How to Remove Scratches From Your Car Permanently

 In Neal's How-To's

How to Remove Scratches From Your Car Permanently

Today, we are going to show you how to remove scratches from your car’s paint. We all know there are many ways to get scratches on your car. There are a few types of scratches and we are going to fix the most common scratch; the clear coat scratch.

Using 5 simple steps you could do it at home.

5 Steps

1.) The first step is to wash down the area with soapy water and a towel

2.) Mask the area with tape so you know where the scratch is at

3.) Sand the scratch with 3000 grit and then 5000 grit sand paper

4.) Use Polish

5.) Buff it with wax

Before we get started, fixing scratches can be intimidating so I want to explain we will be doing when we remove the scratch.

The paint of your car has three main layers. The first coat is the primer that goes over the bare metal of the car. The second coat is the base coat which is the paint that gives your car its color. The third coat is a clear coat which protects the pain and gives it a glossy shine; this is the thickest paint layer at 1mm-2mm. The final layer isn’t a paint layer, it is a protection layer called the wax layer, which helps fill in small imperfections. It also helps protect against light scratches and water marks.

If you want to know if your scratch is a clear coat scratch, then get some soapy water and spray down. If the scratch scratch disappears and comes back after drying, then it is a clear coat scratch.

1.)Get your soapy water and a clean microfiber towel. If your microfiber towel still has a tag on it, make sure to rip off tag. Now clean the area that you are working on with soapy water to remove all the dirt and debris.We don’t want to rub all the dirt into the paint and cause more scratches as a result.

2.)Next we are going to mask off our scratch. Create a zone around your scratch. Put masking tape about a half an inch on each side (horizontal of vertical) because it is going to be hard to see the scratch once you start fixing it.

3.)The next step is to use the sand paper. If the scratch is deep and catches your fingernail, use the 3000 grit. If it isn’t deep you can skip to the 5000 grit sand paper. We want to sand perpendicular to the scratch. If the scratch is horizontal then use the paper vertically and vice versa. Grab a kitchen sponge and wrap the song with your sand paper. This will prevent uneven pressure when pushing down. If you are just using your fingers, you’re going to have a pressure point where each of your fingers is at, which causes uneven distribution. Therefore, you want to use a song to evenly distribute the pressure.

Now, we want to spray the scratch with your soapy water and use your sand paper perpendicular to the scratch. We typically sand the scratch for about 15 seconds. Wipe down the area with the microfiber towel to see if the scratch is still there. If it is, then you need to continue sanding until the scratch is almost gone. Get your surface wet again, and keep sanding. Every once in a while, stop and dry the surface to see if the scratch is gone.

4.) Move your tape up and the bottom one down about an inch or two. Spray the soapy water on the area you just sand papered. Get your 5000 grit sand paper, spray it with soapy water as well and work on the same area in a circular motion. Clean up the area with your towel.

5.) In this step you want to use a really fine polish. If the polish says it removes fine scratches and swirl marks, that means you can use it. Polish has grit in it. Before we polish, clean the surface to remove all the dirt. Use a clean part of your towel that you haven’t used yet and apply the polish to the town. You want to rub it on the area in a circular motion. Get a clean part of the towel to clean the polish off the surface.

6.) Grab your paste wax and apply to the area. It protects your clear coat. Give it a minute to haze up and use your towel to clean again.

Now you know how to remove clear coat scratches from your car like a pro.

 

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