Scratches in paint?

[Lynn Kirkpatrick]

I have a car that was repainted last year. (Sorry, it isn't an LBC.) It has base coat and clearcoat on top. We just recently waxed it with Meguiar's Gold. If we're not careful washing it we can end up with what appears to be light scratches. But they wax out by using Meguair's.

Is this a soft wax that shows scratches, or are we scratching the clearcoat?
Thanks!

 

[DougF]

Some waxes leave a swirl residue behind. But what you might see are fine rub marks left behind by your polishing cloth.
If the paint was wet sanded and buffed after applied leaving a nice smooth finsh, it will make these light scratches much more pronounced.

 

[PC]

It’s probably swirls in the paint.

Most people inadvertently put swirls (microscopic scratches) in their paint when washing and waxing their cars. It might be from one of the tools they used. It could be from grit that didn’t completely wash off and got dragged across the paint while washing, drying or waxing.

As simple as “washing and waxing” sounds it’s actually not a trivial task to do without causing marring. It’s not difficult, but takes a bit of understanding of the process. And it’s not like they teach it in school so few people are ever exposed to the subtleties of paint care.

On top of that, some paints are just plain easy to swirl. It’s possible that your car has a particularly sensitive clearcoat.

If the swirls disappear when waxing but the same ones come back later, the wax was making them less visible, hiding them.

The first thing to do is figure out what in your process is causing them and switch to something that doesn’t.

From there you can either choose to keep hiding them and having them return, or to eliminate them by buffing them out.


PC.

 

[mccalebr]

The photo above is of my TR3 that I really thought I would have to respray to get an acceptable "driver" finish.

I got tired of fighting the scratches last year and checked into a method of getting a good finish in a reasonable amount of time. I figured that a weekend at the beginning of the driving/show season and a touchup midway through would be a good goal.

I settled on a clay/polish/wax routine. It is not hard but does require a little startup investment. BUT, the time saved and the results were more than enough to justify the decision. After the first major cleanup, it's primarily maintenance from then on.

I've documented my experience on my web site including before and after photos (like the one above); if you'd like, you can check it out here:

https://www.raysmg.com/rays_mg_midget_small_projects_polishing.htm

Ray

 

[Steve_S]

I have a similar story, with my '49 TC. It sat outside in the weather for over ten years. I was able to bring the paint back using similar methods.

Before and after: