Backing out of a friends driveway one night, a broken branch from a bush scrapped along the entire side of my Dodge Grand Caravan. It looks almost superficial & disappears when wet but when it drys, the scratch is still there. It hasn’t penetrated far into the paint but just enough to leave a white zigzag down my car. I’ve heard the paint kits from the dealer make scratches look like they have been filled in with nailpolish & i am trying to avoid a bad fill in job as well as a costly repaint job. Any suggestions would be truly greatly appreciated!!!
Thy a good detail shop before you have it repainted, they may be able to make it disappear (mostly).
I recommend you have a automotive body or paint shop check it out and see how well they can buff it out using some rubbing compound and a buffing tool. They may be able to remove most of the damage from the surface if the scratch isn’t too deep.
Depending on the car and how DIY you feel, I would pick up some scratch remover from the auto parts store. Note, read the labels carefully. Some are designed to fill in the scratch with a wax type substance. It is not a permanent fix, but it does nothing to hurt the existing finish. Another type smoothes the finish out and may be permanent, but it may not look great and you can’t go back.
Otherwise see a detailer (fancy car wash) or a auto paint shop. They will do a professional job and it sounds like your damage can be repaired.
Yep see a detailer or body shop. If the scratch is whire, it just scraped the clear and not the color coat underneath. They should be able to buff it out no problem. Don’t use those scratch removers at this point.
I’ve had good luck over the years removing mild scratches with Maguiars Cleaner Wax (red bottle). Try this before going to a body shop or detailer.
Ed B.
Yes, the cleaner wax also works for me but if your fingernail can catch the scratch forget it, too deep to be rubbed out by any compound. Either get a matching color bottle from the dealer but if it really bothers you have a detailer (scratch expert that the dealers use) repair it, doing it yourself will never be the same unless you can rub it out as noted earlier.
Try Maguiars Scratch-X. Read the directions and have a little patience applying as recommended.