Clear Coat Scratch

Marty · 01-15-03, 08:43

Has anyone tried this?

Say you had a scratch in the clear coat that was too deep to polish out but did not affect the underlying paint.

Could you fill in the clear coat scratch with some clear coat paint and then wet sand it and machine polish it?

Could you get good results?

Marty · 01-15-03, 09:46

Somebody has to have some comments on this!
Please help me out people.

Knight · 01-15-03, 11:53

I will try to help you. No One has attempted it yet, so I will give you my own thoughts about it, since you seem to want help pretty bad. I will give you some comments.

First, this deep scratch, is it wide? Because if it is not, then I am wondering how you are going to be so careful as to put this clear coat gel in the crack? Also, not getting it on the surrounding paint will be a challenge. How big is the scratch? If it is like a foot. I would say you can not get good results with a brush and clear coat gel. If it is small you might want to try it, but I doubt it will turn out good. Also, the gel that you put in the cut might not BLEND so well with the original clear coat. I don't think you can take away the "line" by filling it in. Even if you were able to fill the scratch in I believe the lines would still appear.

I just saw you wanted some input or comments so there is my two cents. I think if it is big then get it done by a body shop. If it is very small try it, or try it on an area that is not noticable first. I am sure it can be done, someway, just not sure how a body shop or pro would go about doing it. I say if it is small just leave it or go to a body shop if you are very concerned.

I hope this helped a lil.

theveed · 01-16-03, 12:07

Be patient, someone will reply soon enough...

I think it'll work, but in most cases, scratches go THROUGH the clearcoat before it becomes "unpolishable"... the paint is so thin, I really doubt that anybody can visually see whether the scratch has gone through the clear or not...

obviously, if it has gone through the base coat, the primer will be visible... but otherwise, it think it's a very hard task to determine whether or not the clearcoat is the only one that has been removed.

Nagchampa · 01-16-03, 12:10

It will not work. You will still see exactly where the scratch was although it will be harder to see on lighter colors.

You will always see the scratch come through the clear. The way to properly repair this would be to feather the area to about 1" each side of the scratch with 400 grit sandpaper, scuff the immediate area around the scratch with a scrub pad and some 3M wipe and prep, then spray clear over the entire area.

You could do the sanding yourself, and have a shop spray the clear to save you some money.

Jonney_boy · 01-16-03, 01:59

there goes my idea...

haha.. I was thinking the same thing the other day too... why not fix clear coat scratches with more clear coat

you can buy the clear coat "touch up paint" from a mercedes dealer and I was thinking of using lanka to smooth it out.

Marty · 01-16-03, 10:14

Thanks for the advice guys.

Knight, I agree with your comments!
I think that it would be very difficult to get a good result.

Intermezzo · 01-16-03, 10:59

I'm with Knight on this one. Not sure what the benefit would be to adding clear instead of just simply leveling out the imperfection using a sanding block & (if necessary) touch-up paint that matches the actual color of your car. It's a 2002 model so getting the factory color down shouldn't be a problem.

Also, taking your car to a body shop is one answer to the problem, but fixing a scratch with a sanding block & touch-up paint (& all the other materials) is SOOOO easy, I'd recommend trying it yourself. It just takes a bit of patience. I've done it a few times on my cars and the repair areas are undetectable.

The chapter in the Autopia guide that covers this subject is very comprehensive and is probably my favorite part of the book. Good stuff David!

Marty · 01-17-03, 07:41

The idea of sanding a scratch just makes me very nervous as I have never done it before! :scared

Who has on this forum bought a panel from a car wrecker to practice all their techniques?

Knight · 01-17-03, 12:58

If you can feel the scratch substantially, then in order to remove the scratch you would have to remove more than .3 of the clear coat. You would then need to go to a body shop and have them put clear coat on, followed by a plentiful bill. If not, then that part would be exposed. So you would have removed the scratch only to subject the paint to deterioration, which would make it look bad eventually anyway. If it is deep and small there really is nothing you want to mess with. If it is big, like across the hood, then get it done by a body shop. That is your best bet. If it is not that deep into the clear which you should be barely able to feel with your finger, give it a try and be careful.

Brad B. · 01-17-03, 03:44

Quote:

Originally posted by Marty
Has anyone tried this?

Say you had a scratch in the clear coat that was too deep to polish out but did not affect the underlying paint.

Could you fill in the clear coat scratch with some clear coat paint and then wet sand it and machine polish it?

Could you get good results?

If its too deep to "truly" polish out, meaning, you can easily feel it with your finger nails, then you have to add material back into the void to make a proper repair. Sanding by itself, even feathering out to a broader area, is not the answer as you will only broaden the damage. For localized repairs you can spray clear in with an airbrush (preferrably) or paint in with a brush and then you can polish down flat with a swirl remover.

agentf · 07-27-04, 08:35

Yes, if the scratch looks white it is just in the clear. Fill with clear and carefully sand and polish and you will not see it. I had this done to my black mercedes. You may want to try langka for removing the excess clear.