Scratches

fjon

As it was such a nice day today I drove up North today for a walk in the country. At one stage I was driving along a very narrow country road with gorse bushes on either side. When I checked my car later I found lots of long scratches on the sides. Only one or two are really proper scratches, but the others are still visible in the sun.
So what are my options now? I've only ever had to deal with tiny scratches up until now, and the touch-up faint pen has done for those. Any help appreciated!

CJhaughey

Give it a good T-cut and a polish and most of the scratches will be minimised.

byte

On the topic of T-Cut, does that stuff eventually destroy the paintwork over using it numerous times, or is that just an old wives tale?

I've heard that everytime it's used, it thins the paintwork to make it spread over the scratches etc...

Con9903

you are in fact skimming off a miniscule layer of paint, but don't rub the same area for a prolonged length of time and you'll be fine. I suppose eventually the paint would wear down.

Neil_Sedaka

I think you would have to do a whole lot of t-cutting to reach the primer
If it's a metallic finish I think you need a special metallic t-cut, ask in any good motor factors.

BrianD3

I also had this problem on a metallic car and used a T-cut colour polish (similar to that "Color Magic" stuff)

I think the original T-cut is a much harder abrasive than these polishes and is more for use on oxidised paint rather than light scratches

fjon

Brian, my car is metallic black - should I use T-Cut Colour Polish instead of regular T-Cut then?

Alun

I drive a lot around the Wicklow Mountains, and getting scratches from gorse bushes is an occupational hazard there. Luckily though the scratches are mainly superficial, and I have some stuff called "Safe Cut" from Turtle Wax that gets rid of them quite easily. It's a paste, in a tube, rather than a liquid, and it is safe for use on metallic finishes.

Ronan|Raven

Will T-CUT cover up the type of scratches where you introduce yer vehicle to a large concrete mass?! :-D

BrianD3

fjon wrote:

Brian, my car is metallic black - should I use T-Cut Colour Polish instead of regular T-Cut then?

I'd say use either the T-Cut "black" polish or as already mentioned use the Safe Cut. Both of these are abrasive, I don't know which is more so but both should be safe to use on metallics. IIRC Safe Cut comes in a yellow bottle or tube. Whatever you use, follow the instructions on the back of the container and experiment with polishing a small piece of bodywork first and then move onto bigger areas.

bmoferrall

I just spent a couple of hours using T-Cut for the first time on my car. It's excellent at removing superficial scratches. Although it wont remove deeper scratches it does help to feather them. If you use T-cut on the whole car it will produce a really deep shine - your car will look like it just left the showroom.
I highly recommended it, but avoid over-rubbing and make sure you get the correct colour.

[Edit]A couple of stray cats have taken a shine to my bonnet after dark. Bless their furry feet for having such exquisite taste but if I catch them retribution will be swift. Apart from using a cover is there cat repellant available that might deter them?[/Edit]

Silvera

I worked as a panel beater/sprayer for 6 years and we always used 3M 'Finesse It' for machine buffing and hand-polishing metallic paintwork.

I still keep a bottle handy for my own use....it's not cheap tho!

Gegerty

BrianD3 wrote:

I also had this problem on a metallic car and used a T-cut colour polish (similar to that "Color Magic" stuff)

I think the original T-cut is a much harder abrasive than these polishes and is more for use on oxidised paint rather than light scratches

Is colour magic an abrasive?? I just bought some i thought it was a wax with colouring in it no?

Dades

I think the colour magic stuff is just normal wax, while the T-cut stuff is abrasive.
I have the blue T-cut stuff and the bottle looks just like the original colour magic one.

I got better results from Autoglym "paint restorer" though.

dahamsta

You mean "Paint Renovator" Atheist? I've been meaning to cut my bus and I was going to go with T-Cut, but I'm a big fan of Auto Glym products. So you reckon it's better than T-Cut?

adam

bmoferrall

bmoferrall wrote:

I just spent a couple of hours using T-Cut for the first time on my car... If you use T-cut on the whole car it will produce a really deep shine - your car will look like it just left the showroom.

