12 years of scratches !!!

[itchyrichie69]

hey my car has got heaps of small scratches, not too deep.

was wondering if anyone has had a cut & polish done ? and if so where ? (im in melb - east )

how much should i look to expect to pay?

how much difference do u notice with the paintwork ?

cheers guys.

[riruiz_88]

not to be rude mate, but you should find for your self. search on the net or the yellow pages, look for Detailers. it also depends on how far you are willing to clean it up, if you want a full detail of your car then expect anythin from $200 to $600. look around mate then you will get an idea of what to expect :thumbsup:

[itchyrichie69]

well i have had a look around and costs vary...

i was going to do it with a mate who is a spray painter. but hasnt c&p many cars... he seemed as if he knew what to do, but said he has only really helped out with them at his work.

ive read around on other forums thats it not the kind of job youd want to do unexperienced as u can f*** the paint.

i was just wondering if anyone has had it done, and if they recomend someone. not asking for use to go and look for me, just for a referal to a reputable place around melb.

I dont want to take it to some muppet who will charge through the roof and say he did the best he could and then get the car back only a little better if that...

[aaronng]

If the scratches are deep, then there isn't much that can be done other than to cut the clearcoat down til it is very thin (and will probably fail if you get bird poo on it) or to respray.

[riruiz_88]

If the scratches are deep, then there isn't much that can be done other than to cut the clearcoat down til it is very thin (and will probably fail if you get bird poo on it) or to respray.

trust this guy man, he knows what he is on about. post a pic so we can see what the damage is

[aaronng]

I just tried to fix deep swirling from washing on one car, and I couldn't fix that without risking damage to the clearcoat.

[itchyrichie69]

i guess im better off praying for someone to side swipe me in a car park , so the n the insurance pays for the respray....

this would have happened about a million times ..... if only i didnt have a horn......

[j.meng87]

since you said the scratches are not too deep, you can try swir remover product like poorboys ssr2.5 with an random orbital sander and some cutting pads. random orbital is easier to operate than orbital sander which can burn the paint.

[aaronng]

^^ the one that burns paint is called a rotary.

The random orbital is actually too weak to do proper swirl removal.

[j.meng87]

^^ the one that burns paint is called a rotary.



oops my bad. thanks for pointing tat out.

I'm not saying that you are wrong but proper random orbital (not $40+from supercheap etc.) does the job on my car with the correct pad. Afterall IMO less scratch/swirl mark is alway better.

[aaronng]

oops my bad. thanks for pointing tat out.

I'm not saying that you are wrong but proper random orbital (not $40+from supercheap etc.) does the job on my car with the correct pad. Afterall IMO less scratch/swirl mark is alway better.

It does help make the swirls less obvious by rounding the edges of the fine scratch that swirls consist of. But that's about it. That's why I went from the $150 Bosch PEX400AE to a $99 Ozito rotary.

[D4rk4n63l]

if the scratches are very fine, there are a couple of polish that contain filler particles that will 'cover' the swirls.. but then again if you want perfection, cut n polish is the way to go.. although being an old paint, as aaronng said, be careful of stripping the clearcoat completely off

[drunkntigr]

Guys I'm sorta in the same situation but without the scratches, just the clear coat has worn down.

Now why does everything suggest this method of CUT, wouldn't it be better to keep as much clear coat as you have left?

Either way I have a tin of Kitten's Cut and Polish No.2 waiting to be applied to the car, but I don't want to remove the clear coat in fear of making it worse, I also have No.1 Polish lying around.

I'm guessing useing Cut and Polish No. 2 on the car then No. 1?

[aaronng]

Guys I'm sorta in the same situation but without the scratches, just the clear coat has worn down.

Now why does everything suggest this method of CUT, wouldn't it be better to keep as much clear coat as you have left?

Either way I have a tin of Kitten's Cut and Polish No.2 waiting to be applied to the car, but I don't want to remove the clear coat in fear of making it worse, I also have No.1 Polish lying around.

I'm guessing useing Cut and Polish No. 2 on the car then No. 1?
I prefer to remove swirls instead rather than cut a layer off. That way, all I remove is about 0.1 microns of clearcoat, while rounding down the edges of the swirls and making it less obvious.

When you say that your clear coat has worn down, does that mean that you have no more clear coat? In that case, all you can do is either wax to protect or respray.

Don't use the kitten cut and polish. Those things take the clear off pretty quickly. My dad tried something similar (Polyglaze brand).

[drunkntigr]

how honestly do i tell if i have no more clear coat in the larger patches of paint? i only have a few areas, 0.5 x5cm long where I have plastic like white flakes coming off.

the rest are just a little bumpy like little pot holes throughout the whole paint.

so which is it, just a wax or cut and polish, even though i might have some clear coat left?

[aaronng]

Sounds like you are having clear coat failure. Time to respray. It happens if you don't wax your car regularly and the pollution in the air, rain and driving through dust storms has damaged your paint.

I know how bad it can be, my dad's car is parked 1/2 under shade. The front half is shaded, while the rear half is just open air. He has no clear coat on the rear half, and even the colour layer has pitted and it looks like the car has very had acne scarring. 0.5mm holes EVERYWHERE!

[drunkntigr]

Yeah sounds like it then, anybody know how much it is to respray a whole car?

In the meanwhile can I use some cut and polish?

[aaronng]

Don't bother with cut and polish. If you plan to respray, then you don't need to wax it (some waxes contain silicones and that will cause problems with respraying). If you don't plan to respray, just wash and wax.

Have you used any of the Kitten cut and polish products on this car before? I have a very low opinion on products like these.

[drunkntigr]

No I haven't. I'll return the cut and polish them to kmart.

By respray, don't they ahve to grind the paint off first? How much as a rought estimate woudl it cost?

[aaronng]

No I haven't. I'll return the cut and polish them to kmart.

By respray, don't they ahve to grind the paint off first? How much as a rought estimate woudl it cost?

Ideally, they should sand it back down to the primer. But most dodgy economy places just sand it down a little and respray over. Best you call around for prices. We can tell you anything from $3000-5000. But it might not even be the true price. Call and ask around.