the other day i was using one of those pops-a-dent things off tv for removing dents. well that thing was a piece of crap. one of the peices broke off and stuck to my car, so i had to pry it off with a screw driver. during the process i put about a 3 inch scratch with the screw driver in my paint. then stupidly i used rubbing compound on my BLACK paint to try and get it out. now where i used it the paint looks dull and scratched. i ploished it over and over with zaino and it still looks dull. is there any way to get the natural finish back or did the rubbing compound ruin my paint?

 

1) What rubbing compound and what grade did you use? I REALLY hope this wasn't that Turtle Wax so-called Rubbing Compound junk....

2) Zaino isn't going to help that in a million years. A finer grade polish will likely help, like a swirl remover or scratch remover, because what you have is haze left over from using an overly aggressive product. Zaino actually isn't a "polish" the way many people regard that word. It's a purely non-abrasive polymer sealant.

As I mentioned in another thread, scratch or swirl removal is a lot like sanding wood with different grades of sandpaper. You progress from coarser to finer and finer grades until you're happy. If you have any other polishes or pre-wax cleaners lying around tell me and I'll see if any of them will work here...

 

uhm well unfortunately it was the turtle wax compound! it worked fine on my white car, but i guess i cant do it to the black. i dont have any other polishes lying around besides the zaino so what would you suggest i use??? thanks for the input.

-todd

 

Like Bman said, you're going to need an actual abrasive polish. You'll probably need to step down in abrasiveness. Personally, I use Meguiars DACP (#83), and Meg's #9 Swirl Mark Remover. #83 can usually only be found at Meg's distributors, but #9 is common at local auto stores. #83 is best used by machine, and is more abrasive than #9. #9 can be used as a final polish. It's possible you'd be able to do it all with #9 by hand, but be prepared to spend some time. This could be a good excuse to get a Porter Cable (PC) polisher if the money is available. You can check the forums at autopia.org for more info on the PC and also on polishing paint and different products (it's a lot of personal preference; *I* happen to like Meguiars).
Bman is right about Zaino; it won't remove paint defects like the haze you have. If anything, it will make them more apparent. Zaino is a final product for protection once the paint is properly prepped.

Dave