It comes as no surprise that one of the most asked questions we hear is "will the scratch come out?" Today we will explain the process we use to determine if a paint defect can be removed, or at least improved, and how we remove it.
It must be noted that we as detailers can only work within the limits of the top layer of paint, be it the clear coat or top section of a single stage paint. This means that we only have several mils (thousandths of an inch) to work with. If a scratch is just too deep to remove fully, we can refine it down some, like you'll see below. As a general rule of thumb, if you can catch your fingernail into the scratch, it's potentially too deep to fully remove.
The first step involves using our paint inspection lights to illuminate the area of the defect. This allows us to see it without shadows and highlights the defect(s).The second step involves us using a paint thickness reader gauge to test the depth of the clear coat. This will tell give a rough idea of how thick the top clear coat is, and what we can safely sand out to improve the scratch.Next, we select an appropriate sandpaper grit to begin sanding down the clear coat to level the defect. Generally we use 1500 grit to start, and refine up from there. We use water to lightly dampen the surface to help the paper glide easy and remove the slurry of sanded paint from the surface, hence the term wet sanding.As we refine the grits of sandpaper, the finish begins to improve, and the defect has become less visible. In this case, we wanted to show that we weren't able to fully remove the defect, as it was too deep, but we wanted to improve it. This is sometimes a better step than repainting the panel at a body shop. It's less costly, and can be the safest choice in the long run.After the final stage of sanding, with 5000 grit, we polish the area with several steps to revive the gloss, and remove the last of the sanding marks. The defect is still there, but it's way less noticeable, and we have saved the factory paint from a repaint.
Sometimes we can fully remove the scratch!
In many cases though we can fully remove the defect safely, as if it were never there…. see below.Fully removed and polished!
What We've Been Working On:
This 2008 BMW M3 received an extensive paint correction to remove heavy swirls and scratches, and topped with Cquartz Finest Reserve Ceramic Coating.
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