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Best Polish to remove surface scratches

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L

Leew

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My 100/6 came to me with various surface scratches where things hand been dragged across things like the hood ( bonnet ) and trunk ( boot )

What polish / compound would people recommend bearing in mind the car is painted black and shows every mark ?

I don't have any sort of electric polisher so it will be elbow grease I am using....

Ta
 
Get Mother's Polish you can't go wrong.

3M Makes an excellent polish too.
But you generally have to go to painter's supply houses to buy it.
 
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Without a good random orbit buffer and applicators you are wasting your time and energy . Either take it to a good detailer or go buy the required equipment ,they are not that expensive but do take some practice on getiing the required results . As far as what polish it depends on how bad the scratches are you may have to use a cutting compound first before polishing .
 
Here in the Colonies, I generally recommend Meguiar's Ultimate Compound for giving the highest practical amount of cutting action while still leaving a high gloss finish. To get more cutting power than that you usually have to use a product that leaves at least some marring that will need to followed up with a fine polish.

If it's modern, catalyzed paint any product will be very slow going by hand. Work very small sections at a time. And expect it to take a very long time.

If you have extensive scratching to correct, I would highly recommend you consider investing in a Dual-action buffer. They're are easy to use and very safe, well worth the initial investment.


pc
 
If it is a black car with an above average finish and you want it without any haziness or buffing marks, then I don't recommend doing it yourself if you have never done machine buffing. I also don't recommend most detail shops. They don't work into the paint they just clean it real good. You can try hand polish from any of the usual suspect and with a lot of elbow grease you might get it to a point that you are satisfied with it. If you need professional help I would talk to the most reputable body shop you know of and maybe they would buff it for you. But know this, this is actually a touchy situation. Most body shops will not do just buffing. They can do it and they are really the experts at it but (1) they don't make their money doing buffing, & (2) they don't know how much paint is on the car. When they paint a car, they know the product quality of the paint and they know how much has been applied. If they don't know the car and they start to buff and the paint doesn't respond and then they buff too much and then go thru, then you will accuse them of wrecking your paint job and they will be into it for a new paint job. They don't need the headaches.
 
There are high end detailers in the U.S. that have tools to figure out paint depth and super high intensity lights that show scratches before and after buffing. I saw one of these Guys in the Chicago area and His work was mind blowing, the same must be available in the U.K. . The Guy I saw was well known by the Ferrari Lambo crowd but would happily do any car so maybe see if any local Ferrari owners have knowledge of a good detailer.
 
I would take a very close look and see if you can determine if the scratches go all the way through the topcoat. If they do you will of course not be able buff them out. It is not that much work to Polish by hand with an agressive Polish. Maguire (maybe others) make polishes which they say get less agressive as you use them. So you can cut pretty well and still end up with a good shine. I have always had better luck polishing by hand than with air or electric tools. Biggest concern is cutting through the paint of course. Modern hardened urethane enamels are pretty tough though, especially when fully cured after several months, but the harder, fully cured paint is easier to Polish to a really good gloss.
 
Maguires makes a polish with black in it to fill scratches (which I use on my Audi to "hide" the scratches). It is important to polish in a straight line and not the circular motion your father used. I use a DA and love it. Its easy and fast.
TH
 
From personal experience with a black car; my '99 M Rdstr is Cosmos Black, and as you already know, shows the most minute of scratches. I was actually considering getting the car repainted when I decided to see what Meguiar's Scratch-X would do.

Scratch-X is rubbed into the paint by hand, and working perpendicular to the scratch(es), not in-line with them. Working on a single scratch at a time, then using a simple polish and wax procedure as each panel was finished, I was genuinely astounded by the results. I credited that tube of Meguiar's Scratch-X with saving me a__then__$2500.00!

Some years later, the car was hit in the rear corner by a drunk__pointed in the direction of the liquor store__while parked in a lot, which resulted in an all-over respray, but the simple act of removing the offending scratches bought me several years (while the cost of a respray climbed ever higher...).

Nowadays, I too use some pretty sophisticated polishes and machines, but don't rule out a short term fix on your own. Start with a small, less obvious area and gauge your results; if you're satisfied, then move on to the more obvious flaws.

Above all, read the instructions for whatever product(s) you use, work in small areas__as already mentioned__and set realistic goals. While the results will fall short of Villa d'Este judging standards, you can still be proud to show it off. Good luck!
 
Google Auto Geek, they sell a lot of stuff and if my memory serves me they have videos too. Also try auto detailing to find the blog site with tons of info. This may be the time you really need a professional to fix your paint job?
 
Well:
These Pro fellas should have been with us in palm springs at a meet. the mistifiers there put hard water spots on our cars. No matter what we tried they would not go away. A lady saw us working up a storm and said you need to get rid of em white spots just put a bit of vinegar in the water. The rest is history.---:highly_amused:
 
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