DIY Repair Scratches through Clear Coat

[mrg1981]

OK, this is my first DIY and I'm not really the type that does any work on my cars myself, so I was worried that this wouldn't really work, but I think it worked quite nicely.

So a few months ago, I posted about my wife's car being keyed. It also had many other scratches. Well, a few accidents happened and I got them repaired. The body shop just did the accident damage and replaced the rear driver's quarter panel. This looked great, but the scratches bothered me that much more, since the rest of the car was looking new. They offered to fix the scratches, but since this was all out of pocket, I decided to just wait. The body shop's owner gave me a product to remove the scratches myself and it actually works really well! It is 3M hand glaze (pics to follow). Here is how I personally did it:

Step 1: Supplies
-A soft, clean wash cloth. I would use one that is rough, not something smooth (i.e. wash cloth vs. cloth diaper/burp cloth).
-3M Imperial Hand Glaze (05990); this will work on ANY COLOR CAR



Step 2: Prep
Just clean the areas to be fixed. I didn't even bother with this, but after doing it dirty, I'd recommend you clean the area first to make it easier and possibly get even better results.

Before (passengers' side)

Before (driver's side)



Step 3: Apply liberally to scratches that are NOT through the paint yet. You cannot hurt anything with this product, so feel free to use as much as you want. You don't have to be careful about going over other areas. If you do deep scratches, you will need to do this several times to really get rid of them. I found the best way is to first just run it across the scratch with the cloth. Then on the second round, I dab it with the cloth which kind of creates a "roughed" or textured application of the glaze. This will help it get into every bit of the scratch.

Passenger side application



Driver side application

After dabbing it to roughen it up


Step 4: Let the glaze dry for a few seconds.

Step 5: Lightly rub the glaze off and apply a bit more, dabbing it with the cloth to roughen it up a bit. Let it dry again.

Step 6: Buff the glaze out with the cloth by rubbing in circles with medium to firm pressure on the car. Repeat steps 3-6 as needed.

Step 7 (optional): I haven't done this yet, but if you wax and buff the car after this, you should really never even see a scratch again.

Step 8: Tell your wife that she owes you big time. PIITB! Enjoy!

Passenger's side after



Driver's side after 1 application



Driver's side after 2 applications (will do one more tomorrow)

[Adon]

use the little mountain image icon when posting pics, it'll show up like this

[mrg1981]

Originally Posted by Adon

use the little mountain image icon when posting pics, it'll show up like this

Yeah, as you posted that, I fixed them all. I had copied the wrong imageshack link on every single picture! Doh!

[Louis21]

Looks nice! However as far as i understand it only covers them up correct? Kind of like a filler....you'd need to polish them with a buffer to really remove them

[Mr.]

3m makes some good stuff. Thanks for sharing!

[mrg1981]

Louis - As far as I can tell it really gets rid of smaller scratches. The deepest one (driver's side) is still visible in daylight, but I'll buff it out to see how that helps. Just buffing alone never did much, but I think the combination of the glaze and the buffing will work.

Mr. - No problem. Such a simple process and a long DIY write up-but I thought someone would appreciate it!

[superchargedg]

Originally Posted by Louis21

Looks nice! However as far as i understand it only covers them up correct? Kind of like a filler....you'd need to polish them with a buffer to really remove them

It does just hide them cause after a few washes they will be back.The good thing is if you like to wash and wax the car alot just use the glaze and then wax and they will stay hidden.

[Netko350Z]

Originally Posted by Louis21

Looks nice! However as far as i understand it only covers them up correct? Kind of like a filler....you'd need to polish them with a buffer to really remove them

Too bad the first rain will wash your work away.


What you need to do is BUFF the scratches out.




Nice try.

[jjaujou]

Wow, ancient Chinese secret, eh? That stuff looks cool, seems to be a very handy thing to have in one's bag of tricks!

[3kgtslflip]

Anybody else has had success? My roof was keyed, so I am going to give this a try.

[mrg1981]

It has still kept the smaller scratches away. The largest one never went completely away, and I still need to buff it out to get rid of it completely. After over a month, the small scratches are still completely gone.

[nyguy4u]

This is a waste of time and energy. It will keep them filled for a month or so, after that.. they will be back. Why bother?

Use that time and money to use a product to KEEP them away, such as Scratch X or something similiar.

[blazefast]

Nice writeup, but this seems like just a temp fix to me.

If the scratch is just in the clear coat, a rotary buffer and someone who knows what they're doing will take care of it, no problem.

However, if it extends into the color coat or primer, ideally, you'll want a repaint.
There is something you can do though, which involves applying tiny coats of either primer, color, or clear about once a day for a week or so, then using a rotary buffer to level the paint and clear so it is flush. It takes some patience, but the results are very good when done correctly. There's a writeup somewhere on the internets but I'm not sure where it is now

[chromesilverz]

That door has seen many-a-walls/car doors. The whole edge is scratched up...lol.

[Goku350z2007]

how do you fix carbon fiber scraches does anyone know?

[mrg1981]

Originally Posted by chromesilverz

That door has seen many-a-walls/car doors. The whole edge is scratched up...lol.

Yes, thanks to my wife and kids, I will never have to settle for the "stock" smooth and clean lines on our cars. Bumpy is in, baby!

[3kgtslflip]

Anyone ever use this before?

[OCTrackZ]

Originally Posted by 3kgtslflip

Anyone ever use this before?

I don't recommend this product unless you have a color Fully color sanded car. The OEM paint jobs on our cars have "Orange peel" you can see it at certain angles, like in my black paint you can really see it. this product has you sand the area smooth... thus leaving no scratches, but you'll end up with one area that has no orange peel. Trust me it will look out of place because its nice and orange peel free in whatever spot you have but orange peel will surround that area, drawing more attention to that area. Unless you've color sanded your car and its smooth as glass, stick with buffing or scratch X or similar products.

edit: I just noticed that the one your holding is one for 'ACRYLIC GLASS' or Pexiglas, That would only work well on your headlights or plastic parts.

[3kgtslflip]

Yeah, i noticed that too when I took a picture, I guess I'll buy some to do my parents headlights or something. I'll give that 3m product a try. Do you guys recommend clay bar first, then the 3m, or it will be fine to use the product then just put a coat of wax?

How did this fix hold up through the summer?

[mrg1981]

Originally Posted by 3kgtslflip

Yeah, i noticed that too when I took a picture, I guess I'll buy some to do my parents headlights or something. I'll give that 3m product a try. Do you guys recommend clay bar first, then the 3m, or it will be fine to use the product then just put a coat of wax?

How did this fix hold up through the summer?

On the small scratches it has held up great. We can't see the smallest scratches at all and the medium scratches (not through the paint) look very good still. The large scratch (key mark) never looked great and since it is through the paint, it needs touch up paint to really look any better. It did reduce the appearance of the scratch, however, since the areas that were not through the paint are now gone.