Help me be a nice guy

June 7, 2006 10:09 AM

How can I fix my friend's car scratch?

Somebody keyed my friend's car in a parking lot when we were out a few days ago. There is a scratch (white scratch on midnight blue) that runs across 2 doors. It's just barely deep enough that I can feel it with my eyes closed. I want to fix it up for her as a surprise. Is this an easy thing to do? Do I just need to get touchup paint? Multiple layers? I don't want to mess it up more.

posted by lpctstr; to travel & transportation (13 comments total)

This is difficult to do well. You'll need the touch up primer, base and clear coats. The difficult part lies in matching the color exactly (it fades and even the perfect color won't look the same) and then 'blending' it to reduce the difference in color that will still be present. If you're never done this before, practice somewhere invisible. Better yet, don't. It'll probably end up looking horrible when you consider the length of the scratch. An old trick is to get a large box or crayola and use the best crayon match to cover up the scratch, then buff with a very smooth, wet cloth and use a hairdryer to melt it in. YMMV.
posted by IronLizard at 10:27 AM on June 7, 2006

Reverse that order, sorry. Hair dryer first, buff second.
posted by IronLizard at 10:28 AM on June 7, 2006

Depends what you mean by "fix". If you wanna prevent it from rusting, clean scratch with thinner (just give it a good wipe), and apply nail polish to it. This is only a Macgyver fix.

A real fix is more complicated. My dad's a car body specialist and I've seen him do it a zillian times. First you sand the scratch right down to the crevice using a rough sandpaper. Next, apply a good coat putty to the scratch. When it dries, wet-sand it with rough and eventually fine-grain sandpaper. Repeat the putty/sanding process several times until the surface looks and feels. Don't worry if you're also sanding the non-scratched areas 'cause you're gonna spraypaint over it. Spray a coat of primer. Wet-sand that coat too, although at this stage you're using super-fine sandpaper, between 800 and 1200. Primer/sand a coupla times. Next, mix the paint -- my dad's one of the few people in Quebec who can still do this by eye -- till you get a match. Mixing is usually required even though you have the original paint: You gotta take aging into consideration. Spray a few coats, always letting it dry in between. Then spray a few coats of clear coat, also letting it dry in between.

That's the gyst of it. I reckon you're probably gonna stock up on some nail polish :P.
posted by freakystyley at 11:02 AM on June 7, 2006

If the color of the car is stock, sometimes you can go to the dealership and get a matching "paint pen" kind of thing.
It worked on a friend of mine's Honda and her mother didn't even notice the scratch at all. (Friend in question hit a parked car while learning how to drive.)
YMMV of course.
posted by sperose at 11:15 AM on June 7, 2006

Actually, what's the exact nature of the scratch? What layers does it go through: Clearcoat? Paint? Primer? (I'm asking because if you can barely feel it, you might just have a scratch in the clear coat, which can be fixed pretty nicely with something like this Micro-Mesh clearcoat paint restoration kit.)
posted by IvyMike at 11:22 AM on June 7, 2006

IvyMike is right: if it's a very shallow scratch, just marking the clearcoat (and it sounds like it might be, since you can barely feel it), you might be able to buff it out with some rubbing compound. This has worked well for me. A coat of colored wax (no need for exact matching, just get the blue) might help to make it even less conspicuous.
posted by mr_roboto at 11:32 AM on June 7, 2006

thanks for the responses so far!

it's a fairly new car (14k miles) so hopefully the aging didn't change the color too much.

I'll see if I can find an appropriate paint pen. that sounds like a good option.

what differentiates between a shallow and deep scratch? I can get a photo later today.

any this might be a stupid question, but what kind of rubbing compound do I use to buff? where can I buy it?

thanks!
posted by lpctstr; at 11:37 AM on June 7, 2006

A Detailing Miracle: "2005 Acura TL: My son took the snow off with a steel shovel"
posted by Doohickie at 12:52 PM on June 7, 2006

You could try https://www.paintscratch.com/ -- they sell factory matched paint pens, rubbing compounds, everything really.
posted by empyrean at 1:49 PM on June 7, 2006

clean scratch with thinner (just give it a good wipe)

!! Be veerrrrrry careful you don't marr the surrounding clearcoat and make a thing scratch into a wide swath of dull. I don't think there's any reason to ever take thinner to a modern paintjob.
posted by phearlez at 2:03 PM on June 7, 2006

lpctstr; writes "any this might be a stupid question, but what kind of rubbing compound do I use to buff? where can I buy it?"

Something like this should be fine. You can get it at any auto supply store.
posted by mr_roboto at 4:36 PM on June 7, 2006

If you use any rubbing or polishing compound that leaves scratches in the clear coat, they can be removed with Maguire's Scratch-X. I thought it kind of filled in the scratches, but it actually wears down the sharp edges on them. To do this, take a hand towel, ball it up, and wrap it tightly in another hand towel. Put a little Scratch-X on the pad and rub it VIGOROUSLY (imagine you are rubbing the face of the person who keyed the car!) for a minute or so. Rub it hard and fast, generating heat on the surface. That will get the scratches out of the clear coat.

(I was disappointed the first time, because I did it delicately. Only after someone told me to rub the hell out of it did I get good results.)
posted by Doohickie at 5:41 PM on June 7, 2006

Depending on how deep the original scratch is, the Scratch-X may be all you need.
posted by Doohickie at 5:42 PM on June 7, 2006