Recommend a simple scratch treatment?

NeilF

NeilF

NeilF

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We're talking about a 14yr old Corsa D (Metalic Sapphire Black) - My son had an argument with a deer destroying the bonnet and front bumper. I got replacements and they've been fitted. The condition of the bumper and bonnet are OK, but there's a number of minor scratchs and swirls on them I'd like to just try and improve as simply as possible.

I had considered giving both panels (bumper and bonnet) a good going over with tcut, and then going over with polish (eg: autoglym). And I don't want to do anything too drastic, and worse still risk compromising the paint/finish on those panels.


So before going ahead with the tcut and autoglym, any better suggestions just to improve the minor scratches/swirls (by hand)?
 
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You could wet sand it with some P3000 first but that risks falling into the 'risk compromising the paint/finish on those panels' category if you manage to make your way through the clearcoat.

P3000 is pretty fine so if you use plenty of water and gentle pressure it should be OK.
 
Yeh, I really don't want to risk the lacquer too much with anything like sanding. I'd be more comfortable risking leaving scratches visible than introducing more problems :)
 
Meguiars Ultimate Compound is readily available, easy to use by hand and you'd be hard pushed to do any damage with it.

If you can't get rid of a scratch using that, then you'd be best off getting someone that knows what they're doing to look at it anyway - or just use a coloured wax to hide what's left of it.
 
The reviews for Meguiar's scratch X 2.0 seem good. So if I aimed to do a reasonable application of this across the bonnet, and most of the front bumper (by hand), simply to improve the tiny scratches and swirls to small degree?

And then after using it just use a good autoglym polish?


And this won't risk 'whitening' the lacquer coat etc?


 
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It's hard to say as it'll depend on how good to current clear coat is, but by hand, you'll be hard pressed to do any damage.

By Autoglym polish, do you mean SRP? That could work for you, it's has minimal cutting ability and is more of a resin filler polish. I.e. it'll make the paintwork look good by filling the tiny scratches/swirl marks.

You're fairly local to me and I have a Halfords DA polisher and some Meguiars Ultimate Polish if you would like to borrow it. I don't use it as my car is coated now and I'm not looking at compounding off the coating any time soon.
 
Just get an all on one that polishes, fills and protects.

Least effort and best value results.

Don't t-cut.
 
lordrobs said:
You could wet sand it with some P3000 first but that risks falling into the 'risk compromising the paint/finish on those panels' category if you manage to make your way through the clearcoat.

P3000 is pretty fine so if you use plenty of water and gentle pressure it should be OK.
Click to expand...

Polishing is more aggressive than sanding by a significant margin.

You’ll take a long time to go through clear coat with 3000 grit wet sand, and it won’t remove the scratches anyway (unless you physically remove enough of the clear coat):-)



Edit: adding context here.

I wet sanded a bonnet the other day. It took me an hour to do a quarter of it and it removed 2-3 microns of clear coat (which is between 40 and 60 microns from factory, usually closer to 60).

I then polished it back, and removed 10 microns in a small area within 60 seconds. It’s an order of magnitude different.


Because it doesn’t “look” as catastrophic, people think polishing is more gentle, but it absolutely isn’t. Hence why it’s one of the reasons you’d never sand to remove scratches.



@NeilF To remove scratches and swirls properly, you’ll want a cutting polish, but you’ll likely get away with a “single stage” cut and finish.

Scholl S20 Black
Sonax Perfect finish
3D One
P&S Rehab



They’re all single stage compounds which will give a good finish. Just be conscious that, unless you use a good panel wipe after, the results will look better than they are due to fillers - I’ve not come across one which isn’t water based which doesn’t have filler (even ones which say they don’t)


Ping me if you want more info, or bring it down to me as you’re not too far away. Happy to walk you through the process and show you.


Metallic black is one of the most difficult colours to do well but being metallic makes it easier than a jet black.
 
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