How can I improve the appearance of these scratches?

B

b34tBoX

New member
Yikes, I know.



These were scratches on the vehicle before I purchased it.

Just asking for opionions, as to what you would do with them prior to detailing the entire vehicle.



I was thinking to clean the area really well, and apply touch-up paint to the major scratches to fill them in, let dry a few days, then go over entire area with heavy duty compound and rotary to minimize appearance and level touch-up paint.





Click to enlarge!





 
You can build up the areas with touch-up paint, then wetsand level before hitting them with a rotary. Won't be perfect but should be better than now.
 
Your buffer will not level down the touch up paint. As Scott noted apply some light coats to fill in the scratches as best you can. Let dry for an hour or so then wet sand and polish.
 
Great, thanks. I just used the touch-up, and it's all ready a big improvement.



Will post after pics once I get around to being able to detail the car. Last few days weatherman has been predicting severe thunderstorms when really we just get overcast all day, which is really annoying me..Arrrg.
 
Anthony Orosco said:
I would go with 15k then finish dry with 2k
Click to expand...



I think my friend Anthony meant to type "1500" instead of "15k". Hi, Anthony :wavey hope you don't mind the copy-edit!



And just FWIW, I find that 3K or 4K scratches are a whole lot easier to take out than 2K (which used to be my go-to). Some newbies to wetsanding find 2K a bit of a challenge.



If you don't want to open the can of worms that is wetsanding (and I could make a good case for either doing it/not), then you might be happy with the way Langka's Blob Eliminator levels the touchup. Or you could use DRColorChip stuff, which works differently in that regard compared to most touchup paint.
 
Yeah, I figured he meant 1.5K.



I've wetsanded other thing before, just not paint/clearcloat.



I'll start with 2K grit and water/soap mixture.
 
Be sure to use a sanding block behind the sandpaper to give a flat surface. For small areas use an art eraser. For larger areas use a flexible 3M pad. They are the size of the palm of your hand and have two sides. One side is a bit stiffer foam than the other. It's a cheap tool that makes a huge difference. Get them at any auto paint and body shop supplier.
 
Well I just used my hand and 1k wet then 1.5k dry like Anthony suggested.



I could have definitely built up the really deep scratch a bit more prior to sanding, but it could always be tried again.

For first attempt, it's a definite improvement.



Lighting is different in the pictures, I know. But i tired to get the best angle to show signs of the scratch.











Oh right, should add. I did the following on the area and rest of car:

Rotary + SS3 + Wool

Rotary + SSR2.5 + Orange

PC + Opti-Seal + Green

Hand + EX
 
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