Before and After Shots

Before
http://www.scionxtc.com/images/paintrepair/scratchqtr1.JPG

After

http://www.scionxtc.com/images/paintrepair/after1.JPG

Before Detail

http://www.scionxtc.com/images/paintrepair/scratchb4.JPG

After Detail

http://www.scionxtc.com/images/paintrepair/after2.JPG

DETAILED PROCESS HERE:

http://blog.scionxtc.com/blogs/archive/2007/04/08/PaintScratchRepair.aspx

wow thats pretty cool i gotta give it a try

damn that looks good, but i cant bare to scratch up my baby anymore :(

Very nice write up :)

Nice Job!! :bow:

amazing!

Cool info! Thanks! I have a few nicks on my Lip Spoiler. Might have to try this out.

Wow!!! incredible!!!! I must admit, this impress me much more than my retrofits. :clap: :clap:

Can post the list of all the items that you purchased from paint scratch to perform this task? Please give clear detail, I am a bit slow when it comes to exterior painting. Thanks

Impressive

From paintscratch i ordered their kit, which was the OEM base color (select your car , and they should have the code), clear coat and rubbing compound. They also have lacquer thinner, but you will never use it (useless you drop the entire bottle on your car).
The vials have nailpolish brushes, but they stink, so you will use the toothpick.
Other than that, my dad had 1400 grit (you can get it at an automotive store) as well as finer clearcoat rubbing compound.
All the other items are on the list in the link in the first post.

Props to your pops!

excellent post. men. this looks great. I'll have to try this for my side skirts and my front bumper. I have a lot of rockchips. I think this should get my ride looking new.

In one of the last steps, you dab a small amount of clearcoat on the entire area you originally sanded, correct?

if you mean did we clear coat the whole sanded blob...no..only clear coat on the paint repair scar, the same spot you paint. Light sanding and buffing will not remove all clearcoat on the body panel. It removes only like 1/100th of an inch, less than a hair..you still have clear coat in the surrounding area, so don't worry about that.


and if your car is a solid color you may not even have to clear, buffing alone as the last step might do the trick..we did it because it helps with the contrast on a metal flake paint job like flint mica.

try on a tiny inconspicuous spot first...like some overflow rolled piece of metal under the hood (like the inner fender), or on the inside of your door.

awesome job! but im way too chicken to go through with it lol

i'd get nervous the sand paper would gouge the good paint.

debris from the road at 45mph is tougher on your paint than 1400 grit. the sandpaper will never actually touch your good paint, just a little bit of clear coat.

looks great! But I gotta say...you got balls! There is no way that I am going to go at my car with 1400grit wetsand. Knowing me I would apply to much pressure, and the next thing I know I have burned the entire rear panel.


Congrats looks great.

Very well done.

its pretty easy, ive repaired stuff on my front bumper. ive bondoed up a big gash i had, primed it, painted it, cleared it all with like pepboys paint. ive also wet sanded the shine back to my cf hood.

the clear coat is thick, you wont get to the paint. personaly i sand up to 2000 grit, then us rubbing compound, and then scratch/swirl remover, and then wax

wow! that is great, but damn, like a couple said above, dont have the balls to touch my baby with ANY kind of sandpaper - i know i would screw it up! :doh:

^^^same here...but i may try this on my bro's car first. (for practice) lol...but all in all amazing job.

dont be afraid.. you cant really mess this up, although I guess it could be disasterous if you clearly dont follow through with the directions..

good write up.. hpoefully this can save some people some money

and if anyone in jersey has scratches and is too afraid let me know and I can help you out and show you how its done...

Great write up, jetlounge. What clear coat compound u use? i cannot find any.

i don't have the bottle in front of me..can't remember the brand. but you basically are looking for something that is "safe for clear coat" or may be called "clear coat polishing compound"

i just did a google and found this, but i am sure there are others:
http://www.acehardware.com/sm-turtle-wax-and-reg-clear-coat-polishing-compound-06610--pi-1420337.html

^^^Thanks, going to pick a bottle up today

good job!! but i am afraid to wet sand the body...

You make it look so easy jetlounge!!!

Thanks for making me save a lot of money! I'll try this and get the scratches off of my car!

Thanks again! :D

For the guy who asked about the clearcoat polish,
we used "Number 7 Clearcoat Polishing Compound"
Does not require a buffer, and is safe for clearcoat. Automotive store should have it.
This is a link for a picture of it:
http://www.shop.com/op/aprod-p43770518-k24-g1

Yowzas! I went to the pictures of the sanding part and my jaw dropped and my heart skipped a beat. My scratch ion the side of my car is identical to yours almost in it's deepness and length. My car is also the same color as yours thus i'm thinking about doing this but not me...oh no..ha! I think i'm getting my buddy that I work with at dealership/auto detailing place. My questions are...I got the basecoat and the clearcoat straight from Toyota at a dealership, does the clearcoat just get blobbed over the scratch or is it the same process with a toothpick? Also, is there any way other than wet sanding to try to get the same effect, such as using a buffer? I ask because at the place I work at, we have buffers and it'll ease my mind AND heart if wetsanding didn't need to be done.

a buffer handled improperly will leave you with terrible swirly scratch marks.

yes, you have to sand the blob down.

rubbing compound is basically liquid sandpaper. if you think that liquid is just polish, that would be incorrect. even that has a level of abrasiveness. it removes scratches made from 1500 grit sandpaper and above. dont believe me? or your skill level? go to an inconspicuous area, like the fold of metal inside your hatch..take the sandpaper to it and scuff up an area the size of a quarter. clean it, and then use the rubbing compound. scuffs will disappear.


i use paper all the time to remove deeeeeep clearcoat scratches too.

if you guys are going to be sanding near an edge, make sure you use a sanding block.

nice thread. This help me out alot

sanding block????

