DIY scratch removal
 

Once it's not 10 oclock and dark out i might do some pictures and a better walkthrough because i think it would make a sweet diy but here's what i have so far

This asshole that used to work with my dad got pissed at him and keyed his new ram from like, the fender all the way through both doors, so it's clearly through the basecoat and all the way to the metal. I used to work at a collision shop so i had them make me a touchup bottle. Sorry i didn't take a before picture, i wasn't thinking about this until the day after and i'd put the paint on already.

The brushes on them are so big that there's no way you can only get the brush in the scratch, so just apply it big anyway, and make sure it gets in all the way and covers all the bare metal that was shown by the scratch. Once the paint dries like that it looks like ****. This is the paint once it dries notice how wide it is.
Attachment 36170

After the paint's dried you take 2,000 grit sandpaper and wetsand all the excess paint off that was left by the paintbrush. This isn't a hard process and it's not like you can even get your sandpaper in the crevice to sand off the touchup paint that's in there. Just make sure there's water on there a lot, My steps went like this for sanding: spray it down, do long fast strokes to get most of it off, wipe the excess with a damp rag then sand the rest of the small spots. do this maybe like 8 inches at a time and just keep at it it doesn't take that long and doesn't take much sandpaper at all. The left part here is stuff that i've already sanded and the part on the right is untouched.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...scratch006.jpg

So once you've sanded it all off the paint looks kind of cloudy, like this.
Attachment 36171

At this point use a light cut polish, i'm using Meguiar's number two i believe. Just polish wherever it's cloudy that you just sanded and there you go, you're scratch is filled in with paint and is just as glossy as the rest of the paint and you end up with this.
Attachment 36172

you can slightly see where the scratch was, it's by like my ring finger knuckle. I'm not sure whether you'll be able to polish this by hand and get these results, because i was using a rotary buffer. The downfall by hand is that you simply can't build up as much heat. I'll try it by hand tomorrow to let you guys know if it works or not because i still have a few spots on the bed but i'm not saying that this is perfect, because nothing can get a scratch out perfectly except respraying it, but since that takes experience and skill, this is a great alternative to turn a big scratch that's noticeable from 20 feet away to something that you only notice when you're looking for it.

idk how you go about getting things posted in the diy but i think this is pretty worthy.

RE: getting out scratches when they're real deep
 

Thanks for the excellent tip!

RE: getting out scratches when they're real deep
 

holy crap. I gotta do that. does that work on plastic as well, I got a couple good ones on my rear bumper from some dome mofo that scraped me with a shovel while he was walking by.

RE: getting out scratches when they're real deep
 

where ever there is paint, it will work!

RE: getting out scratches when they're real deep
 

spanktacular. will be on that like flies on stink right when I get back from school.

RE: getting out scratches when they're real deep
 

if you're not very familiar with paint and prep work, i'd prolly leave it to the pros, you can really mess up the finish if you're not sure what you're doing.

just a warning

RE: getting out scratches when they're real deep
 

Right on. I'll make sure my dude is with me. He's sick with that kind of stuff but dosen't have much time to dick off with scratches on old civics.

RE: getting out scratches when they're real deep
 

as long as you have hgh enough grit sandpaper i wouldn't worry too much about it

i mean granted i did it on my dads 2006 ram so the paint hasn't been taken down at all from polishing or anything

but if you have 2,000 grit sandpaper
it's pretty hard to mess up... just wetsand it really light in the area where you put the paint on, the only goal of the sandpaper is to get the excess paint off that you brushed on. once thats done, just polish it and you're golden... i'll have pics up this weekend and see if i can turn it into a diy with nice before and after pictures

RE: getting out scratches when they're real deep
 

i submitted to patrick for a diy... but it turned out pretty well

RE: DIY scratch removal
 

When I would fill in chipped paint, I always followed the painting and drying step with some clearcoat. I believe this layer protects the base paint from ultraviolet ray damage. What do you think about adding a thin layer after you are done with your scratch repair method?