Scratches in the clear coat: Tideland Pearl

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jeri @ Oct 5 2006, 05:37 PM) [snapback]328674[/snapback]</div>

Without seeing the damage, it's difficult to guess what's going on, but I have heard that the paint used on cars today is more environmentally friendly but less durable than it used to be...maybe this is the issue...?

Also, it occurs to me -- from personal experience -- that sometimes it's possible to obsess a little bit about small imperfections. I just got a little chip in the windshield of my '06, directly in front of where I look to see the road while driving, and it's making me crazy! But I'm trying to tell myself that it's just normal wear, and that I need to get over it.

It hasn't actually worked yet, though; I'll be the first to admit that I'm having great difficulty taking my own advice!

Are you looking at the scratches in just the 'wrong' light, or are they apparent all the time? Windshields, especially, scratch easily but can also be buffed out.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jeri @ Oct 5 2006, 03:37 PM) [snapback]328674[/snapback]</div>

If the scratches on your car are no worse than those I typically see on other cars, I'd say the body shop was wrong. You have three options: 1) ignore it, 2) hide it, or 3) eliminate it.

To hide it, you'll need to use an LSP (last step product) with a lot of fillers. Zaino Z-5 doesn't qualify. Meguiar's NXT Tech Wax has lots of fillers and therefore lots of hiding ability. I've heard that Meguiar's Gold Class Liquid wax also has a lot of fillers too. Applying a separate glaze with fillers before your LSP will also work.

To eliminate it, you'll probably need a medium polish followed by a fine polish, both applied by machine. A few coats of good sealant will help prevent further scratching as a slick surface allows objects to slide off without scratching rather than digging in and making a scratch. I'd go with Menzerna Intensive Polish (IP) followed by the Final Polish II (FPII). Normally you start with the milder product and only move to the more agressive polish if needed, but at this point I'm familiar enough with the paint hardness on my cars and the polishes I use to know what is needed by just looking.

This past weekend I polished out some scratches made by tree branches on my sister's car, using some Menzerna Intensive Polish and an orbital polisher. Menzerna IP is a pretty agressive polish, one step below a light compound. With an orbital polisher, you'd probably not want to do your entire car with this more than a half-dozen times in its lifetime to preserve clearcoat thickness (of course, someone truly unskilled with a rotary could probably burn through to bare metal within a minute). I followed up the spot application of IP with Menzerna Final Polish II over the whole car, since I had clayed it (most experienced detailers will always polish after claying - Zaino's instructions are for noobs). FPII is a much milder polish; assuming a normal aplication you could use it twice a year for ten years and still have plenty of clearcoat left. It barely removes any clearcoat. This was followed with two coats of Z-5 and one of Z-8 (ran out of time to do a coat of Z-2 after the Z-5). If you're wondering why I used Z-5 even though I had polished the car - the light in the garage wasn't good enough to tell whether I had a truly flawless finish after polishing, so to be safe I figured I'd put on a couple coats of Z-5 to cover up any tiny flaws I had missed.

 

Jeri: I have a salsa Prius and the same finger scratches. I also asked about it and was told that it was from my fingernails and that all of the Prius door handles are like this. My bigger problem is with the paint on the hood which has many chips in it - the car is red and the paint when chipped is white underneath. IT is easy to see. Neither the dark gray nor the blue have this problem. I am taking it in to the service rep next week. I'll let you know if I get any satisfaction either with myy pronblem or yours.
Diane




<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jeri @ Oct 5 2006, 06:37 PM) [snapback]328674[/snapback]</div>

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priusenvy @ Oct 6 2006, 07:30 PM) [snapback]329212[/snapback]</div>

Hi fellow Autopian! I'm sure you completely confused the inital poster...lol .

A simple fix might be some Meguiars ScratchX available at most any Target, Walmart, etc. frollowed by a decent wax. If this won't remove the scratches, you should seek the help of a real professional detailer to see if they think they can fix the scratches.

Finding a real detailer may be harder than finding a good mechanic. 95% of the places you see that are called detail shops are merely clown show operations that cause more damage than you had and use coverup products that soon dissapear and have your paint looking worse.

Once the finish is where you want it, some of the clear bra covering will help it stay that way if you are scratching the finish.

 

Be careful buffing out your windshield! Make sure to look at it in different lighting conditions as you go. Otherwise, you might be surprised to find that what looks good from one angle is...well, not so good...from another.

I just discovered this this weekend, to the tune of a forthcoming windshield replacement. I received a lesson -- the hard way -- about how delicate auto glass really is, and how inportant it is to know when to stop.

I used the Zaino glass buffing compound; it worked great. It'll remove fine scratches, as advertised, but don't take it too far (as I did) or you'll be wishing you could go back to the way it was *before* you attempted the 'repair'!

 

Jeri: I have a salsa Prius and the same finger scratches. I also asked about it and was told that it was from my fingernails and that all of the Prius door handles are like this. My bigger problem is with the paint on the hood which has many chips in it - the car is red and the paint when chipped is white underneath. IT is easy to see. Neither the dark gray nor the blue have this problem. I am taking it in to the service rep next week. I'll let you know if I get any satisfaction either with myy pronblem or yours.
Diane




<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jeri @ Oct 5 2006, 06:37 PM) [snapback]328674[/snapback]</div>

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Oct 6 2006, 03:42 PM) [snapback]329146[/snapback]</div>

I would consider the 3M clear bra material under the door handles; that should do the trick. Good luck.