Is clear coat on bumper cover thick enough to wet sand?
 

I recently had an oil change done at a new Nissan dealership in north west Houston.

The careless f*&^#n techs scratched the paint on the bumper cover on my 40th anniversary :mad:. It's on the front right side, just below the line where the hood meets the bumper cover. The clear bra on the front of the hood saved that from getting damaged too.

Only part of the scratches actually cut through the clear coat and paint. The rest of the scratches are more like indentations rather than scratches, because they don't have sharp edges and your finger nail can feel them, but doesn't get caught in them. I've augmented the second photo with what i mean - I hope it shows up ok in the photos.

Although the dealership manager offered to repaint the bumper cover, I want to try and fix this, as best i can, without repainting. I know it's not going to be perfect, but I think it could get worse if paint match issues arise after the repaint - which i've read is very likely with this 40th anniversary color...

I want to try wet sanding and then polishing the parts of the scratches - the parts that are more like indentations - and then just touch up the other parts of the scratches with touchup paint and then put a clear bra over the whole front bumper cover. My car has very low mileage - because I don't get a chance to drive it often - work too much - so there are no stone chips on the front bumper cover yet...

Is the clear coat on the bumper cover thick enough to wet sand these scratches/indentations out? I intend to start with 3M Trizact 3000 grit sandpaper... any other suggestions?

In a word, yes


I'd buy clear coat pens first, use those, take off AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, then wet sand down

the problem will be if it when through the paint wetsanding will not solve your problem . use the dr colorchip and then polish and wax. should solve your problem.

like in this video? I think he may be putting down too much clear though... this kit doesn't cost too much either - only about $15 at Walmart:
Turtle Wax Scratch Repair Kit

Yea, i'll probably use something like Dr.ColorChip or Applied Colors kits, with their paint levelers, on the top part of the scratches that have cut through the clear coat and paint - as indicated in the 2nd photo. On the other part of the scratches or 'indentations', i wonder if using the paint leveler with the clear coat pen will help minimize the wet sanding that i'll need to do?... have to experiment on my daily driver...