Well, my buddy from work worked out a scratch for me today...it was death seeing him sand my car. But when he buffed it with rubbing compound, it was a relief...Anyways, the scratch isn't as noticeable anymore, you have to look for it to notice it. Might try to work it better later on but I still have to get another "scratch" fixed but this time...its not exactly a scratch but a word etched into my car. I'm most afraid of how that one will turn out. :nails:

sorry to revive this... but did you remember how long it took for the paint to dry and how long the overall process took?

about 15-25 minutes per coating...climate and humidity depending, shouldn't take more than an hour or two. take your time and be patient.

WOOO HOOOO!!!

I did it.

Here are the scratches from my idiot sister's carelessness when she opened her door. We park in a garage and she parks next to me.

http://mtdsign.brinkster.net/images/personal/paint1.jpg

http://mtdsign.brinkster.net/images/personal/paint2.jpg

Here are the sanded out areas

http://mtdsign.brinkster.net/images/personal/paint3.jpg

When wet sanding, make sure you sand in a circular motion. If you don't you'll get marks like the following image
http://mtdsign.brinkster.net/images/personal/paint4.jpg

If you wet sand it in circular motion, the marks will blend out like the following image.
http://mtdsign.brinkster.net/images/personal/paint5.jpg

I didn't bother with the clear coat and just moved on to the rubbing compound. Again, rub the compound in a circular motion and it will takes time for the clear coats to blends. Just take your time. And Done!!!
http://mtdsign.brinkster.net/images/personal/paint6.jpg

http://mtdsign.brinkster.net/images/personal/paint7.jpg

http://mtdsign.brinkster.net/images/personal/paint8.jpg

My recommendation is just to do this once. If the same areas are scratched again, I would suggest that you repaint, which can be done on your own. Not that difficult once you get use to it.

:love:

^^ Nice Noodle! Did you still use paint on it? Or just wet sand it then apply rubbing compound? So what's with the last picture?

How about painting over touch-up paint blobs that are already dried in? Would this method clean up that mismatched touchup paint pretty easily?

Yes, you'll have to paint the scratched areas. Once you paint, you get blogs of paint that stand out on their own. When you wet sand, you'll need to sand that blogs of paint so that it blends out with the rest. Apply clear if you want to, or you can just go to rubbing compound. If you sand more than twice in a same area (lets say that the first coat of paint didn't entirely fill your scratches), use clear coats. If you use clear coats, make sure you keep rubbing the compound until the clear coat blends.

PS. the last pic is the finish stage of the damaged area.

I've got tons of scratches in my front bumper that I tried to get out with rubbing compound. At first it looked a little better, but ended up looking worse when I was finished. Has anybody tried the wetsanding method on the plastic bumper?

what about chips in the paint? i have like 2 on my hood that i filled with touch up paint but it looks like crap because the paint doesn't match well

thats pretty sweet, i had a bad scratch when i was in highschool because somone carved a gang sign in my 94 Prizm. It did not turn out as nice as yours did

nice post, thanks, where in westchester are u?

i dont get it.......... they used a regular rubbing compound from paintscratch.com.. i found that ... but what clear coat they used?????? i ddint found anything about that on that site...................

ok i got duplicolor spray clear coat... but i just realized in need clearcoat compound.. which is not spray..... damn....

i just got back from the garage ... removed some "fine" scratches and im happy as a hippo :D

i used the 1500 sandpaper and turtlewax rubbing compound and it turned out really good.........


there was one scratch on my lip spoiler... it disappeared really fast ... only a few handmove with the sandpaper.. then r. coumpound and its looks like new!!

and that part of the rear bumper where the rear bumper aplique goes ( below license tag) that part looked really bad... the paint was cloudy and looked like its old.....

a little sanding.. r. compound and now its MUCH MUCH MUCH better!!!!! its so good to touch that smooth surface again... it was kinda rough before.... and its shiny now!!!


and i had a few scratches behind the door handle ( because of my nails) sand.. r.compound.. and man.................. it looks like a NEW cars door handle!!!!!!!!!!!!

quick question... I couldn't find 1500 grit sandpaper, they only had 1000 and 2000. i went ahead with the 2000 grit sandpaper, do you think this will do??

yes... thats perfect!!!

check this!!:

http://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=204852&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

is Meguiar's ScratchX a rubbing compoud?? I sanded down a little spot of my car, then rubbed ScratchX on it, and it wont disappear!! Good thing I just didn't jump right into where the spot is! I'm freaking out..

MUST READ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7011


MUST READ


this is awesome.. this is what i need, because i have thos little / fine scratches all over my paint where i used the wet sending - rubbing compound method..

is Meguiar's ScratchX a rubbing compoud?? I sanded down a little spot of my car, then rubbed ScratchX on it, and it wont disappear!! Good thing I just didn't jump right into where the spot is! I'm freaking out..

i dont think thats a rubbing compound.. you need something stronger than that.. get some real rubbing compound.. then use scretchX then you their polish then wax it!

interesting...good find! ill be doing this come springtime once the weather gets warm

EVERYONE HAVE TO SEE THIS!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=3067166#3067166

all great information here! i'm not quite sure you would want to paint over wax though... but hey, to each his own.

this seemed like a really good DIY. someone have links or op can reup plz?