Noticed the other day that I have my first friggin' scratch on the hood, looks like something that was caused by a dirt clod or something kicked up from a semi-truck, since there's a lot of agric. around here. It's about a half-inch wide and definitely looks like something that hit and slid towards the windshield, since that's the way the scratch direction goes. I just got a bottle of the touch up paint, could anyone help me with some tips on how to handle this? should I try to sand it at all? Just apply the paint? It's not deep at all, but rough on the top and you can tell the paint's been scratched off a bit. This sucks! Ugghhhhhhh

 

to be honest i would leave it alone, usualy when u start messing with them, they always seem to get worse.. my spec v got killed from trucks, its black i have so many chips and scratches from trucks.. this is why ill never get another black car... i would leave it alone, or maybe try some compound than wax

 

Would someone recommend a certain type/brand of compound to use more than others? I dont have any experience with this stuff, could someone explain how I would apply that? do you work it into the area, then buff it down smooth or something?!

 

difficult to determine your course of action with out seeing the scratch itself.

if it's just clear coat damage then just get some clear coat touch up and dab it on.

if it hit the color coat determine if it gone down to the primer or below that.

make sure to keep everything clean. wipe down the spot w/ rubbing alcohol or prepsol or whatever will remove the wax and clean it. the apply the touch up paint as needed.

before you do that check to see how deep the scratch went to.

 

i'll try to take a picture at lunch and post it here....

 

I feel your pain. I have been working on a chip on my '03. I have the pearl white color. Wow. What a pain trying to get touch up paint to match. The nissan mini-bottle is terrible. Way to silver. Anyway, try some 3m rubbing compound. It can be found in the body repair section of Auto Zone. Don't use the red turtle wax rubbing compound. To abrasive. However, I have had good luck with the turtlewax "colored"
wax. It comes in various colors to match the car. It doesn't last forever, however it sure helps.

 

wet sand the hood. if you dont know how go to a detail shop and ask. or go on the net. its basically adding water while scrubbing the hood with VERY fine sand paper. once the clear coat is gone find a compound that will get rid of scratches and then polish, and then wax. and it will look good as new. but you need a pretty fast, pretty good buffer... try the net to get a better understanding if you wanna try it out...

 

I've always heard the rule of thumb was that if you run your fingernail over the scratch and it catches, then its too deep for buffing out and needs repainting.

CM.

 

i wouldtake it to the neaest body shop asap...Get a quote why not invest $50 bucks to get it touched up and buffed out ike new. You spent good money on the car and you deserve to have it looking like new. Mabye you shold also think about getting the bra cover for the front. Good Luck!

 

are you kidding me?

you're asking him to sand off the clear coat on a 2 stage paint?
not sure how familar you are with automotive paints but since the late 80s car companies have been using a base coat/clear coat set up. the paint NEEDS the clear coat on there. you DO NOT remove clearcoat unless you're planning to respray the clear coat.

you "can" wet sand but not to remove the clear coat..but usually if you have to wet sand a scratch then you're going to the body shop anyway.

fast buffer is also not good...you need a slow buffer (1000-1500rpm) to polish the scratch out. the polish/compound will do the work.

 

i agree w/ bigcozz here. maybe invest in the clear bra if you're not into the back mask look.

 

thanks for the answers.... one other question, is there any way to try something and if that doesnt look good, try something else? I'd like to try to fix it myself, but if that doenst work great, would it be too late after that to take it somewhere where they could buff it out? I dont have a buffer, but I have ordered a bottle of the Nissan touch up paint. the scratch isnt very deep, reminds me of when as a kid you'd fall on asphalt and scrape your arm, it looked bad but didnt go deep.... my fingernail doesnt catch when i run it across the scratch, but it IS rough.... so any thoughts with this info?

 

if it's just rough and it doesn't sound like it went past the clear...i would look for some 3M™ One Step Cleaner Wax - Light Oxidation Remover (liquid 39006 or paste 39519)

use a very small amount by hand (on a clean cotton towel) and that should "smooth" the scratch out a bit. follow up with some glaze and wax and you should be good to go.

 

If you dont have a buffer dont go get one that is for sure. It is possible to remove layers of your paint job and mabye even make the area look owrse. The 3M above is good and meguiars also makes scratchX which works ok but there is no real subsitiute for pro work becuase most home fixes are temporary and will return to their origional condition. Can you take a pic? and post it mabye we can help you a bit more with a look at the scratch.

 

i will take a picture at lunch, this time for sure.

 

here's a pic of the scratch, more minor than i thought before, but still noticeable... its about half a finger-length long.... the squiggly thing at the top is just a stringy would thing that had fallen on the hood, not part of the scratch...

 

Buff it out and take another picture.

 

turtlewax makes a color war/compound - buff da shyt out of
and call it a day

 

I see two deep scratches that might be hard to get out. The rest of it will come out very nicely. Worst case, you will have just those two deep scratches. But it will be ALOT smaller blemish.

 

i used to detail cars for a living... it works... the first compound you put on there is basically clear coat. but thinking its unorthodox is fine too whatever makes you happy

 

well yeah..if you strip an entire layer of paint (1 coating) then sure whatever scratches will dissappear.

a compound you put on there is NOT clearcoat. clearcoat is a paint.

please do not go back into the detailing business wet sanding people's clear coat off down to the base coat.