I am going to repair some chips, scrathes, and marks myself and I need some help. The DIY says to sand to sand the area after paint is applied with 1500 grit wet and dry sand paper. This doesnt sound like something that I want to do to my car. The next step it to polish and buff it out. Will it come right out and look as good as before.

Also please give me any tips you have. I will be doing most of the work on the front and rear bumpers. Is this a good DIY for the plastic.

Finally, I have a couple marks: one is a mark with white paint (from another car or something) but there is no damage to the paint. How can I remove that? And the other is a mark where I got keyed but it goes into the paint and looks to thin/skiny to easily touchup.

Sorry for the long post, but I really appreciate your help.

http://autopia-carcare.com/inf-paint-polish-clinic.html
(scroll down to 'chip & scratch repair')

 

With the proper polishes and techniques the sanding marks should come out of the clear coat.

Now the question you raise regarding attempting this on plastic... ouch I am uncertain. I do know that removing certain blemishes from plastic can not be accomplished like on the metal panels.

This question would be great to ask over on Autopia.org.

Didn't answer part 2 the first time.

You can attempt to remove paint transfer with detailing clay then following with polishes then wax or sealant.

 

Thanks^^

 

yes...1500 wet sanded, can be followed by 2000 wet sand, followed by machine buff with 3m polish (not wax), followed by 3m hand glaze, followed by wax. custom paint shops use wet sand with the above process to completely remove orange peel texture of paint. this process leaves a glass smooth finish. however, this is not necessarily the look you want for patches of paint on a single panel. you must be very careful not to break though your clearcoat.

as far as the white paint scuff, start with a cleaner wax and a buffer (non-orbital). if you are not use to using a buffer, better leave it to a detail shop. if the key scratch is down to the basecoat or metal, there is nothing you can do to repair it yourself. a very light wetsand, followed by machine buffing can minimize the noticibilty of the scratch. if you are very picky, you need to repaint.

hope this helps

 

This is called Wet sanding.. I don't suggest doing it if you've never heard of it before.. you can seriously do some damage.

Try some polish/rubbing compound.

 

I am repairing scratches where I would be doing this to level out the touchup paint to the rest of the paint. rubbing compound would do nothing there.

 

You're a brave, brave man.

 

Here is a thread over at autopia that will help you greatly. You can see advice from myself and Accumulator (a long time autopia member), it should get you going.

http://autopia.org/forum/showthread.php?t=62352

In it the guy is repairing rock chips. Sanding a chip blob is the same premise as sanding a scratch.

 

Thanks a lot! I will read it. Thats exactly what I need. Rock chips, a poor touch up repair and other little things.

 

No problem. I touched up/wetsanded/polished something like 100 chips on my hood. If you need any help let me know.

 

^^^ Ok. I went back to autozone after I got 1500 grit sand paper to get 3000 but they only had 2000 so I got it. Is that gonna make it too hard to make a mistake? I have hundreds of sand chips. Hundreds.

 

And I dont have the money to repaint and/or get a clearbra.

 

I totally understand - my car was the same way when I started. 2000 is going to be tough to take out by hand but it can be done, the only issue is with a lot of touchups you'll get damned sick of it fast, especially if it's not uni-grit. Id do one of two things, either find a place you can get 3000 uni-grit or buy a PC and some polishes. Either one will save you *hours* of work, and with the 3k grit you're much less likely to screw up and go through the clear.

In terms of how well each grit sands down marks, there is almost no difference. 3k sands down blobs almost as fast as 1500, and it's much finer so it's much easier to take out the sanding marks. You can see what I did to my car here:

http://autopia.org/forum/showthread.php?t=61821

I know it's a pain in the butt to wait or spend more money, but really if I have any advice for folks doing this it's to get 3k uni-grit and a PC.

 

^^man I so confused. Ive been running around ALL day long and I dont think I got the right stuff. I have like a compound that says it will easily remove 1500 marring. Also, do you touchup every mark? even the ones the half the size of a grain of sand? (your car looks great btw). If its not to much can you give me a list of everything I should go buy to get the job done (compounds, cleaning supplies). I would appreciate it, Im confised. Also, I have a buffing wheel not a PC. Will that work ok and whats the difference. One of the scratches I am repairing is because I use that thing at the wrong angle one time and it took the paint off next to my grill. Finally...I have a spot the is touched up pretty bad where to sharp medal things on a garage door went down and took the paint and probably primer off. The touch up is over flowed around the sratches. Will the sand paper be good to take the old touch up off or will that cause damage to the rest of the paint?

Sorry for the really long post.

 

First off, toss the buffing wheel. Unless it's a $200 Makita rotary it's probably crap. I'm betting it's a handheld $15 thing, right? If you decide to go with another machine what you need is a Porter Cable Dual Action Polisher. They're about $100, and they're dual action so it's almost impossible to burn the paint like you did. (The difference is buffing wheels spin like they're on a drill, they just spin. A PC is random orbital, so it never spins in one place)

Before you do that try by hand, though. The compound you got that says it'll remove 1500 marks probably will with a machine, but remember by hand it's a lot tougher to remove marring. Here is what I would do.

1) Get some 3000 unigrit, it's made by megauirs. You should be able to find it locally somewhere, I'm in Canada and we get it at Canadian Tire. I'd imagine Autozone or Pep Boys has it?

2) Clean thoroughly (rubbing alcohol and water) then touchup any scratches, chips. No, don't touch up the ones that are the size of a grain or sand, it isn't worth it. Follow the instructions on autopia-carcare.com under paint chip repair. Remember to let it dry before sanding.

3) Sand down blobs and scratches. Be careful, don't go through the clear. Use a block if at all possible and use a lot of lubricant. Sanding the touchup blob on that scratch you mentioned should work. You're just trying to level the blob with the rest of the paint. Do it just like they tell you to here:

http://autopia-carcare.com/inf-paint-polish-clinic.html (scroll down to chip and scratch repair)

4) Polish with your compound via the instructions. It might take a few passes and a lot of elbow grease.

At this point it should look good. If not you may need to invest in a porter cable and some pads.