[MikeMinh]

The other day on a narrow A-road in rural Devon I had to make space for an ambulance that had appeared behind me. Not fully concentrating I drove a little bit too close to the hedgerows on my left and heard the branches from the hedge scraping along the left side of my car. This happened at a speed of maybe 30 mph, probably less. I immediately corrected and hoped it was only the mirror that touched the hedge. Later at home in the bright sun light I could see it was worse, all along the left side visible scratches. The surface of the paint work is not actually broken, and a first attempt with my bare fingers I seem to almost get them off. Almost, not fully.

What is my best route to tackle this? Will I make it worse by trying any polish substance? If advisable, which one? Admittedly, with today's modern two-layer metallic paints I have not used polish anymore for 20 odd years. Should I give it to a bodyshop where they can maybe use machine polishing for a better result?

Any advice greatly appreciated.


(F34 320i GT, imperial blue metallic, 3 yrs old)

[asif03]

If it's not broken the clear/base coat and you can't feel them when you run your nail across any of the scratches then they should polish out. I'd say a polisher would give a better overall finish but doing them by hand should sort it.

Regarding polish, you can pick up some Menzerna or Meguiars Ultimate from Halfords I believe. Again depending on how deep they are you may need a compound first and then polish. If you can get a picture that'd help us advise better.

[betty02]

Back in the day I used something called "G3 Compound" an a car, it worked really well, they were a little deeper then what your describing and it made them hardly noticeable!

Might be worth a try! Was expensive back then, might get some myself to test on a little scratch I have!

[Rukka]

Originally Posted by betty02

Back in the day I used something called "G3 Compound" an a car, it worked really well, they were a little deeper then what your describing and it made them hardly noticeable!

Might be worth a try! Was expensive back then, might get some myself to test on a little scratch I have!

Ah yes - the old Farecla G3. I remember it well They still make it actually. It's more for use in finishing off "fresh" paint though and is a bit course.

I still use Farecla G10 finishing compound for small scratches or for blending in stone chips I have touched up. Although I use it on a DAS with medium/fine pads to get a top job.

Still good stuff though

[ioannisG]

You could use a compound to remove the scratch and then a polish to bring back the shine- the compound will haze up the paint a bit. I've used meguiars compound and polish but any would do

[Abzynthe]

I noticed some vertical lines on my front bumper yesterday. They cleaned off, but left a deep feeling scratch. I dont think its down to the paint, but you can definitely feel it there.
I have no idea what would have caused it as it looked like liquid dribbling down the bumper.

[teaston]

Originally Posted by MikeMinh

The other day on a narrow A-road in rural Devon I had to make space for an ambulance that had appeared behind me. Not fully concentrating I drove a little bit too close to the hedgerows on my left and heard the branches from the hedge scraping along the left side of my car. This happened at a speed of maybe 30 mph, probably less. I immediately corrected and hoped it was only the mirror that touched the hedge. Later at home in the bright sun light I could see it was worse, all along the left side visible scratches. The surface of the paint work is not actually broken, and a first attempt with my bare fingers I seem to almost get them off. Almost, not fully.

What is my best route to tackle this? Will I make it worse by trying any polish substance? If advisable, which one? Admittedly, with today's modern two-layer metallic paints I have not used polish anymore for 20 odd years. Should I give it to a bodyshop where they can maybe use machine polishing for a better result?

Any advice greatly appreciated.


(F34 320i GT, imperial blue metallic, 3 yrs old)

If you can't feel it with your fingernail use Meguiars Ultimate Compound

If you can feel with nail but it doesn't catch then use 2500 or 3000 grit wet & dry paper (wet) then Meguiars ultimate compound

If your nail catches it needs respraying.

[jgoens]

Sounds like an easy fix--use a DA polisher and Meguiers M105. May take several passes and you don't necessarily have to polish it all the way down, just to where it is hardly noticeable and good for you. I do this all the time.

[MikeMinh]

Lots of good advice here. Many thanks.

I'd post a photo but the scratches are incredibly difficult to capture on camera, the reflection of everything near the car including myself or the neighbour's house is stronger than the actual scratch. The human eye can however easily see it.

The finger nail method seems the thing to do, I did that and my nail just about can NOT feel it. I had to look up what a "DA polisher" is and assume you meant a machine. Not sure I want to go into this myself with a machine, I'm not only a total novice, the device would be used only on this one occasion. I'm after all not a frequent hedge scratcher (I'm more a head scratcher).

I'm a bit worried that the recommended compounds are way to aggressive, they are all labelled "for professional use only", hence my earlier question: Will I make it worse?

And sandpaper, however fine, really? To me, the total lay-person, this sounds a little over the top, almost dangerous.

Happy to listen to further opinions and advice.

[Soul_Glo]

This worked for me. Follow it to the letter and you cannot get it wrong.

I still have my G mop bottle from 2004 and some old meguiars in beige bottles.

[ronime]

Farecla "Smart" Scratch Remover is good stuff. It's a fairly coarse abrasive but diminishes so is fairly safe as long as you don't go mad and refines nicely as the abrasive breaks down. On darker coloured paints you would probably need to refine with a finer polish to clear any hazing.

[teaston]

Originally Posted by MikeMinh

Lots of good advice here. Many thanks.

I'd post a photo but the scratches are incredibly difficult to capture on camera, the reflection of everything near the car including myself or the neighbour's house is stronger than the actual scratch. The human eye can however easily see it.

