Help me make a dent in these scratches

[stanglish]

My missus has a white Fiat 500. Let's just say the paintwork leaves a lot to be desired at the moment and we're looking for suggestions on what we can do at home to help the situation without a full-on smart repair/touchup/similar professional. Looks like it was in the wars at our old place (tight parking, people brushed past cars on their way in etc) and she used to take it to a roadside cleaning place that may have exacerbated things.

I am admittedly absolutely clueless about the various products and regimens out there that might help other than T-cut which I admit is an obvious brand. We know nothing will 'fix' this but I figure we can probably help the situation a little and if anyone can point me in the right direction that would be great.

At the moment my high level plan is to take it to the self-service (all I do with mine tbh - see what I mean about clueless) and get all the top layer crap and dirt off then think about whether to go t-cut/t-cut white/Farecla G3/other - but I'm not sure if it is way beyond these products and it'll be akin to polishing a turd since the damage is more serious that surface scratches. Any help is greatly appreciated.

As you can see these scratches seem to go down to the primer I guess, hence the grey. You can feel them to the touch so the surface layer has gone it seems. Wafer thin though.

[Bristol spark]

Im no paint expert, but that panel looks fked!

I cant see any DIY or smart repair working.

[vrsmxtb]

Nice turn of phrase in the title! A hammer...

[talksthetorque]

People brushing past?
Where do you work? The Chisel-Button Coat Company?

Try T-Cut.If it doesn't work it's a respray.
Lucky it's white, fairly easy to match.
That (and I don't use the next word lightly) literally looks like it's been dragged through a hedge backwards.

[The Surveyor]

They don't look like scratches to me, they look more like bloody handbag scuffs. Run your finger nail over then and that'll show you if they're actual scratches (if there's an edge), or it'll reveal clean paint below.

I regularly have to polish off marks just like this on the driverside rear wing of my wife's white mini or daughters white Fiat 500. Caused by them dragging the corners of their handbags past as they get in and out.

Just a buff with a decent polish will shift them if they're just scuffs.

Good luck

[shake n bake]

It's not easy to tell from the pics, can you get your nail in to the scratch or is it marked on top of the paint?
If it's the former, don't bother buying polishes as it needs repainting.

[X5TUU]

they def do not look like scratches ... for a cheap easy way of rectifying the original TCut should solve your problems and be very fast to sort ... shouldn't take more than an hour max to shift that lot

[DanCat]

It's hard to tell on my phone but they don't look too had to me.

I think g3 would remove them with a damp cloth and someelbow grease.
Wash the car first and if you can be bothered clay bar it to remove sap etc then use a damp cloth with the g3.
A polisher would he better but it's easy to get yourself in trouble with one so just try it by hand.
Then apply wax.
I think you'll be surprised how good it can come up.

[Buff Mchugelarge]

That looks to me like rubber marks, Maybe from bag handles or something,
Should polish out?
Where abouts are you OP?

[Mr2Mike]

As other have said, you need to try a cutting compound. The fact that you can feel them with your nail doesn't necessarily mean it's a scratch, material transferred from something else can make a ridge that you can feel.

T-Cut will do the job, though any automotive product sold as a "paint restorer" will have a cutting action and you can also buy the proper cutting compound (Farecla, 3M etc) that body shops use.

If they are actual scratches down to the primer then you are out of luck, nothing will properly fix them apart from a respray. However there are products that will make them less noticeable, e.g. Chipex.