bhutad

While flying down Rt. 5 in San Diego, a water bottle flew out of the back of a pickup and slammed into the hood of my metallic gray 8, cap first. After making some kind sign language gestures to the pickup truck driver I arrived at my destination where I inspected the damage. I have a scrape on the hood of the car, no dent. Right before this happened I had washed and waked my car. The scrape looks like a bunch of semi circular swirl marks for about 4 inches up the hood. It is not too noticeable, but I know it is there and that is enough to **** me off!!! Anyway, does anyone have any suggestions on how to get rid of it? Products, techniques? Thanks for your advice!!

staticlag

it depends on how deep the mark is. Is it just a scuff that wont come out, or a big chip in the clearcoat?

If its a scuff, i have had good results with 3M's line of products.

http://www.autogeek.net/3mperswirmar.html

I've used this product and it seems to work well, its taken out paint scuffs from hitting plastic trash cans and paint dings from people that have parked too close.

My paint surface is flawless after using this product.

For silver I would use their Remover for light coloured veichles though http://www.autogeek.net/3mperswirmar1.html

It should come out with just that, but if it doesn't you might need to get their rubbing compound.

As long as its not a chip or a gouging scratch, it should come out completely.

bhutad

Thanks, I will try this and tell you how it goes.

RotrDoc

"a bunch of semi circular swirl marks for about 4 inches up the hood. "

Sounds like the series of parallel cracks in the paint on the top of my front bumper, immediately in front of the hood, where the plastic flexed during a minor bump, then popped back out. Hardly noticeable unless the light is at the wrong angle.

I presume that nothing can be done about these short of repainting (about $800 for the whole bumper).

staticlag

Hmm,... Do you have a picture?

Are the marks indentations? Can your fingernail fit into these marks?

When you say cracks, are they cracks all the way down to the pain level?

Not being able to see the mark you are refering to you have 3 options, so I can't really remark on which is your best choice until i get a bit more detail about the mark.

1) repaint bumper.
2) take it to a professional detail service, and if that area really is plastic deformation with minor paint splitting, they can fill the area with touch-up paint, then wetsand it down to clearcoat level. Price will probably be $100+ depending on how bad the area is.
3) if the splitting is a "moderate clearcoat inperfection" where the paint coat underneath is not "torn",you will probably be able to remove it yourself

Meguire's is a trusted brand.

You would need to buy some:

http://www.autogeek.net/meg4heavclea.html

to reshape the area

and then some:

http://www.autogeek.net/megdualaccle.html

to polish the area after the heavy reshaping.

What you, or anyone will have to do to actually remove th scratch (as opposed to just covering it up), is polish the area. Its akin to sharpening a knife, first you need to roughly shape the blade with a coarse stone to remove burrs and other blemishes, then once you have a clean blade surface, you can polish it with a fine grinding stone to a razors edge.

We are doing the same thing here, the first product will reshape the area and smooth it down, but it will induce swirl marks in the area in the process. Then the second product then completely polishes out the entire thing.

If you are doing this by hand, I very very very highly doubt you could damage your paint job with these products, but these are professional strength products. These are the most effective way to deal with the problem, and there is a 99.99% chance you will have a spotless, perfect finish when you are done. But when used incorrectly these products may cause damage to your paint job, they could sand right through it.

While I have researched these techniques and have used them with my power buffer on my own car with much success, I assume no liability for any damages that may occur as a result of my advice.

This may sound a bit scary for me to give a disclaimer, but as long as you follow the label, do it by hand, and take your time, everything should go fine.

Before you do any work like this on your car, refering to both this post and the one before it where i recommended the 3M perfect-it, it is essential you start out with a clean work surface. I recommend that you dawn and claybar your work area prior to any product application. That, and if you are switching products like you will need to do, make sure you use two seperate applicators for each product.

Johnboy

iTrader: (2)

WALMART.......3M scratch remover in a little bottle works wonders.....not the rubbing compound, it may be too coarse (I have not tried it though).

RotrDoc

Thanks for the replies. To my untrained eye, it looks like fine cracks in the pigment layer (rather than clearcoat). I have a PC and the new Sonus DA polish products. Now if I can screw up my courage to attack this problem, I may get it resolved. Thanks.

rled

I can feel your pain from the water bottle episode. Here is what weird thing happened to me. Last Saturday I backed my car out of the basement. There was a couple of squirrels gathering nuts in a tree above my driveway. One of the little ***** dropped a hickory nut . The damn thing hit my hood and knocked a dent in it!! I'm about ready to take a chainsaw to the tree and shoot the squirrels!

RotrDoc

^^^ I'd make squirrel stew. Same thing happened with my daughter's new Pilot under a pine tree. But that's just a Honda!!