fixing scratches Q's

[chevy420]

i have to fill in some scratches and i was wondering if i should use rubbing compund first on the scratch and then fill it in or just fill it in then using rubbing and polishing compound??

can someone give me a good step by step on how to fill in my scratches properly??


thanks

[s10cyncrvr]

First you need to determine what type of scratches you have. In the diagram below I included the clearcoat in the "Paint"



- The first column is a heavy scratch. It goes all the way through the paint to the primer or even the metal. There is not much you can do to fix or hide this other then to fill in with touch-up paint and sand smooth or you can use a color wax to hide it a little. It will still be noticeable though.

- The second column is a moderate scratch. It is a fairly deep scratch but it hasn't gone through the color coat. Depending on their deepness, these can sometimes be fixed. The object is to use polish to cut the thickness of the paint some and to round off the top edges to reduce the light reflections.

1. You have your scratch.

2. I'd use Griots #2 Polish to reduce some of the paint thickness(to make the scratch less deep) and also to round off the corners(light won't reflect on the rounded corners as bad as it does with a sharp corner.

3. Finally fill the remaining scratch in with wax. It will further reduce the light reflections from the V shape of the scratch.

As time goes on the wax will eventually disappear causing the scracth to reappear. You'll have to rewax to hide it again.

- The thrid column is a light scratch. These are commonly made from dirt or dust scraping on your paint. These are easy to fix and eliminate.

1. You have your scratch.

2. I'd use Griots #3 Polish to reduce the thickness of the paint to eliminate the scratch completly. Follow it up with a coat of wax and they should be eliminated.

[chevy420]

thanks, your awesome bro