Can I accomplish this? My 3 and 4 year old original paint finishes have small scratches on them from previous slob lease owners (it hurts me to even park a rental next to another car in a lot) and now some newer light key scratches on the 2000 from some A*SHOLE have appeared (hard to get a normal scratch in an X pattern isn't it?). Sad that there are such jealous jerks in the world that they take it out on your cars finish just because it looks so good and they drive a piece of garbage.
So I've been reading up here about how to fix paint damage, before I do my final detail.
Before I attempt this I wanted some forum input. I put on some touch-up with a toothpick temporarily as the scratches were too small for the bottles brush ( I know I could get real small brush tips as I have in the past for repairs). But these small lines are too small to feather out first, so I figured I'd try and fill them in with color first. They are not down to metal, so I didn't think I needed primer first, but they are through the clear coat layer and show as white lines on both dark cars. The real small ones I think a rotary process will make some better.
Can someone outline a step by step process or check mine to see if I'm on the right track.
I watched the Meg. site's videos already from a suggestion here. Their site really is great for beginners . . . I think they have done a great marketing job with these video's. I've been using some of their products for years anyway, but once you watch their step by steps you feel guilty buying other products, two thumbs up to Meg. for these.
I'm worried about spreading the repair of each scratch out onto the surrounding clear coat and make things worse so I'm wondering if I should just leave them as is but they are killing me to look at them. Only people at this site could appreciate and understand my dilemma.
So here's my plan
1. remove the too thick glob of touch up i just put on with acrylic laq thinner.
2. thin down the touch up paint real thin with the Acrylic laq and re-apply with a tiny tipped brush. Kinda globby now.
3. sand with 2000 or 2500 meg. paper, trying to keep the over sand to a minimum on the surrounding clear-coat.
4. buy a rotary PC or Dewalt (I have a cyclo already, for AIO polishing).
5. Do I need to clear coat these small scratches too? Is it best to tape them off and use a clear-coat spray on them?
6. Use meg. cutting abrasives, 3 steps (maybe 1st step Meg. #83 up thru the diamond one, from heavy to light (which ones are best to use) to feather the repair.
7. Use a meg. SMR to remove any swirls from the rotary steps.
8. follow with my detailing process of AIO (CP), SG (hand), P21s (hand).
9. Look back at the car many times as I'm walking away from it. job well done!
10. Have a glass of wine, while sitting on the porch looking at how great the cars look.
So far, the only step I have confidence in is #10. the WINE:xyxthumbs
11. OR sit on porch, drink enough wine so the scratches are a blur anyway (mind feathering) and forget the whole thing. Sell both cars for two more with no scratches.
Any help is appreciated
So I've been reading up here about how to fix paint damage, before I do my final detail.
Before I attempt this I wanted some forum input. I put on some touch-up with a toothpick temporarily as the scratches were too small for the bottles brush ( I know I could get real small brush tips as I have in the past for repairs). But these small lines are too small to feather out first, so I figured I'd try and fill them in with color first. They are not down to metal, so I didn't think I needed primer first, but they are through the clear coat layer and show as white lines on both dark cars. The real small ones I think a rotary process will make some better.
Can someone outline a step by step process or check mine to see if I'm on the right track.
I watched the Meg. site's videos already from a suggestion here. Their site really is great for beginners . . . I think they have done a great marketing job with these video's. I've been using some of their products for years anyway, but once you watch their step by steps you feel guilty buying other products, two thumbs up to Meg. for these.
I'm worried about spreading the repair of each scratch out onto the surrounding clear coat and make things worse so I'm wondering if I should just leave them as is but they are killing me to look at them. Only people at this site could appreciate and understand my dilemma.
So here's my plan
1. remove the too thick glob of touch up i just put on with acrylic laq thinner.
2. thin down the touch up paint real thin with the Acrylic laq and re-apply with a tiny tipped brush. Kinda globby now.
3. sand with 2000 or 2500 meg. paper, trying to keep the over sand to a minimum on the surrounding clear-coat.
4. buy a rotary PC or Dewalt (I have a cyclo already, for AIO polishing).
5. Do I need to clear coat these small scratches too? Is it best to tape them off and use a clear-coat spray on them?
6. Use meg. cutting abrasives, 3 steps (maybe 1st step Meg. #83 up thru the diamond one, from heavy to light (which ones are best to use) to feather the repair.
7. Use a meg. SMR to remove any swirls from the rotary steps.
8. follow with my detailing process of AIO (CP), SG (hand), P21s (hand).
9. Look back at the car many times as I'm walking away from it. job well done!
10. Have a glass of wine, while sitting on the porch looking at how great the cars look.
So far, the only step I have confidence in is #10. the WINE:xyxthumbs
11. OR sit on porch, drink enough wine so the scratches are a blur anyway (mind feathering) and forget the whole thing. Sell both cars for two more with no scratches.
Any help is appreciated