campbell wrote:I don't post in "Car Care" often. Odd, that, given it's all I'm even remotely qualified to do to my car!
Anyway, we had some serious scratches down the pax side of the family barge from our exploits on the narrow lanes of Cornwall this summer.
Really thought a machine burnish was going to be required.
But first I dug out my Meguiars fancy scratch removal stuff. Last used to try to mediate the mess some dope made when they reversed their Fiat van over the top of my front clam. Worked not bad on the Elise's silver paintwork. Ish. Not today though, just made a streaky mess on the Skoda's Race Blue paintwork.
So then I dug out the Mer. Yes, good old Mer. Shlapped some on with an applicator, more to take away the Meguiar streaks than to treat the scratches really, and - whaddayaknow - they are GONE. Literally. There is one deeper one on the front wing which can still be picked out...if you look hard...but otherwise it's a transformation. I tackled some others elsewhere on the car (in fact I did the whole thing - I'm exhausted, Mer is hard work) and I'm glad I did. Finished just before the rain started too!
And there you have it. My 2p for tonight.
Sorry, no before and after pics though
Campbell
(shiny faction)
Mer is a mixed of non-diminishing abrasives (a la T-Cut but to a lesser extent) and filling and glazing oils. It will cut into and remove paint and hence 'remove' scratches.
(All polishes do this; they don't so much remove scratches as remove the surrounding paint to leave a more level surface).
Skoda paint isn't massively hard so doesn't need a hugely aggressive polish but it's interesting you found the Meguiar's worked on the Elise. All factory painted Loti I've worked on have had quite hard paint and need quite aggressive machine polishing to remove defects. (Fiats have some of the softest paints by the way).
What you might find is a bit of drop back further down the line; essentially the filling and glazing oils, which will sit in the defect (imagine the scratch as a valley, the oils fill that valley giving the impression of a level surface) will wash out over time so you might find the marks reappear to an extent.
You might also find that the Mer will leave a wee bit of hazing behind; the abrasives don't break down as you work them so you may see, in direct sunlight, a slight crazing/starring effect - if you do, the way to overcome it is to use a finer grade of polish or one which breaks down as you work it, leaving a sharper finish.
However, it could be that you've managed to remove the marks, or reduce their appearance to such an extent that they aren't really visible.
The one thing to definitely do is apply a sealant or wax now; that'll help 'lock in' the glazing oils, help protect the paint and also make future cleaning much easier by giving a nice slick surface.
). I get Katie to blindfold me before I go to the garage and I only remove blindfold once in the car 
Good technique. I might need to start using the back door to my garage soon, so I don't see all the stone chips on the front of the car when I open the front door.