Clear Coat Sratches

[TABBEII]

Has anyone got any secrets they'd like to share when it comes to getting rid of small scratches in the clear coat layer?

Conventional thinking is to use rubbing compound to rub the clear coat down to the depth of the scratch until the surface is smooth. But that seems seems brutal, and I'm reluctant to do it because you loose a lot of prefectly good clear coat around the scratch by rubbing it away.

I've rubbed my clear coat with the clay bar, and it works great as a pre-waxing and cleaning treatment. But the clay bar doesn't seem to get rid of anything but the very finest scratches.

It would be nice to be able to fill the scratch with clear coat (or something equally invisible), and then smooth it over. But I don't see any products that support a process like that...

Terry

[J44EAG]

To smooth out scratches, one nearly always has to remove a quantity of clear coat which obviously reduces the thickness of the material. Rub hard enough and eventually you go down to the colour coat.

It is perhaps easier to do that than try to fill the scratch with more clear coat. Even if that were possible, you would be flatting back to level the new coating with the old and inevitably once again thinning the old clear coat is you flat and polish the new material into the old.

The problem with these new water based finishes is that an oven is needed to get them cooked. Modern materials need that facility, otherwise they stay "wet" for ever. Consequently DIY type repairs can be difficult unless solvent paints are used. Halfords will special mix aerosol for you at around £16 a can. With some knowledge of car paintwork techniques, reasonable results can be obtained if you are experienced. However, it is fair to say that attempting say a repair in the middle of a panel is unlikely to be acceptable.

To revert to the scratches, you might try light flatting with 1200 or 1500 grade wet and dry paper followed by buffing up with rubbing compound such as the Faracla range which comes in three different abrasive grades. I`ve also used metal polish and toothpaste for scratch removal. At the end of the day though, if the scratch is down to the colour coat and buffing of the clear coat is unsuccessful, then you may well have to resort to putting the car into a panel shop to have the job done to an acceptable standard.

No short cuts with paintwork, I`m afraid. It is easier to flat down and respray the clear coat than attempt to fill the scratches. The respray method unless you are extremely lucky eradicates the scratches whereas any infill method is unlikely to be successful.

My paintwork experience gained in the auto, marine and aviation industries where paint techniques are identical. Rub, rub, rub until your arm drops off.................

Mike

[Montana5]

When searching for a hand scratch remover I tried around 7 or 8 various products, (mostly all borrowed from one of my other Car Club Members) none of which worked for me, in the process I also tried various hand pad applicators too, anyway to cut a long story short this is the combo that eventually worked a treat for me...
Gtechniq P1
and
Tri Foam Oval Pad

The Meguiars Ultimate Compound was next best, though I have heard that newer Meguiars Scratch X2 is even better.

I find the Jaguars paint a dream to work on and I hope to invest in a rotary polisher next year, though I've been saying that for about 5 years.

Doug.

[TABBEII]

Yea, I hear you Mike - No easy way...

I don't mind rubbing and buffing and polishing my cars. Indeed I love polishing and waxing a nice car. It's a very therapeutic thing for me to do on a nice day. The people in my life think I'm obsessive-compulsive about making my cars shiny, and they often say I clean my cars so much I'll rub the paint off some day. That's never happened, but I do often wonder how much rubbing the clear coat can tolerate.

My latest Jag, an Emerald Fire 2007 (or 2008) STR has a magnificent paint job. I was polishing it yesterday, and it is soooo shiny I love the look, but, if you get the angle of the light just right, you can see little scratches and imperfections in the clear coat. I want to get rid of those imperfections before I show my STR off at a JEC meeting...

Ter

[TABBEII]

When searching for a hand scratch remover I tried around 7 or 8 various products, (mostly all borrowed from one of my other Car Club Members) none of which worked for me, in the process I also tried various hand pad applicators too, anyway to cut a long story short this is the combo that eventually worked a treat for me...
Gtechniq P1
and
Zaino Tri Foam Oval Pad

The Meguiars Ultimate Compound was next best, though I have heard that newer Meguiars Scratch X2 is even better.

I find the Jaguars paint a dream to work on and I hope to invest in a rotary polisher next year, though I've been saying that for about 5 years.

Doug.

Oh man Doug! Your timing couldn't have been better with your advice on the Gtechniq and Zaino Foam Pad recommendations. I was just about to talk my wife into buying me a fresh batch of Meguires Ultimate Compound. Now, instead I'll get Barb to buy the stuff you've recommended and report back on how it works (might be a couple of weeks).

I've used Meguires stuff before, and I like their wax products a lot, but haven't had great results with their scratch/swirl removal products. Yes I hear you Mike - Maybe there wasn't enough elbow-grease applied!

Thanks for all the help lads!

[Brakebuster]

the best way to repair a scratch in clearcoat is to fill it with.......

clearcoat

yes, as simple and as cheap as that

you will need , a 000 artist brush , very fine, a small rattle can of clearcoat , and some panel wipe ( or spirit wipe ) used to remove contaminants from the surface before painting

clean the surface, this will actual highlight the scratch even better, spray some clearcoat into the rattle can lid , and then using the fine brush carefully ' fill ' the scratch , do not apply too much , and before your eyes the scratch will disapear, leave for a few mins to dry ,

stand back and you will not be able to see the repair , this also applies to small scuffs in the clearcoat , once confident its how you want it , apply polish as you desire,

this is a recognised bodyshop repair method used for prepping cars for sale........

it is not however a solution to polishing swirls , you will need the car to be mopped and polished for this

BB

[TABBEII]

Thanks! That sounds very encouragng BB - I'll try it and report back to the group.

There's really only one clear coat scratch on my car that I'll try your technique on, it's about 6 inches long, seems to go well into the clear coat, but there's no evidence it reached the paint. It's on the passenger side of the car from when I brushed-up against a thorny bush on a narrow road a couple of months ago.

the paw