Removing a scratch that you can feel with your fingernail...

M

MnRiverman

New member
Well, if you debadge your car (this is the third car of mine I have debadged), be VERY careful of letters with sharp edges, like "A" in A4!!! :mad: :(



I got the 3.0 part off reall well... since it is rounded, you can pull from the top and just pull it off, but with A, the edge seemed to have pushed against the car and scratched it enough that I can feel it with my fingernail, so it went through the clear.



I hit that section twice with 3M FI-II and a cutting pad, then twice with SMR and a polishing pad. Didn't really do anything at all.



Should I try something stronger than FI-II? Something tells me I am SOL, but I don't think I went down to the metal, only to the metallic layer.



Maybe I should give it a try with a rotary? I was just using the PC first.



Any help would be appreciated... I can go snap some pictures if you would like.



Thanks,



- Anthony
 
If you have gone though the clear coat completely and into the base coat you may be able to polish it enough so it only is noticable from certain angles, but if you went into the primer, no amount of polishing will fix it.
 
I don't think I went down to the primer...



What products do you suggest I try? What is stronger than FI-II?



Thanks Scott...



- Anthony
 
adg44 said:
I don't think I went down to the primer...



What products do you suggest I try? What is stronger than FI-II?



Thanks Scott...



- Anthony
Click to expand...



I'm not real familiar with 3M's abrasive rankings of their products. Maybe Meguiars DACP would work?
 
I may just have to give DACP a try.....



I just remembered though that I have a bunch of products from AutoInt, and I am sure there is a fairly abrasive compound in there I can use.



I'll go look at the charts....



- Anthony
 
DACP is as abrasive as 3M FI-II. With scratches you can feel, you can make it look better through abrasives, but not completely fix it. I'd give it a light wetsanding...
 
adg, You should use dental floss when debadging. You'd be amazed at how fast it cuts through the double face tape. As foir your scrach, go to audi and pick up a touch up kit. If your scrach is just in the clear coat fill up the scrach with the clear let it dry and then use your compounds and waxes to make it level. At first when it dries you'll ask yourself why did it but after you work it you'll never know it was there. I had the same problem with my '01 S4. Some jerk gas attendant came to my window and must have had keys hanging out and srached the drivers quarter from the rear door to the tail light aswell as the pass. quarter by the gas cap. That was only about 3 inches. But I removed them using the procedure I listed above. Till this day you can hardly tell. After a few people have seen my work, I started doing it on the side for friends. Good luck :up
 
I have some VW clear coat touch up laying around here.....



I am not sure how deep it went though.....



I did use dental floss, it just got scratched when I was pulling the bottom of the "A" off.



Honestly I just went downstairs and I couldn't even see it anymore, but I will hit it a few more times with FI-II and SMR, and then if that doesn't work I'll move on to touchup.



Thanks!



- Anthony
 
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