I am sure that many of you have wondered the same at least once- how to get rid of the minor (and major) scratches? I took it to a detailing shop and the guy quoted me $100 to take care of all the scratches around the car (I have a moderate number of them), but what I'm wondering is whether there anything that I could apply myself to achieve the same (or similar) result? I live in Brooklyn, NY and am bound to get some scratches sooner or later, hence it'd be much better (and cheaper) if I could do it myself every now and then instead of paying $100 every time I need it done.
BTW, my color is dark green and it's a '96 GLE.

Thanks in advance
Roman

 

Well, if you could get some compound and compound the scratches out.

Some bast**d keyed my car and I used some compound and got some of the lighter areas out.

Just make sure to wax the area that you compounded afterwards.

 

Thanks. Do you recommend any particular compound?

 

I used the "Turtle Wax" kind and it worked just fine.

 

I'm not familiar with the compounds.. but what is it? some sort of paint?

 

It's like a polish...

The container says: "TurtleWax Polishing Compound and Scratch Remover"

"Restores Showroom Shine!"

Hehehe...

It should be where all the car wash stuff is at the local PepBoys/AutoZone/auto parts store.

 

Did you use the new 'Colorguard' yet from Turtle Wax? It comes in a bunch of different colors, and has this lipstick looking thing to 'fill in' the larger scratch spots.

 

It really depends on how deep the scratches are. If it's just a light scratch into the clearcoat, you can probably rub them out with a clay bar. If that doesn't cut it, you need to try a rubbing compout such as meguiars medium cut #01. If that doesn't cut it, you can try to wet sand it with a fine grit sandpaper or meguiars finesse sanding block. If the scratch is deep (down to bare metal), you'll have to use touch up paint, which requires skill to properly apply so it matches.

But all of this can be dangerous to your paint if you don't know what you're doing, so $100 to have someone do it is a good deal (assuming they know what they are doing...)

 

DO NOT GET ANY OF THAT STUFF FROM THE INFOMERCIALS. i got that gs-27 sh$% and my car is dark green too and now it looks like a damn leper. that stuff might work for white and grey cars but not dark ones. if i were you i'd go with that 100 dollar offer, that what i'm gonna do when i get some loot.

mike'z max

 

 

Did you get the filler for gs27? I got black paint and deep scratches that I needed to fill in. I used gs27 filler and it looks good from far away. Now I have to find something that will make it look shiny.

 

gs27 sux!! i had a black miata before and applied to on my hood to get rid of some scratches. it left a faded smeer mark. i think it eats the clearcoat and as you rub it, sort of evens it. i dunno but i freakin sux!

 

For deep scratches nothing beats touch up pain, but this stuff hid white scratch marks for me, and later when I get touch up paint I can easly remove that stuff and paint it.

 

I bought some of that gs-27 stuff at Wal-Mart and tried it on all 3 of our cars. They are: 97 Chrysler Van, 97 Maxima, and 86 Jeep Cherokee. The product did NOTHING for the two newer cars but it worked like it did on TV for the Jeep. I am guessing that it did because it is a different kind of paint, not clearcoat. I even keyed the hood a little bit and fixed it up with the gs-27. So that stuff works on older cars, but not on new ones... my experience anyways.

 

I don't know.. the gs27 filler covered white scratches on my black paint. It did not make the scratches invisible, it just made them invisible from far away.

I want to get nissan black touch up paint for '97 maxima, does anybody know how much it goes for at the dealer? You can't find it in any auto stores.

 

my touchup paint for my white 97 cost around 10 bucks. got it from the dealer.

 

I tried using 3M Hand Polish this past weekend. This stuff is "fantastic". I used it both on my Maxima and my minivan. My Max is white and so the results were not as obvious as the one on my minivan (dark blue). Had a lot of scratches on the van and this stuff pretty much hid a good deal of them (they are not as obvious as they were before). Try some. You won't be disappointed!

 

I've been involved with auto detailing for most of my life . Compounds do work , try compounding the affected areas (make sure you wax and seal when all is done), a buffer may be needed. Another trick I've learned over the years is touching up the scratch and then compound it , it doesn't make the paint look like new but the touch up paint now would be filling up the scratch and it won't look too sloppy . The product by 3M is also good , if you don't want the extra work of buffing . Color Coded polishes and waxes are not effective and do not match the paint at all, and also are not permanent solutions to the problem.

 

Is the 3m color compound available at local auto stores or places like staples?

 

I used the 3M scratch remover an it worked great. It doesn't get rid of the scratch completely, but gets most of it out. I have tried alot of products and this one by far is the best. MY2CENTS

 

You can find the 3M products at places like Auto Zone, and Pep Boys. If not there any place that specializes in Auto Body repair products should have it .

 

I bought my 3M scratch remover from Walmart, so you have more of an option with buying this product.

 

Its like 3$ or something maybe even 2$$ i bought it the other day the only B**ch part is you have to wait for them to order it in...god forbid they have it in stock

 

A lot of the guys on here seem to stand buy the 3M products pretty firmly. You should check it out.