Any tips on removing minor scratches in the paint? What products are best?

 

PM TCM

 

Is TCM the expert?

I am trying to get rid of micro scratches from the buffer. It is a PITA.

 

He is a professional detailer...Only person I let touch my TT

 

msindi:

You are so generous with your kind words. I would not call myself an expert, just a little obsessed.

greyghost:

How did you make out with micro scratches?

 

TCM:

Sorry to butt in on this thread but I have the same Q.

I have a Porter Cable Random orbital with orange pads from Griots Garage with his step 1 thru 3 polishes.

My pads were clean and even though I used what I assume to be propper technique, lateral then horizontal motion til the solution is almost gone/dry.

You look at the surface and there are zillions of curved scratches obviously from the polishing process. How do you smoothe the surface back out? Wax can fill them for a bit but then they show back up as the wax wears off.

Thanks for your advice.

 

Tim W:

No problem, I do not mind at all. Are you the same Tim W. on the M5 board?

Anyway onto your problem. You have basically micro marring within the paint finish. You have to remember that whenever you touch your paint, you are scratching it to some degree. Polishes are designed to cut through the paint a little bit to provide a fresh layer of paint which creates your shinny, like new paint. From what you are saying it sounds as if some areas of the paint have had more paint taken off then others causing the scrathes.

By hand, I would first try a glaze to even out the surface and see if you can cut down the sharp corners of the scratch. If that does not work, I would work my way up to a swirl mark remover and continue to get more aggressive until the marks are removed to your satisfaction. The fact is, you are always going to have scratches. Show cars just hide theirs with glazes and wax. If you can hide the swirl or scratch with wax I think you have a decent shot at leveling out the paint with some glaze. Give that a shot and see what happanes. I wish I could be of more help but I am not profiecient with a buffer as I do all detailing by hand. For more advice you may want to question Ray M. on the board too. He does a lot of detailign with a buffer. Good luck and please let us know how you make out.

 

Yup! Thats me

If you do all your detailing by hand you must have some STRONG hands.

I will stop today and get some glaze.

I appreciate the feedback.

 

I used some P21S and the majority of the scratches disappeared, however under very close inspection they are still there and will resurface as wax wears off. What brands of glaze, swirl remover, and polish do you recommend?

 

Hey Britt,

I used 3M Swirl Mark Remover with a random orbital polisher to remove the swirls in my old Ocean Blue 996. It was my first time using the SMR and the polisher and I was very pleased with my results. My understanding is that glazes and waxes will only fill in the swirls and they will slowly reappear. To properly remove them you need something with a bit of cutting action. Start with the least aggresive and move up from there.

Take a look over at Autopia.org . They are fanatical about clean properly detailed cars.

 

greyghost:

I would recommend looking into the 3M product line, as they have some good stuff (SMR, Finesse It, etc). Just remember to use the least aggressive tactics first before going on the aggressive products.