Scratch Remover Recommendations

Well I'm tired of polishing and trying to get the stupid fine scratches out...I've been using some cheap Turtle Wax polish/scratch remover. It's not doing the job, so I need some recommendations. I normally would just go out and buy whatever and see if it works, but I'm a little tight on cash right now.

I know meguiars makes good products, but their scratch remover says only for fine scratches. I've got scratches and swirl marks from people who would wash the car wrong. At our previous house our neighbor had this huge tree and there were tons of birds in it. The tree was right over where our cars were and the car would end up covered in bird crap which didn't help.

The scratches I have are pretty bad, mostly on top of the car and the hood. At the right angle you can see tons of small scratches all across the paint that I really need to get out some how.

Thanks,
-Mike

I will be watching this thread with *great* interest.

Meguiars has a line of professional use products. Get those. And a buffing-machine.

Check this site out for all you ever wanted to know about scratch and swirl removal but were afraid to ask. www.detailingworld.co.uk If you check in the guides there's a couple that tell you how to hand polish or machime polish them out.

clay bar

Would one clay bar cover the entire top portion of a 245 body? Because most of the scratch marks are on the hood and roof area.

yeah it should, just make sure you keep folding it over on itself and use soap so you have a slick surface to work with.

Ok, I'll speak up, but you have to promise not to confuse be with one of those VS guys from another thread . I DO get my hands dirty (all too regularly ), but I like to make my cars look good too...

I have tried many things on cars in many conditions so maybe I can help a bit. I'm not sure how deep your scratches are, but assuming they really are just from incorrect washing they should come out (but your arms will hurt like hell if you are doing the roof by hand).

The first thing to do is use the clay bar. Any of them work fine but make sure you use some sort of "detailer spray" to lubricate the paint. It won't take scratches out though -- it takes the crap out/off of the paint so you don't REscratch when you are polishing.

The next step will remove the scratches. Of all the things I've used, my favorite are the professional 3M polishes/compounds (the names all seem to change -- check which one is best for your kind of paint). Those can be hard to come by (try an automotive paint supply store) and expensive though. A good budget choice (and nobody will believe me) is KIT "scratch out." Yes, you can most likely buy it at a grocery store and yes, it is probably the first choice of millions of Cavalier owners, but it really does work well. I use it with a fairly damp and CLEAN polishing rag.

If you have or want to get an electric buffer, check out Griot's Garage (www.griotsgarage.com). They make good products in general and I would trust their machine polishes (haven't used 'em yet though). I don't like their hand polish as well as some of the others though.

Work on one small area of paint to see exactly what you have to do to minimize the scratches. You may have to put more effort into it than you thought. Then do the whole panel the same way. The above mentioned polishes would take a lot of effort to go through the paint, but if you are really concentrating on an area, keep an eye out for a change in the paint color. You don't want to go through.

When you are done with the polish(es), use a good wax to hide the rest. I use P21S or Griot's wax. The first is expensive (and worth it), the second is cheaper but still quite nice. I'm sure Zymol stuff is good and they sell Volvo-specific wax (but it is *really* expensive). FYI, the stuff labeled Zymol in the local stores is NOT. It is made by Turtle Wax.

Of course, if it is a solid color car, you could sand it...

good luck

+1 for 3M products.

Steel mills are terrible on paint, and the 3M medium level takes it right off by hand, and leave s the paint butter-soft.

Jon

I've had good luck working with the professional line of Meguiars Mirror Glaze products. It's been a while, but it looks like the products I used are still available.

• #9 Swirl Remover is a good place to start with scratches. It can be used by hand. If it is not enough, you will still want to work back up to it.
• #2 Fine Cut Cleaner is a great work horse for deaper damage to paint. Although it says only use with a rotary buffer, I have successfully used by hand with LOTS and LOTS of elbow grease. (Okay, you probably should get a rotary buffer for it.) Follow this up with #9 to get rid of the swirls that were introduced.
• #4 Heavy Cut is for much more intensive work. See comments on #2. Follow with #2, then #9. (See a pattern here?)
• #7 Show Car Glaze is the perfect finishing touch before waxing. It will make the car incredibly glossy. It can be applied by hand. The richness of the finish this gives makes you want to dive into the color. Follow this up with a good, high quality wax (#26)
• #26 High-tech Paste Wax is the only wax I used when prepping a car for show. It covers very well and seems to last a long time. It can give a shine glow to anything, but looks best after #7.

I found this source of Meguiars products online. I don't know anything about them except that they carry the good stuff, not just the normal autoparts store stuff. http://www.autogeek.net/allmepr.html

BTW, I used to allocate about 5-6 hours to detail my Black 740 Turbo. That also included bumper treatments, chrome polish, and interior work, but the results were well worth it.

- John