Some advice for an idiot

[Chestrockwell]

So I’ve had two disasters today,

1. Bird st on my bonnet, didn’t notice it until 3 pm midday with the beaming sun shining on it since the morning and it had dried onto the bonnet, I got warm water with a clean yellow sponge to take it off, it came off in the end however it’s left a horrible scratch like mark. (The disaster is my actions, I didn’t think, worried so much about the paintwork I ended up making it worse).

2. A quick tip run meant an old protein shake somehow leaked through the black bin bag, through the cardboard and onto my boot floor carpet. (Disaster is also due to my idiotic actions).

Picture attached is the bonnet.

Any advice on how to tackle these two obstacles before I fly to Spain on Sunday?

Thanks in advance!

[Belle427]

Try a scratch remover type polish first on the bonnet, it may help but that looks deep.
Halfords sell a few, Meguiars or Autoglym are pretty good.
I did see on a car programme last week that white vinegar is good for awful smelling stains, I think it can be left in the car too to get rid of odours, leave some in a bowl overnight when it’s benn cleaned.

[paintman]

If the scratches disappear when wet they will PROBABLY polish out. If they don't then they usually won't.

You may have to settle for taking the 'eye' off it & making the best of the problem - as in if you look closely you will still be able to see the deeper ones but the polishing will have smoothed the damaged clearcoat removing the white appearance.
Don't try & polish them flat as there is a high risk of going through the clearcoat & once that happens it's game over & a bonnet respray.

If the car has been 'detailed' to remove the orange peel common on many cars then the clearcoat thickness may have been significantly reduced & you won't have a lot left to play with so polishing needs to be done very carefully as the risk of going through is that much greater.

It's a dark colour so trying to do a small area respray on just that bit is very likely to leave you with a visible edge where the new clearcoat finishes.

Edited by paintman on Friday 18th May 09:26

[fido]

Yellow sponges are automotive evil. For next time, invest in a bottle of Insect & Tar Remover (a fiver or less in Halfrods) and some microfibers .. or just hose it off!
I think they are do interior foam product which you can brush and soak over the carpet, then wipe off ..

[Chestrockwell]

Thanks everyone, I’ll hand it to a professional detailer for the scratch as I would t want to risk it myself.

The odour seems to have gotten worse with the vinegar, I’ll have to invest in a full valet when I’m back even though the car is spotless inside, I wonder if a company would do the boot only?

[Belle427]

I find Autoglym interior shampoo pretty good and gets most stains out ive tried it on.

[soupdragon1]

When you say you used warm water and a sponge, are you sure you didn't accidentally add some paint stripper to the water and then accidentally flip the sponge over to use the scouring pad at the other side? You know, just by mistake!?

[Rookie1986]

Try using a carpet extractor with an odour eliminating shampoo for the interior, you won’t need anything industrial, a basic household VAX (or equivalent) will do the job, just make sure to do it early on a morning to give the car time to dry out throughout the day (leave doors/boot open if you can).

If you don’t have access to a carpet extractor I’m sure Tesco//Asda have them available to rent near the checkouts, not sure what they cost but it can’t be too much and would be worth the minimal charge.