So the previous owner got a scratch, he claybarred it, then used 350 grit sandpaper to wetsand the marks down, but it left the scratches looking like this. Can I spray some clear coat on this? or can I buff this out with an orbital?

 

probably burned through.......paint it

 

not an option to paint a quarter panel on my budget at the moment, eventually sure, but for now anything I can do to make it look better?

 

looks burned through .Not much you can do but repaint . 350 grit sandpaper is used to final sand filler b4 paint .Used on paint it will just remove it down to the metal . 2000 grit should have been used .

 

You probably aren't going to make it much worse by buffing it. Chances are it already needs to be repainted. I say give it a light buffing and see what happens. Might make it slightly better. BUT, that panel will start to rust if it goes unprotected for awhile.

 

^+1. If you cant afford to re-paint it, buffing it wont hurt. It'll probably look better. But you will need to apply some sort of touch up to prevent rust.

 

Looks like surface scratch. Try some scratch X and see what happens.

 

ouch! thank you need to re-paint it

 

repaint my friend.

 

Buff it out. It will either completely come out or you'll have burn-through and will have to replace it.

350 grit... why would you ever do that? The lowest you should be going is 1500, and you should only be touching sandpaper if you really know what you're doing.

 

If you want you can stop by and I can hit it with the wool pad for you. If it works, just shoot me 20$. If not, then you'll just have to leave with the cost of gas to come down to Fremont.

 

350 grit will eat through the paint very easy, I don't even know why such a low grit was even used. Heck, even 1000grit can eat through paint quicker than expected ( I use it sometimes but you have to VERY careful ).

FWIW, that area can be spot repaired for cheap and it should look great ( at least better than it does now anyways ).

 

i recommend black wax!

I use that on my front and it fills in the rock chips well - i just reapply every once in awhile when they start to show again...