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Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ
The authoritative public forum
for Metal Finishing since 1989
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Newly painted car has very fine scratches all over due to hand washing at repair shop
I had my car repainted .When they called me to pick it up I noticed scratches in the clear coat or perhaps the color.The manager talked to me and said that the scratches happened when they washed it.
Is it possible to scratch the clear coat just by hand washing and drying.The clear has been applied for at least one month.
The corrective action is to use rubbing compound
⇦this on
eBay
or
Amazon [affil links] to take out the scratches.My fear is if washing and drying will scratch the clear coat what will rubbing compound
⇦this on
eBay
or
Amazon [affil links] do to it.
At present I'm not comfortable with the job they did , or is this normal?
I would appeciate any information you can give me
Thank you
owner of car - Bloomington, Indiana
February 11, 2010
February 12, 2010
Bill,
I would take the car back and tell the shop to buff the scratches out
(after a cure period of course). You are not supposed to hand wash a car so soon after painting. If anyone knows that, a body shop should! Yes, fine scratches will appear from hand washing so soon after painting or clear coating. Hope you get satisfaction.
Fellow Plater - Syracuse, NY USA
Sir, I was in the auto body repair business for 32 yrs. I assume your finish is a dark color. The small scratches will appear on your finish in time but shouldn't be noticeable upon leaving the shop with fresh paint. It is very hard to remove the appearance of scratches but I have found that washing a dark color with a car wash SPONGE only will keep further scratches from appearing. Never use cotton, wool, wash mitts on a dark colored vehicle. Wash and wax in a straight line only and never swirl as wax instructions say. Turtle wax makes a wax called Turtlewax color magic polish [affil links] that will help get the scratches out but be prepared to spend many hours and do only one panel at a time.
Jack Nanney- Greeneville, Tennessee, USA
April 3, 2010
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