I washed my car for the very first time last night and noticed some small scartches on my hood. When I got home I grabbed some rubbing compound given to me a few years ago by Mercedes Benz. The scratches came out fine and I thought all was well until I took the car out in the sun today. I noticed that the areas I used the rubbing compound look dull. The question is, what do I do now? I tried putting a little wax on the areas and that didn't help at all. Did I just ruin my new car???

 

I just use "Scratch Out" from an autoparts store. It's made by Kit. After rubbing for about 5 minutes and then following up with a good carnuba they should be gone.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll have to check that out. The problem is, I've already used the stuff from MB and my paint looks like sh*t.

 

You will need to polish whatever you compounded (the hazing or the dullness should go away after this). Use a good polish and hand polish it out. Then put a coat of wax on it.

 

Rubbing Compound: Please Help!

I think Jox has his own forum for this sort of thing:

let-me-help-you-rub-one-out.com

I hear (tblackj-cough-dzy) that he even joins in on the application of the rubbing compund.

 

Your finish is not ruined. You used a product that was aggressive and now you need something less aggressive to remove the marks made by the compund. Post a pic and i can give you a better idea of what to do.

 

It doesn't show up in picks. You can only see the "haziness" at an angle when the car is in the sun, otherwise the paint looks okay (it's dark blue, but w/o sun looks close to black). When the car is in the sun you can clearly see a contrast between the areas I used the compound and the other areas.

Aside - If I do use polish, can I just use it on the hazy areas or do I have to do the whole hood. I'm worried it will look bad if I only polish the affected areas.

 

You will run the risk of the areas polished not matching the rest of the car. Since there are no pics, I can't really tell you how far off you'll be. I think the safest way to go would be to use a gentle polish like Zymol HD-Cleanse or Einszett Metallic polish. This way, if it does work and you have to blend it in with the rest of the car, you can do it all by hand and not need a buffer.