scratch marks all over car. any hope?

amrbasha

hi everyone. i bought my Z last week used 2010 with 13k miles. its black it looks great, but the paint job has those faint scratch marks all over the car that can be noitced only when looking at it from the right angle with the proper sun exposure. i was hoping that there is a way to buff this out, basically i want my car to look like new. any help?

Mikes350z

this sounds like paint swirls, mostly from improper washing and drying, happens so easily especially with black paint, a very good detail will easily remove paint swirls.

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AdamsPolishes

Yep... sounds like common swirls... it happens from washing.

To remove them you're going to need a machine, no way around that. If you'd be happy with an improvement, but don't want perfection then you can work by hand.

Also a big thing is to address the source of the problem in the first place. Does no good to spend time/money to fix it if your wash routine is just going to reintroduce swirls again.

You might find these videos helpful and if you have any questions about product or technique I'm happy to help:

Instructional Detailing Videos

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TXSpeedDemon

A flex polisher and Adam's Fine Machine polish will get those out for sure. I got out some pretty severe scratches on my girl's Accord, way worse than you describe. Check out this picture:


The left side is after 1 pass with the Swirl and Haze remover and 2 passes with the Fine Machine Polish using a Flex dual action polisher. Right side is exactly what it looked like beforehand. As you can see the scratches were pretty severe, worse than just normal swirl marks. They were obvious under any lighting condition. Just those three passes took out 99% of all the surface scratches on that car. Changed the car from a dull black and brought out all the blue pearl I didn't even know was there.

amrbasha

hi, thanks for that reassuring input. i just called the local car wash and the gentleman told me it would be about $100 to wash it buff it and wax the sum of which, according to him, would take care of the swirls and give the car that "new look"

joshs09slvrZ

Run for your life from this place. Find a local detailer who charges by the hour. Those car wash places that have detail bays can cause more harm then good. A simple wash and wax is not going to get rid of your swirls unfortunately.

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sfearl1

i was in the exact same situation after i bought my Z and got it home. the paint was thrashed! i found this video by Junkman, and followed it to a "T" (bought a Porter Cable and everything). it took me a whole week to detail (at night afterwork), but the results were well worth it.

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Scott

AdamsPolishes

A quality professional detail that involves correcting the paint is going to cost at least 3x that amount. The guy is either SEVERELY under valuing his services or hes a hack.

Before taking your car in there you'll want to see examples of his work. A lot of places that claim they can correct paint end up leaving your car in worse shape than you took it in... for example... this was a "professional" detail done to a brand new corvette:

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sfearl1

^^ omg

this was my first detail ever (using a porter cable)...

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Scott

TXSpeedDemon

The "new look" he is referring to is what happens when you use wax to fill in the swirl marks on your car. Unfortunately the old look comes back about a week later or after the next rain or wash. All he plans to do is wash the car, dry it and wax it. It's a waste of your money since it's just covering up the problem instead of repairing it.

Dylan is right, a detail job will run around $300. I don't do it professionally, but I do a great job for friends and clients who's cars I work on part time. I charge a minimum of $250 for just the exterior, more if it's a bigger car. That includes time for 2 hand washes, a clay bar treatment and a coat of glaze and wax. If someone doing this right only charged $100 for this type job they wouldn't even make enough money to replace their supplies.