"professional" scratch removal, long but helpful

before everything i'd like to thank shyne for the details and instructions. he's been very helpful and let me say the result is awesome. i am compiling a more detailed instruction here!!!

ok here's the deal. if you have scratches on your car, even if it's relatively deep, you should be able to remove big part of it. for those who have seen my car you would know that i got some DEEP scratches all the way to the metal by the stupid mud guards. i tried to touch it up but you know it hardly looks the same again. uneven reflection, etc etc....

after talking to shyne and the guy at the pro auto paint shop here's what you need to do. first go to your yellow pages for the local professional paint supply shop for automobile and get these: 1500 grit wet/dry sandpaper, 2000 grit wet/dry sandpaper (optional, for better results), 3M Imperial Microfinishing Compound Liquid, and the 3M Imperial Hand Glaze. On top of that, you need water, couple of clean dry cloth, touchup paints, lots of patience and time. The two 3M products should be around 1x bucks each.

I'd use my example to illustrate. Remember I got a scratch all the way to metal? I fully cleaned my car, and then I touched up the area with the touchup paint and let it dried for 3 hrs. The result was better but it's not perfectly smooth or as reflective. So I washed the car again, and then keep that part wet. Then I also wet the sand paper (it works best in wet). Started with the 1500 grit one first and sand over the scratch. Remember, go in ONLY one direction (ie, back and forth). Don't do it in all direction as it would be hard to clear up later.

Sand it LIGHTLY until you feel that it's smooth. Don't sand it hard like there is no tomorrow, otherwise you will sand away all the paint and you will start crying. Then go to 2000 grit and continue to fine sand it. Wet the sand paper from time to time. Now wash the part again and dry it completely. You will see that the part looks very dull and seems like you have totally fucked it up. Don't worry, as long as you feel it's smooth using your finger tip it's all in good shape. remember, patience.

Now use a clean cloth and apply the 3M Imperial Microfinishing Compound Liquid. You should apply quite a lot of them (don't be cheesy on this one). Use the cloth and rub over the whole area, back and forth, and also in circles. You will notice / feel / hear that it is actually some rough compound. Don't worry, they are there to remove the scratches by the sand paper. This compound will dry pretty soon. Initially you should apply medium pressure but as it drys reduce the pressure.

When it's totally dry, you will notice that the dull looking scratches by the sand paper are all gone. What's left is a whole bunch of swirl marks. We are talking about quite a few here. This is where the 3M Imperial Hand Glaze comes in, which removes the swirl marks. Use another cloth and apply it. Rub it over the area and use pressure to polish it. Then use a dry cloth to clean up the area. You will probably apply much more pressure on this one compared to the Microfinishing Compound Liquid.

After this, you SHOULD see that the whole area is now smooth, shiny, and most importantly the scratch is mostly gone. Now this is important for Zaino users. Since 3M products are quite greasy and Zaino stuff will NOT bond on top of them. so after you are done with those 3M stuff, make sure you use dawn to wash the area again, then z1, and I would suggest several layers of z5 on top of that just to make sure all swirls are gone.

Congratulations, you hvae just removed the scratch!!! Even if it's down to the metal!!! At least that's the case on my car. You now just need to wax the part and you are done. Well ok, it's not totally gone, you can still see SOME marks, but at least it's 100 times better than before.

For a mere 30 bucks in my case and I was able to remove the marks I can't say more. And BTW, it took me only 30 mins!!! From what I heard those professional body shops? They also use the same products, only they have mechanical buffers to do the job. So if you want to remove everything cleanly, invest another 50 bucks on the buffer.

And of course your results might vary, depending on how patient you are, the area you dealing with, the type of scratches you have, amount of practice you have, etc etc.... I am NOT guaranteeing anything here at all. This is what Shyne and I did and it seems to work great for us. I would REALLY suggest you trying this on some unnoticeable area (like your unused stock skirts if you have the kits) rather than on your hood directly... I know you wanna get rid of the damn paint chips there directly, but hey you don't want to fuck it up even worse.....

Hope this helps guys.