I was leaving from my grandmother's house when the rear passenger side bumper came in contact with this branch that was on the side of the road (slightly in the road) and I got thus big nasty scratch on it. I did the finger nail test and it doesn't really catch but you can feel it. What can I do to fix it besides taking it to a shop

 

Do you have pictures that you can post? That will help a lot in determining the severity of the scratch. If your lucky it might not be that deep and just be the clear coat.

 

What rhrh said.

 

Just the Middle and the thin scratch extending from the middle to the left

 

Ok that doesn't seem as bad as I thought. You said it wasn't catching your nail either. It may just be just the clear coat in which case your in luck. Can someone affirm that?

 

I am fairly confident that will buff out with a light compound and a buffer. Definitely will not require paint work. Might possibly need a very light wet sanding be fore hi-speed buffing. Minimal cost...take maybe 10 minutes at most.

Let us know what happens

 

Clean the area and then clay bar it. Buff it by hand using something like Meguiars Ultimate Compound and then polish it off with some ScratchX.




It works. This happened to me about a month ago.










In all it took about an hour to get it all fixed and looking like new. (Wash, dry, clay bar, buff twice, and cleanup)

 

Thanks my peeps I'll try the clay bar method first, Its about to get nasty down here (by our standards) in Alabama so I'm not gonna drive her til maybe next week so I will post pics ASAP

 

The ScratchX is a good option to try. Also, it it's black, the new Turtle Wax Black Wax is a GREAT product for black cars. I waxed my wife's black Miata and all the surface scratches just disappeared. Good luck. I hate scratches and chips.