Any Help would be appreciated

[conan777]

Hello, I am new to this forum and have been reading alot trying to learn a few things. I am at a loss as to what I can do about my wife`s car and hope some of you can help. First of all when pulling into the garage awhile back she pulled in too far and hit some shelving which badly scratched the hood. I have taken several days to fill in the scratches and am planning on using a 2000 grit wetsanding paper to even out the paint, then buff out the scratches with the UDM machine and maybe the XMT product line. Figured I would start with the #3 and then #1 or 360. If #3 doesn`t work maybe go with the compound. Here`s a pic
http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/4012/lexusis250beforepics009sq9.th.jpg (http://img513.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lexusis250beforepics009sq9.jpg)
http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/7885/lexusis250beforepics010ml7.th.jpg (http://img403.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lexusis250beforepics010ml7.jpg)
http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/3826/lexusis250beforepics011nv0.th.jpg (http://img403.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lexusis250beforepics011nv0.jpg)
Oh wait it`s not over yet. There are also severe scratches on the driver side door too. What would you do? what products would you use and what pads with either a UDM or PC, or would you go for a rotary. I have not ordered anything yet. I`ve been trying to figure our what to buy. Thanks in advance guys
http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/4273/lexusis250beforepics027jv0.th.jpg (http://img527.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lexusis250beforepics027jv0.jpg)
http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/3526/lexusis250beforepics026zb5.th.jpg (http://img146.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lexusis250beforepics026zb5.jpg)
http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/1051/lexusis250beforepics019hs0.th.jpg (http://img527.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lexusis250beforepics019hs0.jpg)
http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/2618/lexusis250beforepics017wo5.th.jpg (http://img527.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lexusis250beforepics017wo5.jpg)
http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/8875/lexusis250beforepics005ke9.th.jpg (http://img513.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lexusis250beforepics005ke9.jpg)

[Stephan]

The hood looks like she got it good. They look like they probably went down to bare metal. I would layer the paint using an artists brush not the one that comes in the tube. Once its above or to the same level try wet sanding it with 2000 grit first and see what that does. After that you can polish out the sanding marks.

The ones on the side are tough to get a feel for but they look like maybe some poorboys 2.5 and an orange polishing pad might take it out. If not step up to a light cutting pad. A PC or a UDM might take those out but it might just take a bit longer. A rotary should work alot quicker and give you better results.


There are alot of people on here who are pretty good at wet sanding and touch more so then I am, and they can probably clarify if the advice I am giving you is ok.

my 2 Cents....

[Beemerboy]

Based on the hood and the scratches on the side...I would look for a good detailer in your area that has experience with wet sanding and using a rotary with high temp products...you have some pretty serious scratches on the sides and that`s going to take some heat to get out and I don`t think that you will get that from the UDM....the rotary will reduce them down but from the looks I don`t think they will all come out...some air brushing might be the trick..and thats for the pros..IMO

The hood is another story, I would call your local car dealership and see who they use for scratch repair, good chance they have a mobile or fixed location person that dose this on there trade-ins


All the work that you have to do on this car look like they are going to require wet sanding at some level, practicing on a car that nice is not the place to learn this IMO...leave this one to a pro, you will be happier with the results

[blk45]

What they said, and take away the wife`s dl! :)

[Don]

The hood looks like she got it good. They look like they probably went down to bare metal. I would layer the paint using an artists brush not the one that comes in the tube. Once its above or to the same level try wet sanding it with 2000 grit first and see what that does. After that you can polish out the sanding marks.

The ones on the side are tough to get a feel for but they look like maybe some poorboys 2.5 and an orange polishing pad might take it out. If not step up to a light cutting pad. A PC or a UDM might take those out but it might just take a bit longer. A rotary should work alot quicker and give you better results.


There are alot of people on here who are pretty good at wet sanding and touch more so then I am, and they can probably clarify if the advice I am giving you is ok.

my 2 Cents....

Stephan`s right. The ones on the hood are pretty bad and unless you know of someone, or can do good paint chip repair yourself, you`re basically at the point where a prep/repaint will be necessary to repair the damage. A good painter should be able to fix the leading edge of the hood/that area and blend it to the rest of the hood. Not to be discouraging, I believe it can be done by touch-up paint & wetsanding, but it will take skill.

Like already said, the door scratches are a hard call without seeing them in person. I have removed some pretty intense looking scratches with just the PC, but there were others that looked similar, but they were just too deep to totally remove and the best I could do was fade the majority of them.

If I were you, I would give your original plan a try - touch up paint, wetsanding & lots of buffer time - before anything else. Good Luck

[JaredPointer]

I agree with Don. Try the touch up and wetsanding first. If it doesn`t look good, what have you lost? You may already be considering a respray anyway, so if you screw it up no biggie.

The stuff on the side panels looks to be removable, or at least reduced to the point of not being as noticeable.

[conan777]

Thanks Guys, I did wet sand both the hood and door with great results. Figuring I would probably need the scratches professionally repaired anyway actually gave me the balls to try it myself and I`m glad I did. I posted on here the results if you want to check them out.