New Black Mazda 6 with Surface Scratches

[dmarkw]

Hey guys, I've spent some time researching the forum, but I connot get a definitive answer to remove some stubborn scratches on my new black Mazda 6. I washed my car a couple weeks ago and tried getting some dried bugs off my car with a houshold sponge. Well I accidentally used the wrond side and the sponge put a boatload of tiny surface sratches in the areas I wiped off the bugs.

I recently purchased 3M's Rubbing compound (Fine cut) and also 3M's swirl remover for dark cars and applied it to my car this past weekend. I spent about 20 minuites rubbing this one spot with both 3M products with not much success. Am I doing something wrong? I can't feel the scratches, so I'm assuming they are clearcoat scratches (Scratches look almost white).

Any advice would be appreciated.

Best Regards, Dustin

[toyemp]

I'm going to assume that you do not have access to a buffer of any sort and thus need to remove the scratches by hand. With that said, 3M swirl remover isn't going to do the job. Try Meguiar's ScratchX. Pretty good for hand-application. Will still take a lot of elbow grease though and multiple passes depending on how bad the scratches are.

Pics will also get you a better response to your post(s) too, btw, and will give others a better idea on what your particular problem is.

[BigAl3]

if you don't have a pc (porter cable dual action polisher) then i would consider getting one. here's an intro.... http://www.guidetodetailing.com/arti...p?articleId=47

[Accumulator]

dmarkw- Welcome to Autopia!

Sorry to hear about the scratches. That 3M FCRC (I assume it's pn 39002) oughta remove the scratches or at least make them a lot better. I've used products like that (and also that particular one) on Mazda clear. Just note that you really don't want to take off *too* much clear, so "too mild" might not be a terrible thing.

Just use the 39002 again (and again and again) until the scratches are better, then use the SMR. While I'll again caution against going too far with this, most people greatly underestimate how long this process can take. You need to do about 95% of the work with the 39002, and only use the SMR to remove the light marring that the 39002 leaves behind. If the job can be done, the 39002 FCRC can do it. In fact, it can do *too much* correction if you keep at it long enough.

Unfortunately, the scratches might be too deep to be safely removed; the paint on my MPV is very thin and I've had an "oops" when I worked on a scratch. I could've done a lot more correction without the "oops" had I been working on my Audis, I never dreamed the Mazda clear would be so thin. Don't put *too* much stock in the rule-of-thumb that scratches that cannot be felt are shallow enough to be safely removed.

Oh, don't breath the dust from the 39002, it's silica, which is about as healthy to breath as asbestos.