Restoring paint on car

[kjacko]

Hi all,

Is there an easy diy way to polish out scratches and bring back the shine as well as protect the black paint on a 2022 corsa.
There’ll be no need to trash the brand, but if it helps identify the paint type/kind then there ya go.
Back in the day I used black T-Cut but I would have though technoloogy had moved on by then.

When washing it I use the autoglym polar blast, wash and then seal, if that makes a difference to what products you advise on.
Ideally I need to get products from Halfords or Amazon as I want to get this done in the next day or so before the wife returns from her jaunt in Cornwall.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Brigadier]

Depends how much effort you define as "an easy way", and how much money you want to spend.

Washing - well - is a given.
Cleaning the bugs and road tar (difficult to see on the lower bits of a car, especially a black one) off is also a basic requirement, IMHO.

My advice (as an occasional practitioner of the polish) :
- clean as normal, but don't seal.
- get a clay mitt and lubricant from Halfords (Farecla G3 is the sort), and use that to clean the car more thoroughly than washing alone will.
- get some Autoglym super-resin polish, and use that (you can polish with this stuff by hand, or use a machine)

It is a time-consuming thing to do though, and not ideal to do in this weather (sunny, and warm / hot).


Try Epic Detailing on YouTube; he's a pro who posts reviews and advice for the weekend warrior.

 

[Burnerman]

Only my opinion of course but I've now shelved Autoglym products for Meguairs (if that's how you spell it).....the Ultimate polish is incredible.
John

 

[Brigadier]

Only my opinion of course but I've now shelved Autoglym products for Meguairs (if that's how you spell it).....the Ultimate polish is incredible.
John

I use the Meguiars (sic?) Hybrid Ceramic Wax.
Mainly for ease of application (and maintenance of the coating).
It's decent: not what you'd expect from a professional ceramic coating, but £25 a bottle would not be expected to compare with £hundreds (and days off the road) anyway

 

[ReganAndCarter]

Or just tell the wife that patina is all the rage these days.

 

[JohnD]

Hi all,

Is there an easy diy way to polish out scratches

Depends how deep they are. Can you feel them with your fingernail?

How were they caused?

Very shallow ones you can hide with a coloured wax Polish (there are also wax crayons I have not used) but not permanent.

I used to have Chips Away once a year when I was doing lots of motorway miles.

 

[Belle427]

It depends how bad the paintwork is, a machine polish may be required but you would probably be better off handing it over to a detailer for this and you could look after it much easier afterwards.
If you did just want to sparkle it up Autoglym still make some decent products for most normal people.
Super resin polish will make the paint look good but you need to add protection over the top afterwards.
Their HD wax is one of the best still for this.
Meguiars ultimate polish as suggested is another available at Halfords.
I have been down the car detailing rabbit hole and am a keen amateur, not great on the bank account and most of it is nonsense!
It does help to decontaminate the paint as much as possible before polishing with a fallout type remover, id avoid using a clay bar as this can inflict more micro scratches that may need a machine polish.

 

[kjacko]

Depends how much effort you define as "an easy way", and how much money you want to spend.

Washing - well - is a given.
Cleaning the bugs and road tar (difficult to see on the lower bits of a car, especially a black one) off is also a basic requirement, IMHO.

My advice (as an occasional practitioner of the polish) :
- clean as normal, but don't seal.
- get a clay mitt and lubricant from Halfords (Farecla G3 is the sort), and use that to clean the car more thoroughly than washing alone will.
- get some Autoglym super-resin polish, and use that (you can polish with this stuff by hand, or use a machine)

It is a time-consuming thing to do though, and not ideal to do in this weather (sunny, and warm / hot).


Try Epic Detailing on YouTube; he's a pro who posts reviews and advice for the weekend warrior.

The epic detailing channel is what lead me here tbh. He gives great advice, but wanted to get forumites opinions too.
Thanks for the recommendation for the clay mit, I’ll investigate m.

 

[Belle427]

A lot of the you tubers get sent products for free to test etc so take some of it with a big pinch of salt, there are a few worth watching.
Martin the obsessive car detailer is pretty fair, what you see on his shelf is pretty much the best of the best.
Supercharged llama is very informative too.
Forensic car detailing, paul dolden details are another two worth a look.

 

[stuartb3502]

Impossible to answer simply since scratches are not all alike (even within one scratch, you have several types).

Yes, things have moved on from T cut. With any scratch repair,r you either have to:
- Reduce the level of the surrounding paint (usually the lacquer layer in practice) down to the level of the scratch bottom or
- Fill the scratch and then level.

There's no quick way to tell you which is right or how to know which is right. I've been doing this a while and still get it wrong as many times as I get it right.

Starting with the least destructive:

For scratches that you cannot feel with a nail.

Last-touch sealants and waxes simply protect from chemicals, and UV, add a shine and help with water-shedding
Liquid or paste regular polishes which are very very mildly abrasive (much less than T-cut) to remove mainly contaminants
Polishes vary and some may be a little more abrasive

Note that many polishes also contain fillers. These are not permanent solutions to scratches, but they aim to improve the look of paint by filling fine scratches so that the paint appears less damaged.

Clay - for more heavy-duty removal of contaminants
Compound (T-cut is a type of this). I haven't used T-cut for years so don't have a view on where exactly it sits now and whether or not it is still useful given more modern stuff.
The compounds vary and a decent one will have an indication of the coarseness (as sandpaper does with grit numbers).
A heavy-cut compound/polish might be a 400 with a finishing polish being, say 3500.

Although polishes and compounds can be applied by hand, if you are trying to do a larger area (i.e. more than a single mark), then using a machine (a dual action polisher usually) is the way to do. There's quite a bit more to learn here, but loads of info. out there.

For scratches that you can feel

"Usually" these will be too deep to want to consider reducing the level of surrounding paint.
So the approach is to fill them with paint (lacquer if the scratch is only within the lacquer layer).
Today it is possible online to get colour-matched paint, which includes a gloss enhancer so that you can use that one paint to fill a scratch, which may be lacquer only, lacquer and base colour or a mixture (since scratches are rarely the same depth throughout). These are, in my view, the best way to go and will sometimes come in kits with products which can either thin or bulk up the paint depending on need.
If you use regular touch-up paint, be prepared to do several layers with a day between each and then wait another week before the sanding stage. Paint and lacquer touch-ups shrink back as they dry.

Multiple sanding and polishing stages are then used to level and blend the finish.

The technique for this sort of thing can be researched online (try CVR POV on YouTube, for example). It's undoubtedly harder than it looks and needs practice, but good results are achievable as a committed DIYer.
Only suitable for a few defects however,r rather than tackling a whole car.