Have you ever noticed how your car seems to have extra scratches on it each week?
Some people aren’t bothered by such problems.
While others get increasingly frustrated with those pesky scratches!
Not only do they not look nice, but they will also devalue your auto. When you decide to sell your car, you won’t get the best price for it if your paintwork looks like it’s been “through the wars” as it were! Luckily there are things you can do about this problem. Here’s what you can do about it:
Give your auto a thorough exterior wash
The first thing you need to do is determine how bad the problem is on your pride and joy. Sometimes things that might look like scratches are just dirt and debris stuck to your paintwork! As strange as it sounds, it’s not as uncommon as you might think.
You should use a pressure washer instead of a normal water hose or bucket of water. That’s because the strong force of the water will blast away any trapped dirt. I recommend giving your car a pre-wash, using a type of car shampoo called snow foam.
In a nutshell, you spray the snow foam onto your car, making sure that you haven’t rinsed it first. You then leave it to soak on your car for 15-30 minutes, and then rinse it off. Snow foam works by eating into any dirt and grime on the bodywork. It will also remove any coatings of wax and polish.
Next, wash your car with normal car shampoo and sponges, and then rinse it. When you’re done, dry it off using some microfiber cloths.
Checking the damage
Now that your car is clean, you are in a better position to assess how bad the scratches are on it. If your auto has only light scratches, you can buff them out. Deeper ones will need to get sanded back and resprayed.
Should your car have some deep scratches, it’s worth getting the expert opinion of a company like The Auto Art. There are some options to fix deep scratches that don’t mean you need a respray.
There is one trick that you can use to determine if a scratch is deep or not. Simply apply some shoe polish to the area! The thinner the applied areas, the lighter the scratches.
Fixing the damage
When you’re confident the scratches are small enough to fix yourself, it’s time to start sorting them out.
Begin by sanding the area with 2000-grit “wet and dry” sandpaper. Yes, sanding down your paintwork sounds scary. The truth is; that grade of sandpaper is fine; the smaller the grit number, the coarser it is.
When the shoe polish isn’t visible anymore, it’s time to stop. Next, clean the dust from the area and then apply some rubbing compound. Doing so will bring the shine back to your paintwork. Once you’ve removed the scratches on your car, you will need to wash it again (sorry)!
After you’ve washed and dried the car, apply some wax to it, and it’ll look brand new again. Now you’ve got one less thing to do on your auto maintenance list!
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It’s a never ending battle of making your cars better and also trying to be better yourself.