Hit this on motorway yesterday. Paint correction polish ideas?

[Speedbird]

Driving down the motorway yesterday, the car in front of me flicked up what seemed to be a polystyrene roof tile wrapped in thin metal foil.

It shattered on impact, travelling from the nose of my car all the way up the bonnet. I dont think it has taken any paint off, but you can see thousands of tiny scratches up the whole length of the bonnet, and even in the windscreen on passengers side. It looks horrendous when the sun is on it. Will a correction polish like Meguiars Ultimate or AG Scratch Remover do anything, or am I better off taking it to a professional? So pissed off right now.

 

[ray]

If it’s very fine then you should be ok to get it out yourself, give it a go and if it doesn’t come out by hand then take it to a pro.

It’s maybe a case of parts of the stuff being stuck on the paint rather than scratched (if you take your bank cards edge and rub it on the paint you get a “scratched” effect but this peels off.

Sounds like a lucky escape regardless, could of been anything really.


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[Legojon]

I'd have been in tears. If you have some polish around, you could try it with a MF applicator and see how it looks. It won't do any harm. But you could just take it and have just the bonnet machine polished. That should get most of the tiny scratches out and as your only having the bonnet done wouldn't cost a fortune.

 

[SRGTD]

Try the fingernail test - run your fingernail over the scratches and if the scratches aren’t deep enough for your fingernail to catch, then they should all polish out.

If the scratches are only light surface scratches, then hand polishing them out might work, although it’ll take quite a lot of effort and elbow grease and they might not all polish out. You’ll get a better result if you know someone with a dual action or rotary polishing machine - with the right combination of polishing pad and polish, machine polishing should remove the scratches completely - provided they pass the fingernail test.

 

[Legojon]

Just to add... if the windscreen is that bad, call autoglass and just get it replaced. But maybe do that first before having the bonnet polished (having watched some of the windscreen replacements in the car park at work).

 

[ChrisM75]

Scary as it is you can use 3000 grit wet and dry (wet obviously) on the whole panel to remove such scratches, then machine polish it out with a medium to light polishing compound. If the car is newish and hasnt been heavily polished before its fine.

 

[SRGTD]

Scary as it is you can use 3000 grit wet and dry (wet obviously) on the whole panel to remove such scratches, then machine polish it out with a medium to light polishing compound. If the car is newish and hasnt been heavily polished before its fine.

I’ve machine polished my car (and family members) cars before, but never tackled wet sanding. I’ve seen some cars completely wet sanded to remove the factory orange peel effect on the paint, and the results after they’ve been polished are amazing!

If I was going to attempt wet sanding, I think I’d get an old body panel from a scrapyard to practice on first before attempting this on my own car. By practising on a scrap panel you’d be able to get used to how much pressure to apply to just remove the scratches rather than applying too much pressure and striking through the clear coat.

Better to make any mistakes on something that doesn’t matter rather than on your own car, and then need a partial respray!

 

[ray]

100% don’t try wet sanding for the first time on your new car... or even machine polishing, will look great at first until the sun hits it... if it needs machines take it to a pro, won’t cost anymore than 40-50 quid.


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[A9BNL]

Bloody hell that must have been a scary moment seeing it happen and nothing you could have done either to avoid. One thing for sure is that the scratches will definitely come out with the right technique but i would probably get it done by a professional and it will look as good as new!
On a previous car i had some bad scratches on the roof and they used wet and dry then polished out and you couldn't see them despite them being quite deep as well.

 

[SRGTD]

100% don’t try wet sanding for the first time on your new car... or even machine polishing, will look great at first until the sun hits it... if it needs machines take it to a pro, won’t cost anymore than 40-50 quid.


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I don’t think I’d be brave enough to try wet sanding on my car, even if I did practice on an old scrap panel.

The first time I machine polished a car, it was on my (then) 2.5 year old Golf. I’m not one to blindly jump into something that I’d not done before, so before I started machine polishing, I’d watched loads of YouTube videos, followed the Detailing World forum and read up extensively on the subject before attempting it. A dual action (DA) polisher is a pretty safe piece of equipment, even in inexperienced hands, with minimal chance of heat build up or damage to the clear coat. A rotary polisher is a different ball game altogether though, and IMO not for the novice.

First attempt of using my DA, with an appropriate combination of polishing pads and polish, I’d say I managed to remove 85-90% of the light swirling that it had and 100% of the few light scratches that it had picked up. IMO, It looked better than it did 2.5 years earlier when it was brand new, as dealer prep of new cars often leaves a lot to be desired!

If I was @Bendy, I’d be inclined to find a local professional detailer and seek their advice. The problem with just polishing one panel though is it’ll highlight any swirls or marks on the remainder of the car.

 

[Brimfull]

If you CANT feel the scratch with your fingernail. Polish is your friend

If you CAN feel the scratch with your fingernail then paint is your friend

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