How To Repair Deep Car Scratches Without Repainting — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00This Volvo had been keyed and damaged on
2. 0:02both sides, and unfortunately, these
3. 0:05scratches are just too deep to polish
4. 0:07out. Now, you could repaint the affected
5. 0:09panels, but before going to all that
6. 0:11trouble and expense, I'm going to try
7. 0:12something considerably cheaper. And this
8. 0:15is something that you guys can
9. 0:16definitely try at home.
10. 0:19As with all my videos, this is something
11. 0:21that I want the DIYers to try, and
12. 0:23hopefully, you can save some time and
13. 0:25money.
14. 0:26All the tools, materials, and
15. 0:28accessories that I may use in the video
16. 0:30are all readily available and accessible
17. 0:32to the public.
18. 0:34By the time you've watched this short
19. 0:35video, I'm hoping that you're way more
20. 0:37knowledgeable in how to repair something
21. 0:39very similar to this damage.
22. 0:44So, the first thing that we're going to
23. 0:46need for this repair is we're going to
24. 0:47need some solvent-based paint. We're
25. 0:49going to need perhaps a little cup, and
26. 0:51we're going to need some 1K clear coat.
27. 0:54The color coat paint needs to be matched
28. 0:55to the car, or at least closely matched
29. 0:57to the car.
30. 0:58So, it needs to be matched to the
31. 1:00vehicle via the code of the car, or at
32. 1:02least needs to be something similar. So,
33. 1:04this is like a mid-blue metallic paint.
34. 1:07Then, we're going to add some 1K clear
35. 1:09coat, which you can add via a bottle
36. 1:11like this, or a little touch-up pen that
37. 1:13it sometimes come in. I personally just
38. 1:15added about 20%
39. 1:17to the paint.
40. 1:19And then, something to apply the paint
41. 1:21with, just some cheap kind of brush,
42. 1:23nothing too fancy or expensive.
43. 1:29Back outside, I'm looking at the
44. 1:31vehicle, and I'm looking at all the
45. 1:32areas of damage. I'm making a little bit
46. 1:34of a plan in my head. I'm just noting
47. 1:36down mentally where all the damage is,
48. 1:39so that I'm not going to miss any areas.
49. 1:42Both the front doors and the rear
50. 1:44quarters on this vehicle had both
51. 1:46sustained similar kind of damage,
52. 1:48similar depth scratches on both sides of
53. 1:51the vehicle.
54. 1:53After multiple thorough inspections of
55. 1:55the panels, I decided that all the
56. 1:58panels had some areas of scratches that
57. 2:00were too deep to polish out and even too
58. 2:02deep to sand and polish out.
59. 2:04So, what we're doing is we're taking
60. 2:06this thick brush, we're dipping it in
61. 2:08the paint mixture that we've made of
62. 2:10clear coat and base coat.
63. 2:12We're kind of layering it into the
64. 2:14scratches in a bit of a slapdash happy
65. 2:16fashion. We're not being too precise.
66. 2:18That's not really what this method is.
67. 2:22So, we're looking to get a decent build,
68. 2:24a good layer of paint within the damage.
69. 2:27However, we're not going crazy with it
70. 2:29though cuz we've probably got to level
71. 2:31all this out at some stage in the
72. 2:33process.
73. 2:35But, one thing I do like about this
74. 2:36method, because we're kind of spreading
75. 2:39the paint and we're not being too
76. 2:40finicky with it, it does seem to lay the
77. 2:42metallics down quite nice.
78. 2:45Also, amongst the damage there'll be
79. 2:47mixture of scratches that have gone
80. 2:49through the clear coat and maybe some
81. 2:51scratches that are more paint transfer
82. 2:53and sat on top of the clear coat. It
83. 2:54doesn't matter that those are mixed at
84. 2:56this point.
85. 2:59After we've applied the paint, we're
86. 3:01going to be looking to take on the next
87. 3:03stage of the process.
88. 3:05I've just simply put some water in a
89. 3:07bottle, a very very small amount of car
90. 3:10wash soap. I've wrapped a a tiny piece
91. 3:13of 1,500 wet and dry paper around a
92. 3:16little solid rubber block.
