its a royal pain to use as a wax, takes hours, but it holds up for years)

I'd get the finest grade polishing compound you can get, and dont even think of using a buffer microfiber towel, light pressure, dont take any more than necessary- you might be suprised how fast the paint cuts...if youve never used it before, try rubbing first on some old, non-clearcoated object in the garage - metal shelving/lawnmower/whatever, and notice how fast the wrag turns colors- even the fine stuff cuts paint fast... when done, get a good quality carnauba wax to seal the fresh surface, you'll never know it was touched. just whatever you do, dont go thru the clear...if a sacratch isnt fading fast, best just to leave it...if you rub into the base color coat, the metalic will dull out and you cant just reclear it, so tread lightly.

 

Best answer you'll ever find.