Remove scratch from painted bumper

Porkford · 19 Aug 2008 at 10:38

Hi Guys

I have a Focus Zetec MK2 in Moondust Silver and the front bumper has a chip about 2 inches long from a stone on the motorway running vertically down the bumper. Its quite deep as the plastic looks slightly chewed. Ive tried matching the paint with a Hellfrauds touch up kit (the paint match is excellent way better than I was expecting) but it still doesnt look right. Just wondering what the best way to remove it would be without having to respray the bumper?

Cheers guys

Scottland · 19 Aug 2008 at 10:58

Have you a picture?

You could try having a go with a decent cutting compound like T-Cut or Scratch-X, and seeing if it's any better. You may well not see any difference by doing this, but it's cheap and you can't do too much damage provided you follow the instructions on the bottle.

Wet sanding can be used to good effect, but it's quite difficult to polish back up to standard by hand, and machine polishers are expensive. This method is also less safe, and you could easliy do more harm than good.

Someone like chipsaway should be able to do a decent job of it really, might be dearer than DIY but you've got more chance of getting a better result.

There's also no harm in getting a quote from a bodywork shop.

Porkford · 19 Aug 2008 at 11:18

Scottland said:
Have you a picture?

You could try having a go with a decent cutting compound like T-Cut or Scratch-X, and seeing if it's any better. You may well not see any difference by doing this, but it's cheap and you can't do too much damage provided you follow the instructions on the bottle.

Wet sanding can be used to good effect, but it's quite difficult to polish back up to standard by hand, and machine polishers are expensive. This method is also less safe, and you could easliy do more harm than good.

Someone like chipsaway should be able to do a decent job of it really, might be dearer than DIY but you've got more chance of getting a better result.

There's also no harm in getting a quote from a bodywork shop.

Will post a pic when I get home at work atm. Ive heard mixed things about chipsaway, How much do they usually charge to sort this sort of thing out? Dont think T-Cut would help much unfortunately as the scratch is quite wide

Scottland · 19 Aug 2008 at 11:22

Porklord said:
Will post a pic when I get home at work atm. Ive heard mixed things about chipsaway, How much do they usually charge to sort this sort of thing out?

I think a lot of it depends on who covers your area, their price will be dependant how much work is involved - but they will give a free quote.

Porklord said:
Dont think T-Cut would help much unfortunately as the scratch is quite wide

Probably not no, but it might help cut back some of the excess paint when you applied the touch up paint.

Wicksta · 19 Aug 2008 at 11:24

Scottland said:
Probably not no, but it might help cut back some of the excess paint when you applied the touch up paint.

You'd be there for hours and hours with t-cut, far better to use some wet and dry paper.

Porkford · 19 Aug 2008 at 11:26

Scottland said:
Probably not no, but it might help cut back some of the excess paint when you applied the touch up paint.

Ah thats good thinking. Will take some pics when I get home before/after t-cutting and see what you think. Cheers mate

Porkford · 19 Aug 2008 at 11:28

Wicksta said:
You'd be there for hours and hours with t-cut, far better to use some wet and dry paper.

Not quite sure how to go about this, what exactly do I do mate?

Cheers

Scottland · 19 Aug 2008 at 11:28

Porklord said:
Ah thats good thinking. Will take some pics when I get home before/after t-cutting and see what you think. Cheers mate

Without pictures it's hard to say how big of a repair job is needed, in most cases T-Cut or similar will do bugger all. But if it's not that bad of a scratch, and you've already got some it's worth spending a little time on it.

If you can still make out the scratch by running over it with your fingers, it'll need a decent repair job.

Porkford · 19 Aug 2008 at 11:37

Scottland said:
Without pictures it's hard to say how big of a repair job is needed, in most cases T-Cut or similar will do bugger all. But if it's not that bad of a scratch, and you've already got some it's worth spending a little time on it.

If you can still make out the scratch by running over it with your fingers, it'll need a decent repair job.

Yeah I definately can tell when I run my finger over the scratch. I have a bottle of original T-Cut knocking about at home so will give that a go.