93. 3:19Using plenty of water for lubrication,
94. 3:22we're just trying to level out those
95. 3:24areas that we've applied the paint to.
96. 3:28Work evenly and methodically along the
97. 3:30damaged area.
98. 3:32One really important aspect of doing any
99. 3:34kind of wet sanding work to any kind of
100. 3:37paint finish is make sure that you
101. 3:39regularly inspect your work as you're
102. 3:41going along.
103. 3:43Once the area is dried, you can see
104. 3:46where I've sanded it and you could also
105. 3:47see that we've still got a little bit
106. 3:49more leveling to do.
107. 3:51Reapply some lubrication and continue to
108. 3:55wet sand the area.
109. 3:57You don't have to have removed every
110. 4:00single bit of the paint that you've
111. 4:01applied at this stage because there are
112. 4:03further sanding stages after this one.
113. 4:07One thing that I do have to mention and
114. 4:08you really do have to bear in mind, I
115. 4:11think sometimes people forget what you
116. 4:13are actually doing is you are sanding
117. 4:15down the car's top coat, the lacquer
118. 4:18coat, the clear coat. You are sanding it
119. 4:21down when you are leveling the paint.
120. 4:24So, that means we've not got an infinite
121. 4:26amount of material to work with.
122. 4:30Once the initial leveling has been done
123. 4:32with the tiny block, we're moving on to
124. 4:34a slightly bigger block and we're also
125. 4:36moving on to 2,000 wet and dry paper.
126. 4:40So, just to reiterate the first process,
127. 4:42we used 1,500 on a small block and then
128. 4:45we've moved up blocks to a slightly
129. 4:47bigger block and now we're using 2,000
130. 4:50wet and dry paper and some lubricated
131. 4:52water.
132. 4:54I need to mention at this point that we
133. 4:56need to be leaving the paint to dry
134. 4:58thoroughly before we start sanding on it
135. 5:00and working on it.
136. 5:02On a warm hot day, maybe a couple of
137. 5:04hours. On a colder day, colder
138. 5:06temperatures, then I recommend leaving
139. 5:09it 24 hours ideally and then you know
140. 5:11that it's thoroughly dry.
141. 5:13If you've got something to force dry it
142. 5:15with, a heat gun or a heat lamp,
143. 5:17infrared lamp, anything like that, by
144. 5:19all means, you can speed up the process.
145. 5:22So, in the background, I'm just going
146. 5:24over all the areas with 2,000 grit and
147. 5:26then I've switched over to a 3,000 grit
148. 5:28and I'm just going over all the areas
149. 5:30again. As you can see, I'm making the
150. 5:32area larger each time.
151. 5:35So, the next stage of the process is we
152. 5:38need to bring the shine and clarity and
153. 5:41finish back into the paintwork.
154. 5:44That can be done with a suitable
155. 5:45polishing machine such as a DA orbital
156. 5:48or a rotary polisher.
157. 5:50We will also need some cutting compound
158. 5:53or cutting paste. And we will also need
159. 5:56a cutting pad to attach to whatever
160. 5:59machine that you're going to use.
161. 6:01Apply some polish to the pad, dab it
162. 6:03onto the panel, and then at a low speed
163. 6:06setting, we're looking for the first
164. 6:08couple of passes just to spread the
165. 6:10cutting compound around the area.
166. 6:13I'm using the Pro Excel Pro Cut with the
167. 6:16dedicated cutting pad.
168. 6:18I'm just using a budget rotary polisher.
169. 6:21It's nothing expensive or fancy.
170. 6:24I've done a couple of passes. I've
171. 6:25spread the polish around, and now I'm
172. 6:28cranking up the speed a little bit more.
173. 6:29Nothing ridiculous. Just keep it nice
174. 6:31and comfortable, nice and controlled.
175. 6:34Go around the area a few times, do a few
176. 6:37passes, and then wipe off the excess and
177. 6:40inspect your progress.
178. 6:43To remove the sanding scratches or the
179. 6:45damage that you're trying to polish
180. 6:46away, it may take more than one attempt
181. 6:49at the same area. So, just take your
182. 6:51time and be patient.
