What happens when a scratch or scrape is buffed out?

Jeremy_ESQ · 06-29-05, 11:21

One winter, my driver-side rear door got dinged while my car was parked. Since the car was dirty with the whitish salt build-up, I did not notice the ding until after I had taken the car through the Petro-Canada swirl-o-matic.

I got the ding pulled out by a professional "ding doctor" (not a joke -- that's what he calls himself) but was astounded when the white scrape was buffed out in a matter of seconds using an orbital buffer with some sort of wax or polish. How in the world could a white scrape (clearly some of the paint must have come off to result in a whitish appearance) be buffed to blend in with the rest of the car (permanently, in that I have never had to intentionally rebuff it) so easily? In other words, what exactly takes place when a scratch or scrape is buffed out to cause the white scratch or scrape to regain the colour of the vehicle?

Terran · 06-29-05, 11:24

The paint is taken off to the level of the scratch.

TW85 HHI · 06-29-05, 11:49

When two painted surfaces come into contact with eachother, it is very common for one (or both) to transfer paint to the other. If that was the case (I suspect it was), then the paint transfer was simply removed from your paint using either abrasives or if soft/fresh enough, a paint cleaner.

Bence · 06-29-05, 02:27

Well, obviously, we don't know your scratch exactly. It can be paint transfer as the others mentioned, but there is another possibility. When for example a dog jumps on the car, its claws usually leave a whitish, long scratch. It is not always deep, but to the naked eye it is white and it doesn't come off. The surface of the scratch itself is matte, that's why it looks white. When you apply a polish, the abrasives in it give back the shine; cutting through and removing the matte surface layer. The abrasives level the finish; rounding off the edges of the scratch.
But when it was only a paint transfer thingy (I think it too), basically the only paint that was coming off of your car were the traces of the other car's paint.

Jeremy_ESQ · 06-29-05, 05:57

Thanks Bence, that is the sort of explanation I was looking for.