How to remove scratches from the car: primer, paint and enamel

Car scratches are a dislike that can be Bring up the most careful driver. Blissful bollards, garage columns or tall curbs will always be around the corner. That's why, in Actualidad Motor we give you this small guide to remove scratches from your car , without having to suffer the real bad swallow that these scratches involve: the invoice of the workshop.

Anyway, and far from any impairment of the work of the professionals, we remind you that the best you can have is taking the car to a sheet metal workshop. Having said that, with some skill and the right tools you can get very good results.

The first thing is cleanliness

The first thing you should do to be clear is that in order to do the job well, it is necessary to perfectly wash the part that will be restored . Maybe with a pressure wash or with the typical roller machines it is not enough, so better use water, soap and some rags to make sure.

Next we will tell you how to treat scratches according to the what depth they have. But as you can imagine, few scratches have the same depth along their entire length. They can damage only the enamel in one part and move to deeper layers in another area such as paint, primer or veneer. For this reason, you should take note of the necessary solution for each depth and apply them to the same rayon to fix each of its parts. In the following photo you can see the different layers on the edge of a door.

Layers of a car paint. From left to right: enamel, paint, primer and veneer.

Superficial scratches on the varnish

If you have confirmed that it is a few superficial scratches you are in luck. They are relatively easy to repair and the result is impeccable if done well. They can be solved with the polishing of the car , because we would only be removing the layer of the most superficial varnish or enamel, which is the one that is damaged.

It is not necessary, but if you have many scratches of this type, you can polish the car completely . If you do not want to spend as much time, polish only the parts of the car that are damaged . If the enamel is so old that it has lost its luster (or at least part of it) it is better that you polish the whole piece. For example a door, the rear flap or the bumper. This will prevent you from seeing a bright area and the rest will not.

A trick to not polish more than necessary is to go past only in the horizontal strip where the scratches are. Count the passes you give until the scratch disappears. Then repeat the same number of passes in the rest of the piece.As in the previous case, the area will have to be polished, but it will be necessary to go to the painting below. It is enough that you sand only the rayon and 1 cm around it. Do it until any trace of the scratch disappears.

You can use liquid polish or a grain sandpaper between 400 and 600 , but in both cases be careful not to over-tighten and set when the scratch disappears. If you do not do so, you may get to the primer layer and make life more difficult than necessary.

Then you will have to apply some gloss finish polish of the Dupli-Color style. In the house of the brand you can also ask for a pack in which enamel and paint come. That way you'll make sure you buy the right ones. To do it right, better cover the surroundings of the part to be painted with plastic or newspaper. Do not use kitchen paper because it is too absorbent and the lacquer can stain through it. Give passes at a uniform speed as about 15 or 20 cm away from the bodywork.

Allow to dry according to the time indicated by the mark that you have bought and re-polished , especially with the newly varnished part. You will match it with the rest of the varnish .

Scratches that reach the primer layer

In this case you will need to recover the color of your painting in the scratch area. For this, the cheapest solution is to buy a spray with the same color code as your car. In the house where you bought your car you can have it. This is especially important because if it is not exactly the same, the results will be very bad.

Also influences a lot if the color of the paint has degraded over time , because it does not it will stay the same In these cases, what is usually done is to strip the whole piece where the rayon is and paint it whole again. But that process requires better the hand of a professional . Of course, however good it is, you will notice the difference with the rest of the car. So if this bothers you, you only have the option of painting it whole in a workshop.

Scratches that reach the sheet

In this case the paint of your car has lost all the layers it has and the work is greater. It involves adding the step of applying the lost primer layer. The method is the same as we mentioned before, but polishing 1 cm around the scratch until the primer is removed . After clean the dust that is left with a microfiber cloth.

Cover the surroundings of the dust with plastic or newspaper and spray a primer spray , if it can be of the same brand that you are going to use for the paint. Remove the protection carefully and let dry as indicated by the manufacturer, which usually will be much more than the paint. Apply sanding to the primer just put to make it completely smooth and give it another layer if necessary. The rest of the steps are the same as in a scratch that only comes to the primer.

Magic pencils repairs scratches

Results with These types of tools are usually not very good. As often happens with products that are advertised as miraculous, will only serve to disguise some small frictions . Therefore, we recommend that you use the above methods if you have the time, the patience and the morning to do them. If that is not your case and you want it to be well, it would be better to take the car to a sheet metal workshop.

Repair kits for scratches

You can try to solve the problem with these kits that bring everything you need to fix scratches, but do not usually provide or better results, much less a saving of money . Buying what you need to complete the steps mentioned in this article is cheaper than one of these kits. In addition, if the rayon is of which it arrives at the primer or the sheet it will be practically impossible to repair with this method.

Images - Andy Michael, Damian Gadal and Riley