183. 6:53I get asked all the time, is this stage
184. 6:55permanent? Will the scratch marks come
185. 6:58back after you've washed the car?
186. 7:00The answer to that is simply yes, it is
187. 7:02permanent. No, the scratches shouldn't
188. 7:04come back if you've done it correctly.
189. 7:06One of the reasons the scratches do come
190. 7:08back is people aren't working in the
191. 7:11compounds and the polishes enough. So,
192. 7:13that can leave the polishing oils and
193. 7:15the polishing silicones on the paint,
194. 7:17and when they wash the car, it washes
195. 7:19those off, and it reveals actually the
196. 7:21sanding marks again. Obviously, that
197. 7:23shouldn't be happening if you're working
198. 7:25in the polishes correctly.
199. 7:28Once we've cut all those areas back with
200. 7:30the cutting paste and the cutting
201. 7:31compound, we've had a good look around,
202. 7:33we've removed all the sanding marks,
203. 7:35it's time to move on to the next stage
204. 7:37of the finishing process, which is also
205. 7:40the last stage of this process.
206. 7:43In the video, you can see me dabbing on
207. 7:45some finishing compound. This is also
208. 7:48the finishing compound from Product
209. 7:49Xcel. I'm also using a finishing pad.
210. 7:53This time I'm using the Paint Gear
211. 7:54finishing pad, the black one, which is 5
212. 7:57in,
213. 7:57which fits nicely onto most universal
214. 8:00backing plates.
215. 8:01So, it's a softer pad using with a
216. 8:04compound with less cut in it. So, it's a
217. 8:06finishing polish finishing compound. And
218. 8:09this is a nice combination just to get
219. 8:11that maximum clarity, swirl-free,
220. 8:16beautiful finish that we're aiming for.
221. 8:18While I was at it, I made sure that I
222. 8:20polished up the rest of the side of the
223. 8:22car on both sides just to match
224. 8:25everything up, so it looked nice and
225. 8:26uniform. The whole car would eventually
226. 8:29be getting a full machine polish, but
227. 8:30just for this job, I made sure that both
228. 8:32sides were all nicely polished up with a
229. 8:35cutting paste and also the finishing
230. 8:37polish.
231. 8:38By this stage of the process, you need
232. 8:40to be probably accepting that the repair
233. 8:43you've done is as good as it's going to
234. 8:45look.
235. 8:46It's not advisable, really, to keep
236. 8:48doing this over and over again. It's a
237. 8:49bit of a one-hit thing.
238. 8:51We've obviously sanded the paintwork,
239. 8:53heavily polished the paintwork, so we've
240. 8:55not got infinite clear coat to play
241. 8:57with.
242. 8:58Anytime I do anything like this, it's
243. 9:00always a last resort to try and save the
244. 9:02panel and save the car from painting.
245. 9:05So, let's remind ourselves what we
246. 9:07started with. We had some scratches and
247. 9:09damage to this door and the rear
248. 9:11quarter.
249. 9:13We've worked on those areas and made a
250. 9:15massive improvement.
251. 9:17Also, the overall condition of the whole
252. 9:19side has been vastly improved.
253. 9:23Then, on the driver's side, we had quite
254. 9:26a nasty key scratch all the way down
255. 9:28both panels of the door and rear
256. 9:29quarter.
257. 9:31The client thought that he was going to
258. 9:33have to have the side resprayed, but I
259. 9:35said, "Let me try this." And he was
260. 9:37absolutely over the moon with the
261. 9:39results.
262. 9:40And to just finish the car off nicely, I
263. 9:43did exactly the same process of cutting
264. 9:45and polishing. I did the rest of the car
265. 9:48and it looked absolutely stunning. I
266. 9:50also added a bit of wax to it. As you
267. 9:51can see, it looks stunning as the sun is
268. 9:53setting.
269. 9:54>> [snorts]
270. 9:55>> Hope you like that short video, guys. If
271. 9:57you like the channel and you like this
272. 9:58content, like, subscribe, leave me a
273. 10:01comment. It really helps the channel.
274. 10:03I'll see you in the next one.