How to repair car scratches

Having scratches on your car can be frustrating, but it happens pretty often; tree branches, bushes, keys, shopping carts, other car's doors - all those things can leave scratches on your car's finish. Some scratches are very minor and some are deep; sometimes a residue from another object can look like a scratch and in each case the repair is different. It's best to repair scratches especially the deep ones where the bare metal is exposed, as soon as they appear, before the corrosion starts. Once the exposed in the scratch metal gets corroded, it's a whole different story and much more complicated repair. Let's see what can be done with the scratches. 

How to repair deep scratches

Deep scratches like this one, on the edge of the door, can be repaired with a touch-up paint. If you look closely, this scratch goes all the way through the clear coat, base paint and the primer (the grey stuff) and you can see the bare metal in the middle. This scratch will get corroded if not repaired in time, so I'm going to repair it. First thing I need is a matching touch up paint.

To get the matching touch-up paint I called my local dealer's parts department, they told me where the color code is located on this car - it was on the manufacturer's label on the driver's door jamb. I got the code from there and ordered the touch-up paint. The color code could be located in different places on different cars, but your dealer's part department should be able to tell you where is it.

The touch-up paint in this case comes as a two-tipped pen with base color paint on one end and the clear coat on the other. You can check if it has the same paint color code to make sure.

The car is clean and dry. Before using the touch-up pen, as it' said in the directions on the pen I have to shake it well.

As this pen's tip is too thick for this scratch, I'm going to use a sharp toothpick instead. So I squeeze a small amount of the base color paint from the touch-up pen into a bottle cap.

Now I dip the sharp toothpick into the paint. I need to pick-up a very small drop of paint on a toothpick.

Now very accurately I'm trying to barely fill up the scratch without letting the paint to come out of the scratch.

It's not perfect, but it looks much better now and it won't get corroded. Later, when the paint dries up I will add the layer of the clear coat from the other end of the touch-up pen (Instructions are on the pen).

How to remove minor scratches

These minor scratches were made by the bushes. This car has no clear coat as it's non-metallic color. The paint is scratched only slightly with no deep damage. To repair this scratch I'm just going to polish the paint.

I put small amount of the polishing compound onto the damp sponge applicator and gently polish the scratched area with it. After a little while I wash the are off to see if the scratch is still visible. I don't want to remove too much paint with the polishing compound. If the scratch is still there I polish it a bit more. Try in a small area first, it's important not to overdo it.

Once the scratch is barely noticeable, I wash and dry the area and use a regular car wax to make it shiny.

Here is the result, unless you look very closely, the scratches are not visible anymore

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How to use color wax

	A color wax has a dye in it and comes in different colors. This car on the photo has a lot of highway miles, so the whole front end of this car is covered with small stone chips. The car is dark and the stone chips appear as grey dots. This is when the color wax can be helpful, because it would take forever to repair all the stone chips with a touch up paint.
	Again, shake the bottle well and apply small amount of the color wax on the sponge.
	Spread the color wax evenly, making sure all the stone chips are filled up with wax.
	Allow the wax to haze, then buff it to a perfect shine with clean soft cloth.
	In the end, stone chips are still there, but they are a lot less visible, covered with the color wax.

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How to wax a car

A car wax forms thin transparent layer over the paint
and covers minor scratches

Waxing gives your car natural shine and helps to protect the paint. When applied, the car wax forms a thin transparent layer over the car paint surface. The car wax covers minor scratches, stone chips and other damages, making them less visible. The wax also "seals" the paint, preventing water from contacting the bare metal exposed in deep scuffs, chips and scratches, slowing down the corrosion process.

For best results, a car wax needs to be reapplied regularly. From my observations, a good-quality car wax stays on the car for about three-four months.

If your car hasn't been waxed in a very long time, first, it make sense to take it to a local detailing shop, or you can visit your dealer (e.g. for an oil change) and ask for one of those detailing packages they offer. What they do, they buff the car with an electrical buffer using a special polishing compound with mild abrasive to remove light scratches, hard stains and other impurities of the paint finish. Then they wax the whole car. After your car has been detailed, you can simply re-apply wax every three months or so to keep it shiny.

To wax your car you will need some good quality wax (e.g. Carnauba wax), a small soft sponge and a clean soft cotton towel. Your car must be very clean and dry. I usually wax my car right after washing it at a coin car wash; the whole process of washing, drying and waxing takes about an hour.
Make sure to choose the right product - you need the wax with no abrasives. Read the product label and test it on some small area first.
Park your car somewhere in a shadow - usually it works better when the car surface is cool to the touch. Work on one section at the time, for example, on one fender or door.

	If you use liquid wax, shake the bottle well before use. Apply small amount of wax to the sponge and spread it evenly on one section of the car. It's good idea to start from the top and do the bottom panels last because there is always some dirt left at the bottom.
	You want to make a thin, even layer of wax. Try not to touch unpainted plastic and rubber surfaces (e.g. weatherstrips) with wax - it will leave white stains on them.
	Allow the wax to haze (takes about a minute or two). Then buff it to a perfect shine with a clean soft towel, rotating it frequently - clean part of the towel works best.
	After the whole car is done, clean the wax from unpainted plastic and rubber surfaces. A window spray cleaner will work well for this purpose.
	I recommend to wax your car regularly - once in every three-four months. I tried many products and non of them stays permanently. Any car wax needs to be re-applied regularly.

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