I did a little off roading last week and ended up with some scratches on both sides of my truck. The trails were fairly narrow and the bushes rubbed against the sides of it and left scratches.

I tried Zaino at first but it did not touch the scratches so I figured I would try something else. I got som Meguiars Scratch X and it did a decent job on the scratches that I tested but it was about three coats later and a sore elbow.

I took it to a auto body shop today to get an estimate to get the scratches buffed out. The guy said he could get most of them out with cutter but a couple of the scratches would require 2000 grit sandpaper and he couldn't be sure they would come out. The estimate was $1200 OUCH!! I hope to be able to avoid the body shop and do this myself.

My question is this, I have done alot of reading on these posts and like the Meguiars feedback, the only problem is I am not sure which products to purchase. I have read good things about DACP but I think I will need something a little bit more abrasive?

I also am thinking about purchasing the PC because it will be to much elbow grease trying to tackle this job by hand. Any thoughts on which pads to use and where to purchase would be helpful. If there is a more abrasive but safe product that is stronger than DACP I will use that followed by #9 then #26. Any other suggestions would be appreciated. My truck is Wedgewood Blue so it shows everything.

 

Like you mentioned, unfortunately, dark colors show just about everything.

Zaino, like many pure sealants, offer little to no abrasive qualities and thus, they cannot remove scratches. In my opinion, this is one of the few problems with the Z system; that being that you have no way to do any surface preparation with any of their products.

You touched a bit on Meguiar's products in your first post and, in my personal opinion, scratches unseen, think that you're on the right track. Unfortunately, there's no silver bullet for your problem and it's either going to require copious amounts of elbow grease or a machine that is more powerful than a PC. Yes, the PC will help but, I have a hunch that you're going to need to generate more heat on your paint than what a PC can give you (you see, the PC is very user friendly and thus keeps it from being a super powerful tool to remove scratches).

If it were mine, I'd continue working on the areas with the Scratch-X. If you manage to get your hands on a PC, I'd utilize a polishing pad and some DACP in the area. One thing you will want to avoid is a continuous abrasive action in that immediate area as you'll thin out the clear coating. Once you've burned through the clear, you'll really have a monster of a problem on your hands (much worse than a scratch).

I think that $1200 is outrageous for what you've described but, of course, I haven't seen them. I would give a few local detailers a shot at bidding on your work to see what they say. Naturally, a rotary buffer in the wrong hands can do 50X more harm than good but, in the right hands, they might be able to elevate your problem.

Good luck and please let us know if you have any additional questions!

RP

 

maybe you can talk to a detailing shop to do a basic buffing and only then go to the body shop for the deeper scrathes the detail shop can't get out.

I see this option costing a lot less than $1200.

 

I feel your pain. I'm a newbie, but proud owner of a 03 XL supercab and have the same problem. Just had a body shop look at my scratches and a few dings from the local parking lots. Owner suggested using a fine polishing compound and elbow grease for the light stuff and 2000 followed by buffing with the same compound for the deeper stuff. I'm thinking about getting a buffer, but have no idea on a brand. Good luck.

 

Thanks for the Info. Does anyone know if Scratch X is more or less abrasive than say DACP. I am wondering if Scratch X can be applied with the PC.