BMW 550i with thick touch up paint on scratches

**nwilliams** · 08-02-2009, 10:43 PM

Hi,

I recently bought a certified pre owned BMW 550i in carbon black. The car is everything I was looking for but the previous owner decided to hide some of the scratches with BMW touch up paint by simply applying lines of paint on top of the scratches. As a result there`s lines of touch up paint that are thick and stick out as he applied too much and didn`t remove excess paint. It looks like a bunch of thick paint lines that stick out creating paint ridges on the car.

How screwed am I? Is this something that could be removed through compound and multi step polishing or does the fact that these ridges are thick prevent from being able to polish them off back to the profile of the original paint?

**agpatel** · 08-02-2009, 10:45 PM

Wet sand them down smooth then go over with a compound and then a polish. This is the same way i do touchups. I apply the paint so it is a blob then sand it down and finish it off with compounds and polish.

**nwilliams** · 08-03-2009, 12:08 AM

Originally Posted by agpatel

Wet sand them down smooth then go over with a compound and then a polish. This is the same way i do touchups. I apply the paint so it is a blob then sand it down and finish it off with compounds and polish.

Cool. So I shouldn`t be overly worried about this. From your answer it seems like it can be dealt with through wet sanding and polishing? I wouldn`t attempt wet sanding but I`m sure I could find a pro to do the work for me.

**imported_Jakerooni** · 08-03-2009, 06:57 AM

Nothing to big to worry about. Wetsanding it down nice and smooth like suggested is the very best course of action on this one. Just be paitent and take your time. And use a gentle grit to stay on the safe side. Start with 2000 and work up to 2500-3000

**Accumulator** · 08-03-2009, 10:24 AM

Some people are better off not wetsanding for one reason or another....

For those folks (if you think "maybe that`s me" then yeah, it probably is

) I`d suggest Langka. The worst that`ll happen with that stuff is that you`ll take off *all* the touchup paint. The mininal marring from the Langka process is a lot easier to polish out than sanding marks.

If you do try wetsanding, use Meguiar`s/Nikken Unigrit papers (or Mirka). The local autobody/paint supply place will probably have them or you can order online. yeah, using the right paper can make all the difference.

**Phillyz** · 08-03-2009, 02:15 PM

Barry told me to use lacquer thinner for my touch up paint and then go about the polishing.

**Accumulator** · 08-04-2009, 09:57 AM

Originally Posted by Phillyz

Barry told me to use lacquer thinner for my touch up paint and then go about the polishing.

Two things to watch out for there- it might completely remove the touchup and if the panels were repainted at some time it can *really* mess up that non-factory paint. Gotta flip the coin and decide if you feel lucky.