Best way to polish out marring between door edge and handle

[toml]

Hey all,

I've got some marring to polish out between the back edge of the driver's door and its door handle. There's three scratches, not all that deep but noticeable. The longest scratch is 1" long.

I'm a bit concerned how best to tackle this because:

(a) it's tight quarters. The distance between door edge and handle is 1 3/4", and the longest scratch extends to approx. 3/4" from the handle.

(b) all the marring begins at the door edge where the paint thickness may be thinner than elsewhere ... at least I think I read that's the case at body seams, creases, edges, etc.

I do have 4" Propel turbo pads as well as the larger Propel pads, but is machine polishing the way to go? With any size pad, I'd have to bridge the gap between the driver's door and the rear passenger door. I could tape everything but the affected area and polish over the tape as well as the paint, but I'm not sure if that's the greatest thing to do either.

Any suggestions? Would hand polishing be better in this case? If so, I have Optimum polish and compound, #80, and SSR 2.5 ... not what I would consider great hand polishes, but would one of these do or would I need to go with something like ScratchX?

[Accumulator]

toml- I'd either use the outer edge of a 6.5" pad (not as risky as it sounds IMO) or do it by hand, probably the latter. Of the products you listed I'm only familiar with the #80 and IMO it's probably too mild for this.

I'd open the door as an easy way to keep your efforts off the other door. You could keep it open with an old pillow/wad of towels/etc. stuck between that door and the passenger one. Another idea is to stick a piece of thin cardboard (like the stuff that comes with dress shirts and ladies' pantyhose) in the doorjamb to act as a barrier for the areas you don't want to touch.

Yeah, the paint may very well be thin around the edge of the door, so proceed with caution.

I'd do it by hand with my old 3M PI-III RC (05933) or maybe 1Z Ultra/Extra, following up with something milder before the LSP.

[toml]

Accumulator, the suggestion for keeping the polish off of the rear door sounds good. Thanks! I've also done some more research here ... it seems like 1Z PP would do the trick by hand ... what do you think? I have an unopened bottle of it that was given to me along with 1Z MP (which I understand would be too mild). Both of these are from 1Z's Personal line.

[Accumulator]

The PP would sure be a good start. Remember that it leaves wax behind (I dunno which LSP you're using now and some sealants don't bond to it very well).

If the PP doesn't *fix* it, it'll at least make it better. I'd live with it while you order up a can of their Ultra/Extra, and if *that* stuff doesn't do it then you'd just better live with it.

Yeah, the MP will be too mild but it makes a nice follow-up after the PP (and after the Ultra/Extra too).

If the door handle has textured black plastic/etc. I'd either tape it off or wipe the polish off ~immediately so it doesn't stain. 1Z stuff isn't awful about this the way some products are, but better safe than sorry.

[toml]

Thanks for the further input! Door handle matches the paint, so no worries about staining it (polish inside the little crevices is a bigger nuisance). Didn't know that PP leaves wax behind, but I'm planning on following up with VM/RMG and then topping with CMW, so that shouldn't be an issue.

[Accumulator]

Originally Posted by toml

Didn't know that PP leaves wax behind, but I'm planning on following up with VM/RMG and then topping with CMW, so that shouldn't be an issue.

OK, just watch for the "marring coming back" phenomenon since the wax in the PP might do a little light filling and the VM might clean it away (before the RMG fills it back in ). I think I might consider skipping the VM if things look good after the PP, but see how it goes.

[toml]

Originally Posted by Accumulator

OK, just watch for the "marring coming back" phenomenon since the wax in the PP might do a little light filling and the VM might clean it away (before the RMG fills it back in ). I think I might consider skipping the VM if things look good after the PP, but see how it goes.

Thanks for the heads up. In the interest of time, I may just go the "pink Moose" route.