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Paint on Applicator Pad - How Deep of a Scratch?

3K views 17 replies 5 participants last post by  billand 
#1 ·
I had a guy remove some dings from my car and he ended up leaving some scratches in one area. I went home and used some scratch and swirl remover stuff with an applicator pad and noticed some red color on it. How far down would this mean the scratch is? The scratch catches my finger nail. Should I be looking into wet sanding when the temps get warmer?
 
#2 ·
Has there ever been any repainting done? Getting color on the pad means either you are already down to the base coat, or if repainting was done then you may be on a panel that has been blended and a small amount of color was mixed with the clear.
A scratch that catches your fingernail is usually too deep to be removed by polishing. You can probably reduce it by wet sanding and polishing but you run the risk of sanding through the clear to the base coat. Then the only solution will be painting.
 
#5 ·
There hasn't been any repainting done on this area of the car. This problem area is right by the "S" in Focus on the back. I had paint work done (defect from factory) by the passenger rear tire.

red candy metallic tinted... that sounds like a mess. metallic base coat under red. It's a bit of a deep scratch if it catches on your fingernail. I would be cautious sanding it... I'd hate to see you turn that red into silver.

as for the red coming off on your pad, It sounds like your clear coat IS red.
I've seen a couple articles and videos where wet sanding doesn't seem that bad. I'd probably start with 3000 grit. It feels like for one of the scratches, there's a flap of metal that piled up on one side, so this makes me think I will need to wet sand.

The color wont come off the car unless the clear coat is burned off. The most likely reson for the color transfering to your wax pad is that the car has overspray on it from being painted or another car being painted neer it.

If you can attach some pics I can guid you on the best way to get the scatches out safely. I opperate my own detail business and have tons of experiance with polishing and paint.
I will definitely get some pictures up later today. Expect them to be up around 4:45pm EST. I appreciate it!
 
#3 ·
red candy metallic tinted... that sounds like a mess. metallic base coat under red. It's a bit of a deep scratch if it catches on your fingernail. I would be cautious sanding it... I'd hate to see you turn that red into silver.

as for the red coming off on your pad, It sounds like your clear coat IS red.
 
#4 ·
The color wont come off the car unless the clear coat is burned off. The most likely reson for the color transfering to your wax pad is that the car has overspray on it from being painted or another car being painted neer it.

If you can attach some pics I can guid you on the best way to get the scatches out safely. I opperate my own detail business and have tons of experiance with polishing and paint.
 
#9 ·
If you can attach some pics I can guid you on the best way to get the scatches out safely. I opperate my own detail business and have tons of experiance with polishing and paint.
Here are some pictures of the scratches. You can see some parts are almost bowed outward.







 
#6 ·
If the reprinted by the tire you have over spray all over your car get a clay bar kit at you local parts stir and follow the directions I bet the paint is all over your car.

Try a product called dr colorchip touch up pair it works way better then duplicolor. Dr colorchip is thicker and sticks and fills much better.
 
#7 ·
I do plan to clay bar the car this Spring. However, I'd like to work on this and some other scratches in the mean time. I don't know how overspray would have reached this area. I'd expect it to have gotten over the windows and tail light before it could reach 90 degrees to the back of the trunk, from the opposite wheel, you know what I mean?
 
#10 ·
This other scratch feels much shallower. It barely catches a nail at all, however it stands out too well. Maybe it's just wide? Do you think this would need to be wet sanded, or just compounded?



 
#12 ·
What about wet sanding?
 
#17 ·
I do have tinted clearcoat, never knew what that meant. The paint was not damaged prior to PDR. If it's raised up, wouldn't wet sanding level it back down, ready to be repainted?
 
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