I thought I'd back this up with some pics of my 3 yr old car (any excuse). I applied T-cut by hand so results would be even better had I used a buffing machine:

Alun

You seem to have overdone it a bit on the licence plate

Dades

dahamsta wrote:

You mean "Paint Renovator" Atheist? I've been meaning to cut my bus and I was going to go with T-Cut, but I'm a big fan of Auto Glym products. So you reckon it's better than T-Cut?

Sorry adam - yup that's the one.

Had a go with the coloured T-cut and didn't much of a result. The Autoglym stuff came up better for me.

Depends on the job I guess. The car I'm working on has been in storage and you wouldn't believe the black grime that was coming off with the (white) autoglym stuff. The parts of the body work that weren't too bad were coming up quite shiny.

You're supposed to use the Resin Polish afterward.

G'luck!

dahamsta

The Atheist wrote:

Sorry adam - yup that's the one.

Ta.

You're supposed to use the Resin Polish afterward.

I wouldn't use anything else.

adam

MercMad

Thats a lovely Alfa ! It came up very well but I wouldn't recommend using any type of abrasive unless really neccesary.

I used to work in a bodyshop too and I second the 3M and Autoglym recommendations completely !

Sometimes its good to really wet the cloth before applying any compound as it reduces the effect, so its good to try this first as you may not need to remove much !

Also after using any compund you should apply a decent quality wax .........or resin polish !

Ernie Ball

So what would be the complete recommended procedure for a car with scratched paint?

Would it be:

1) Wash
2) Dry
3) AutoGlym Paint renovator
4) Resin polish ?

Anything else?

prospect

Wash with wax free product.

Wax.

Ernie Ball

prospect wrote:

Wash with wax free product.

Wax.

Are those steps 5 and 6?

prospect

No,

Replace step 1 with:
Wash with wax free product.

And Wax & buff is last,
I think. I have never used the resin polish though. Maybe its the same.

Dades

Again - depends on the state of the paintwork.

A car that just needs a good buff, is different to one that has gone dull over time and needs extra work.

I say the "Restorer" stuff does what it says on the tin!

Ernie Ball

What about clay? Where would that fit into the process?

bmoferrall

*double post deleted*

bmoferrall

MercMad wrote:

Thats a lovely Alfa ! It came up very well but I wouldn't recommend using any type of abrasive unless really neccesary.

I used to work in a bodyshop too and I second the 3M and Autoglym recommendations completely !

Sometimes its good to really wet the cloth before applying any compound as it reduces the effect, so its good to try this first as you may not need to remove much !

Also after using any compund you should apply a decent quality wax .........or resin polish !

Thanks for the tips. It was a once-off job to remove a 3-yr build-up of minor scratches; I intend switching back to autoglym polish until I feel the need for T-cut (or this 3M stuff) again. I didn't bother applying normal polish after the T-cut and that probably shows (might do so and post revised pics tomorrow).

Silvera

If you want to know more about polishing, buffing etc, have a look at this site - these guys are fanatical about it !

Buff like mad!

dahamsta

Right, I've decided to cut the beamer tomorrow, any tips for me? You know, stuff like "don't apply it diagonally because all the paint, and your mirrors, will fall off by the end of the day".

Seriously, there's usually knacks to these things that aren't mentioned on the tin, so if there are any tricks, pass 'em on.

adam

mike65

Get up early! Do the job when a you're fresh (ish) and before the sun has got any heat in it or indeed there may be low cloud/mist. Make sure you're doing the job on freshly clean paint. Last thing you need is to rub in some gritty particles as you go. Do you have plenty of clean soft cloth, I find old t-shirts exellent for this sort of work.

what about clay? Where would that fit into the process?

Ernie, claying comes after a wash and before polishing or waxing clay will remove those nasty particles I mentioned above without damaging the paint.
When claying use car wash shampoo as lubricant.

Mike.