3-4 months ago my car got keyed when I was parking in the schools parking lot. ( Never park in your public school parking lot especially with a new car ) I really didn't care about the scratch until I started detailing my car. My friend suggest to use touch up paint and wet sand the paint down on the key scratch, then use scratch x or any polisher to remove the scratches. Since I have never done anything like this before, I decided to let him experiment on my car. So I dropped it off at his house last night and this is what happened.


I haven't washed my car for 2 weeks ( too busy working )

He told me he had 3 layers of paint on the scratch. After that, he tried wet sanding it with 2000. This was the results. He told me he tried really hard to get rid of the ... what I call " tapeworm " on my car but it wouldn't come off. Everything was done with his hands since he does not own a buffer or rotary. Is there anything I can do to get this hideous scar out of car? Btw, the scratch is about 2 feet long ... any comments or feedbacks will be appreciated.

UPDATED 8/7/08

Thanks VTonmymind for this great product.

Here are some pics


The $40 kit, notice the dirty little towel is actually the touch up paint that I removed.


This is as close as perfect I can to do to get the paint off. Took 1 hour of HARD rubbing.


Closer picture.

Since my friend has my touch up paint for my car, I will try their method in fixing the scratch. Once I fix my scratch, I will upload more pictures

 

Wow, people are mean. We have a local place that fixes dents, wheels, scratches for around $100 bucks. Try shopping around to see what it would cost to repair it.

 

Many local places fixes dents and scratches but if this can be fixed within $20 I would prefer to do it myself just to save that extra money.

 

Dude, that really sucks. But damn thats so shiny it looks like a mirror.

 

Actually I just found this http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthr...=274836&page=3

I'm not sure if it will work on something that large, but it's worth a shot. It will have to be repainted anyways if this doesn't work, so you might as well.

 

Thanks for the link Hexon, I just checked it out but looks like a way to remove scratches caused by an object. The scratch on my car is not really a scratch but THREE layers of touch up paint on the car. Basically its paint but I have tried wetsanding it for almost 2 hours and it doesn't seem like its doing any good. Maybe 2000 sand grit is too weak?

 

According to the link you only wetsand to sand down the touch up paint to be level with the surrounding paint. Try 1200 grit

 

1200. I wouldn't go any lower than 1500. Just my .02

 

That's what the person in used in the link I provided. He said that novices to this procedure, however, should use higher grit sand paper so they don't screw something up.

 

There is a product called "Langka" that I've had pretty good success with on my paint chip repairs. Does a great job in reducing the "blob" and if you want it, it can reduce the touch up right down to nothing.

http://www.langka.com/

 

thanks for the link VTonmymind but are you sure you sended me the right link because it isn't loading.

Edited : Actually it works now nvm thanks for the link again!

 

Yeah man, no sweat. Hope it does the trick for you.

 

I hate touch up paint and never had a good time with it cuz of the blobs. I tired to do it on my hood and was really pissed. So I had my buddy who when to auto body school give me a lesson once for repainting my bumpers. I got spray cans from www.paintscratch.com Get primer, base, and clear coat. It won't cost you more than 100 bucks for all the paint you need. Then wet sand down a good size area for its really hard to paint a small area. Then just prime, base and clear coat your way back. Its really easy to do, after my first time I was so happy to have a clean looking bumper again. It might not be a 10k paint job but will give you peace of mind and something you can do yourself and nobody will know any better.

 

You gotta work your way up to the 2000 grit paper.

After I lay down the paint I'll try to smooth it down with 800 - when it's really bad/uneven. If I get it pretty even I'll start with 1000 grit. Wet sand it until you can't feel a difference in transition between your old paint and the repair when you run finger over it. Then go over it 1500, then 2000, then a mildly abrasive rubbing compound. I expand about my repair radius a sixteenth to an eighth inch each time I move up to a finer grit. Finish it with a polish when you're done. The more you polish and buff the better it will blend. Once you lay a new coat of wax down it'll be really hard to tell there was ever any damage.

MaxGordon7 is right though, with a spray it's easier to repair a larger area. But unless the scratch is deep, or down to bare metal, you don't necessarily have to lay down a coat of primer. Taking 400 grit paper to the area you intend to repaint is usually enough to get the paint to adhere.

Also, I'd recommend to practice on something first. I didn't and I've had to repair a few of my repairs.

Hope that helps.

 

400 grit will destroy your paint. Unless you are confident in what you are doing and have a good and trusty tutorial you are following I would steer clear of this.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, I have already ordered plangka like last friday and it should be coming in soon. If all fails, I will try the spray can. I am a little skeptical about using anything under 1000 grit sand paper =/

 

But the idea is that you are going to lay paint on top of your 400 grit cut.

 

haha, but knowing how well I can spray paint (sarcasm heavily implied), there is no way in hell I'd be willing to try this!

 

No one should hold that against you. I had to make quite a few mistakes before I got it right. But that's learning.

 

Updated pictures for anyone who wants to see the effect of Langka!

 

Yeah buddy lets see it. Did it work for ya alright?

 

Aye. Went back up top and saw the results. Sweet. Glad it worked for you. That stuff is most excellent isn't it.

Reckon it's time to have another go at it eh. Good luck and hope it turns out the way you want it this time. Oh and may all key scratchers go straight to hell in gasoline soaked suits. Bastards............

 

Yes it came out really nice, there is still a very thin layer of paint that I can not physically get rid of and by physically I mean REALLY hard rubbing. I will try to use these "microfibric q-tips" to fill in the scratch. Will update with pictures when done

 

curious to see the outcome