Scratch Repair - Complete Novice [Pics]

[Chillers]

Hi all,

I'm a complete novice when it comes to car detailing and bodywork repair. I drive an Imperial Blue ST170 and it has picked up a few scratches and some motorway chips over the years. I really want to repair the scratches which can barely be felt with a finger nail, i'd also like to try my hand at repairing or at least cleanup the stone chips on the front bonnet. Im not sure what products to use or even how to apply them. Any advice would be very welcome!

Thanks,

Edited by Chillers on Sunday 1st April 20:00

[Squiggs]

Looks like they are both down to primer ... on a door ...?
If so on a light metallic blue like that it's going to be -
impossible to polish out,
very, very tough to touch them in invisibly,
tough for SMART,
expensive to respray.
Sorry

[JulesB]

And for the less pessimistic view...

Get yourself some 3M perfect-it fast cut, and have a go at polishing them out, if no luck then im afraid that chap above is right it will need painting, if you get it done by a GOOD smart repairer it can be done very well, what area are you? I might me able to reccomend someone!

Lovely looking car, done well to keep the wheels corrosion free!

[Chillers]

JulesB said:

And for the less pessimistic view...

Get yourself some 3M perfect-it fast cut, and have a go at polishing them out, if no luck then im afraid that chap above is right it will need painting, if you get it done by a GOOD smart repairer it can be done very well, what area are you? I might me able to reccomend someone!

Lovely looking car, done well to keep the wheels corrosion free!

Thanks JulesB and Squiggs!

I assume this is the stuff im looking for..

3M Perfect-it III™ Fast Cut + Compound It mentions to use a machine powered polisher, unfortunetly i dont have any sort of polishing kit, is there a drill attachement or hand pad that you can recommend for buffing with?

Thanks for your help! Unfortunetly the alloys are not all corrosion free, they have a little touchup here and there. I Don't suppose there is anything that could make a dent on the corrosion without a factory respray?

Also I love in the North West London area. Hillingdon.

Edited by Chillers on Monday 2nd April 13:56

[JulesB]

Chillers said:

JulesB said:

And for the less pessimistic view...

Get yourself some 3M perfect-it fast cut, and have a go at polishing them out, if no luck then im afraid that chap above is right it will need painting, if you get it done by a GOOD smart repairer it can be done very well, what area are you? I might me able to reccomend someone!

Lovely looking car, done well to keep the wheels corrosion free!

Thanks JulesB and Squiggs!

I assume this is the stuff im looking for..

3M Perfect-it III™ Fast Cut + Compound It mentions to use a machine powered polisher, unfortunetly i dont have any sort of polishing kit, is there a drill attachement or hand pad that you can recommend for buffing with?

Thanks for your help! Unfortunetly the alloys are not all corrosion free, they have a little touchup here and there. I Don't suppose there is anything that could make a dent on the corrosion without a factory respray?

Also I love in the North West London area. Hillingdon.

Edited by Chillers on Monday 2nd April 13:56

Yeah thats the stuff, brilliant polish! You can use it by hand with a proper polishing cloth but bare in mind the process is a lot slower than with a mop! I always use farecla polishing cloths, but thats just me there are a lot of good ones out there!

Try this stuff for the stone chips on the bonnet, after a few coats it makes for an OK temporary fix.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Turtle-Wax-Color-colour-...

No not really, corrosion is under the paint so the paint has to come off to get rid of the corrosion! A1 wheels in Wolverhampton do a cracking job of refurbing wheels so you might be able to get a courier to take them there/back not sure how pricy that would be though! Im sure there will be someone local to you though.
Dont know any smart repairers local to you sorry dude!

[Chillers]

What would be the process for using the chip stick and lotion? As mentioned im completely new to repairing any kind of paintwork on a car and fairly edgy about attempting it until i know im doing it correctly!

Thanks for your help!

[JulesB]

I never really use the stick but just use it as per instructions on the chips, I normally apply a coat of the wax then buff off to a shine then repeat the process until I feel the chips on the bonnet are looking better.

Dont forget with the polish it is an abrasive so is wearing the paint down so dont spent ages polsihing one patch or you will make it worse! If the scratch is down to the metal it wont come out completely with polishing

[Chillers]

Thanks for you help JulesB, the colour magic seemed to do the job! I'll see if i can get some pics on my good camera tommorow.

Here are the results of my extensive work today!

1. Repaired Oxidised Headlights Using 3M Restoration kit
2. Polish Exhaust to bring back shine, using Autosol
3. Deep engine clean!
3. Extensive wash of car using 2 bucket method. AutoGlym Shampoo*
4. Clayed the car pulling an incredible amount of crud out of the paint!
5. Used wax stick and polished the car using Turtlewax Color Magic
6. Sealed the car using Autoglym extra gloss protection



Before

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During

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End Result

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Exhaust Before

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Exhaust After

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Unfortunetly no pics before car was clean, however it was filthy!

Edited by Chillers on Monday 9th April 14:00

[JulesB]

Car looks mint mate, glad to of helped, massive difference on the exhaust and headlights

You should check out , the stuff they have on there is really good!

ETA

No plugging your website please.

Edited by Big Al. on Saturday 7th April 18:40

[Six Fiend]

I had my X-type detailed with Glare products. Fantastic finitsh and still looking great 18 months later after a couple of hand applied top ups

[Silverdaz]

A very good 'old school' trick of the trade was to fill chips of deep scratches with super glue then rub down gently with a fine 2000 or 3000 grade paper til flat. Then good old G3 rubbing compound, best finished with a machine polisher but good results can be done by hand and you will be pleasntly suprised by the results, even deep scratches what look like they are down to the primer can vanish.

[RedSpiseeBalls]

very good results there