How to remove scratches from your car's paint.
- Mar 25, 2017
- 5 min read
Scratches, it’s a very small thing that makes a big difference in the look of your car and in the patience of your mind. If you are reading this, then boom, you are going to get back the original look of the paint and the patience of your mind.
First of all let’s learn about the paint of your car. Your car has 3 layers of paint,
1st one, The primer (white primer paint), which is done on the naked metal body of your car. There are 3 coats of primer usually.
After the primer, the actual paint is applied, that is the paint layer or the base color layer that is the first visible layer. Your car has three coats of this paint layer.
Now after the paint layer, there is the layer of clear-coat, usually the thickest layer of 4 coats.
Here, in this blog, I will teach you how to remove any scratch that has penetrated the clear-coat.
If your scratch has penetrated the paint layer, wax it well and keep it conditioned till you, get it fixed from some professional body-shop, or if the scratch is even worse, that is, if it has penetrated the primer layer too, then don’t be lazy to get it repaired. Because, if you don’t repair the scratch, the exposed primer will fall and eventually rust off the metal body of your car and you definitely don’t want that.
So how to check if your scratch is a clear-coat scratch? Spray some soapy water on the scratch and see if the scratch disappears for a second or two. If so, then congrats man, your scratch is a clear-coat one. You can easily repair the scratch with the method I am specifying here.
So here are things you will need,
A few precious hours of your life, say two hours.
A total amount of around 1500 bucks.
2000 grit, 3000 grit, 5000 grit sandpapers.
Soapy Water (Dish soap + water)
Sponge or applicator pad.
Microfiber cloth. Take two or more cloth.
A polish, I suggest 3M Rubbing Compound or 3M Scratch Remover.
A nice wax, I suggest Formula 1 Premium Carnauba Wax, and if your car is black, then use Formula 1 Premium Black Wax.
Now,
Let me make one thing very clear to you, there is a myth about removing scratches with toothpaste. Yes, it’s a temporary fix. If you want to temporarily fix a scratch and condition it for a few days, then toothpaste is a good option. But don’t apply toothpaste directly on your paint-job coz the grit may damage your clear coat, leaving you a rough surface. Pour some toothpaste on a soft microfiber cloth and make swirling motions on the scratch. Let it to dry for five minutes and take a wet micro-fiber cloth to buff off the paste and boom, you have repaired the scratch successfully.
But sadly, NO, wash your car and look at the magic, your scratch has come back to life from the grave. So, you can’t repair a scratch with toothpaste, it is just a temporary fix, used by Second Hand Car Dealers, to make their cars look great for the customer.
So, come back to my method.
Take some soapy water, and rub it in a swirling motion on the affected area. We are using dish soap for the soapy water, because in this case, we want to degrease the area, so as to make our way easier.
After rubbing it, spray some water on the area and start sanding it with your 2000 grit sandpaper. Work your way perpendicular to the scratch. That is if your scratch is horizontal, move the sandpaper up and down, or if your scratch is vertical, move your sandpaper left and right. Sand for some time and see that you are applying equal pressure to the whole area. Don’t press too hard, let your sandpaper do the hard work for you.
After sanding it with 2000 grit, spray some soapy water on it and dry it up. Check is you can see the scratch. If you just see a haze in the affected area, but you can’t find the scratch, then move on to the 3000 grit sandpaper. Otherwise, use 2000 grit until your scratch disappears. The less the value of grit, the rough is the sandpaper, so 2000 grit is real rough, 3000 grit being a little fine and 5000 grit being ultrafine. Again work your way in straight lines perpendicular to the scratch. After sanding it with 3000 grit, you should get a smooth surface, with a haze on the paint, wash it up with some soapy water and you will see some milky compound running down the body. Don’t worry, its actually good, the oxidized layer of your paint is getting removed. Now take a 5000 grit sandpaper and work your way. This time you want to sand down a greater area, so that there is no harsh contrast between the repaired one and the rest of areas.
This is how your area should look like. A little haze but no scratch is seen.
Wash the area with some soapy water, and dry it up with a micro-fiber cloth. Now, take an applicator pad and pour some polish on the pad. Make swirling motions on the area till the whole area gets covered with the polish. Apply moderate pressure. What this polish will do is, remove the haze layer of your clear-coat and unveil a fresh new layer of clear-coat.
Take a soft micro-fiber cloth and buff the polish off and again wash the area with soapy water to remove nay grease from the surface. Now look at that, the scratch has disappeared totally, and no-one can say that you had a scratch in that area. But, this is not the end man,
To protect the paintjob, you want to seal the fresh layer of clear-coat.
Take a fresh micro-fiber cloth. Again I repeat, no paper towel, no old t-shirt nothing. What you want is only a fresh micro-fiber cloth. Apply a thin layer of wax on the paint with the cloth and let it sit for a few minutes. Then buff it off with another micro-fiber and boom. You are done with the scratch. It has been killed permanently. It can never come back until you scratch your against something again.
The main reason to wax up is, if there is a minute scratch left, then the wax will cover it up and give you the ultimate shine.
Guys, this is how you repair a clear-coat scratch. If it’s a paint layer scratch, I repeat, this process is not going to work for paint layer scratch. You will end up damaging the whole paint-job. For a paint layer scratch, go to some professional body-shop.
See you guys in the next blog, till then, stay happy and keep your car happy. Don scratch up the paint-job again. For feedbacks, mail me at apratimdey9@gmail.com or you can contact me personally on my given contact number. You are the most welcome.
Bye and good-luck guys.
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