The finger nail method seems the thing to do, I did that and my nail just about can NOT feel it. I had to look up what a "DA polisher" is and assume you meant a machine. Not sure I want to go into this myself with a machine, I'm not only a total novice, the device would be used only on this one occasion. I'm after all not a frequent hedge scratcher (I'm more a head scratcher).

I'm a bit worried that the recommended compounds are way to aggressive, they are all labelled "for professional use only", hence my earlier question: Will I make it worse?

And sandpaper, however fine, really? To me, the total lay-person, this sounds a little over the top, almost dangerous.

Happy to listen to further opinions and advice.

It sounds like you should just need to use some compound, Meguiars Ultimate is definitely suitable for novices, it cuts and brings the paintwork to a brilliant showroom shine. You can use by hand with a microfibre but it's just much quicker and less tiring with a machine. If you've got a battery drill then you can just attach on of these:

Yosoo 7Pcs 5/6/7" Sponge Polishing Waxing Buffing Pads Kit Set Compound Auto Car Polisher + M14 Drill Adapter Kit (7") https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01GPSWT..._q7M7ybJZ3MW6K

[willjames]

Originally Posted by betty02

Back in the day I used something called "G3 Compound" an a car, it worked really well, they were a little deeper then what your describing and it made them hardly noticeable!

Might be worth a try! Was expensive back then, might get some myself to test on a little scratch I have!

+1 I have tried this recently with the G3 Applicator. Get it from Halfrauds it's pretty good for light scratches.

[asif03]

As Teaston said, it definitely sounds like the scratches are on the lighter side so something like Meg's Ultimate will be fine. It's definitely not pro use only so don't worry about doing damage.

Put some on a microfiber and gently polish it in across the panel. You could spray the microfiber with water very slightly to help break the polish down a touch. May be worth doing the whole panel so it cleans the entire thing up instead of just the small areas where the scratches were. It'll come out looking really glossy.

If you were local I'd have sorted it for you.

[MikeMinh]

Originally Posted by asif03

As Teaston said, it definitely sounds like the scratches are on the lighter side so something like Meg's Ultimate will be fine. It's definitely not pro use only so don't worry about doing damage.

Put some on a microfiber and gently polish it in across the panel. You could spray the microfiber with water very slightly to help break the polish down a touch. May be worth doing the whole panel so it cleans the entire thing up instead of just the small areas where the scratches were. It'll come out looking really glossy.

If you were local I'd have sorted it for you.

Thanks for that, some serious solidarity shows up here :-)
I'll give it a go and report back.

Crikey, how on earth do I pronounce "Meguiars" ?

[asif03]

Originally Posted by MikeMinh

Thanks for that, some serious solidarity shows up here :-)
I'll give it a go and report back.

Crikey, how on earth do I pronounce "Meguiars" ?

No worries

Lol it's meg-why-ers I believe. I wondered this for a while too when I first seen their stuff

[BimmerMad]

Ultimate compound and if it's still slightly noticeable but you don't want to polish any further, use some Poorboys Black Hole to fill it.

[Rukka]

Originally Posted by MikeMinh

Thanks for that, some serious solidarity shows up here :-)
I'll give it a go and report back.

Crikey, how on earth do I pronounce "Meguiars" ?

Meg-Wires .... Said without a pause between the two


.

[MikeMinh]

It's done, all is fine, not only are the scratches on my car gone, I can even now stop scratching my head. Haze free, problem free. And the winners were:

• Carplan Demon Foam for £5.60 (1L)
• Meguiars ScratchX 2.0 for £9.90

I learned:

• Why the good lord has invented polishing machines.
• The sillyness of producing massive foam bubbles does not only apply to household cleaning stuff, but they want to catch us blokes out on this as well. (Foam doesn't contribute to the action in any way, it only makes you feel better by looking at it)
• Did I mention the point about polishing machines?
• Numerous passing neighbours enquired about my charges to wash a car.
• I'm too old to do polishing work.
  
  

Thanks for all the advice I received, very much appreciated.

[Kal101]

Originally Posted by MikeMinh

It's done, all is fine, not only are the scratches on my car gone, I can even now stop scratching my head. Haze free, problem free. And the winners were:

• Carplan Demon Foam for £5.60 (1L)
• Meguiars ScratchX 2.0 for £9.90

I learned:

• Why the good lord has invented polishing machines.
• The sillyness of producing massive foam bubbles does not only apply to household cleaning stuff, but they want to catch us blokes out on this as well. (Foam doesn't contribute to the action in any way, it only makes you feel better by looking at it)
• Did I mention the point about polishing machines?
• Numerous passing neighbours enquired about my charges to wash a car.
• I'm too old to do polishing work.
  
  

Thanks for all the advice I received, very much appreciated.

Big fan of scratch x here as well

Was recommended to me on here to cure burnt in bird poop - done whilst I was on holiday.

[moff]

Just remember to polish over the top of the Scratch X as it will remove any previous paint protection e.g. wax and polish.

[MikeMinh]

Originally Posted by moff

Just remember to polish over the top of the Scratch X as it will remove any previous paint protection e.g. wax and polish.

I didn't think of that. Hmm.

I did opt against paint protection when I bought the car, in my infinite wisdom I considered a modern clear coated metallic paint sufficiently robust to withstand most normal environmental impacts. I therefore never polished or waxed this now three year old car. Wax may have been applied in any of the car washes it ever had, manual or in a drive through. I wouldn't know.

My previous 3 series hat a metallic paint that after 13 years still looked quite good.

How important is waxing really? (a certain other person in my house says that waxing is quite painful, what might she mean?)