New LR3 w/ Minor Scratches: How to fix?

[Jarhead]

Hey all, a friend recommended me to this forum for some help. I look forward to hanging around and getting to know some of you.
I just bought a new Land Rover LR3 last month and I have become quite anal about keeping it clean and detailed.
Unfortunately, we were at a party last week and some Jerk off was leaning against my LR and it got quite a few scratches on the door. They don't appear to be deep but agianst the black finish they really stick out.
Sorry for my ingnorance, but what can I do to get them out?

Thanks for any advice!

[Mike Phillips]

Re: New LR3 w/ Minor Scratches: How to fix?

Hi Jarhead,

Welcome to Meguiar's Online!


Removing scratches means removing paint, how hard it is to remove paint depends upon,

• How hard the paint is
• The way in which you remove the paint (hand or machine)
• Your skills, technique and ability

• The easiest and safest way is with a dual action polisher
• The hardest and slowest way is by hand
• The fastest but most dangerous as well as hardest way is with a rotary buffer

We can help you with any of these options, your best bet if you are serious about removing scratches and also maintaining a nice looking black paint job is to invest in a dual action polisher, a few pads, a few chemicals and some quality microfibers.

What say you?

[Mike Phillips]

Re: New LR3 w/ Minor Scratches: How to fix?

Start with these,

What it means to remove a scratch out of anything...

How to remove a below surface defect by hand using ScratchX

How To Remove Swirls By Hand

Using the G-100 to remove swirls with the Professional Line


This will give you an idea of which way you want to go... then there's the Rotary Buffer but if you've never used one before you shouldn't learn on a black Rover


How to remove swirls and scratches out of a black Corvette

[Jarhead]

Re: New LR3 w/ Minor Scratches: How to fix?

Mike,
Thanks for the quick response. Since I am new to this, I am a little confused on your suggestions:
"The easiest and safest way is with a dual action polisher" (What is a dual action polisher and how does it work?)
"The hardest and slowest way is by hand" (I don't mind the hardest and slowest way, but again, how does this work?)

[Jeepster04]

Re: New LR3 w/ Minor Scratches: How to fix?

Mike,
Thanks for the quick response. Since I am new to this, I am a little confused on your suggestions:
"The easiest and safest way is with a dual action polisher" (What is a dual action polisher and how does it work?)
"The hardest and slowest way is by hand" (I don't mind the hardest and slowest way, but again, how does this work?)

Mike Posted links that answer both of your questions.

[Jarhead]

Re: New LR3 w/ Minor Scratches: How to fix?

BlueLibby04, thanks for the welcome to this forum BTW!

Because this is all new to me, the links didn't make a whole lot of sense so I was hoping for a little more basic explanation on what I need to get started with and what I need to do.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: New LR3 w/ Minor Scratches: How to fix?

Mike,


"The easiest and safest way is with a dual action polisher" (What is a dual action polisher and how does it work?)


"The hardest and slowest way is by hand" (I don't mind the hardest and slowest way, but again, how does this work?)

The dual action polisher is a machine made by the Porter Cable company that holds a foam buffing pad that oscillates and rotates at the same time, it has a clutch in it that with too much pressure will stop the pad from moving making it very easy and save to use to polish paint. Because you plug it into electricity, it never gets tired and does a much better job than you hand.

Working by hand will do the job but in modern clear coats are harder than traditional single stage paints and this is a good thing because now the paint on our cars will usually last a long time, the trade-off is the hardness makes it more difficult for you and I to remove small particles of paint by rubbing an applicator pad over the surface with some type of paint cleaning chemical.

If you were to read enough threads on this forum you would come to find out that most people start out working by hand and then move up to the dual action polisher, after they've used this tool once or twice they then come back to the forum and say something like

"Wow! I can't believe I didn't try this sooner"

Or something similar.

Spend some time reading the ScratchX threads in Hot Topics

[Mike Phillips]

Re: New LR3 w/ Minor Scratches: How to fix?

these ones...

Not very happy with ScratchX

ScratchX Works! - I Stand Corrected

Great ScratchX Questions Thread!


Here's an example of what one young man did the first time ever he used the dual action polisher...


Ferrari Fiorano 355 F1 Spider - Number 25 of 104 built

A quick easy way to find out what's what is to go to your local auto parts store and purchase a tube of ScratchX, next wash your Rover and then following the directions outlined in this thread, see if you can remove the scratches in your Rover's paint. If it's easy, you're in luck, if you find yourself struggling to get good results then you'll understand why people move on to machine polishing...

How to remove a below surface defect by hand using ScratchX

[Sydster]

Re: New LR3 w/ Minor Scratches: How to fix?

Welcome to MOL Jarhead!

[Jarhead]

Re: New LR3 w/ Minor Scratches: How to fix?

Thanks Mike for the "idiot translation" I am sure I will have some more stupid questions for ya.

Sydster, thanks for the welcome and I have alot to learn here so I look forward to chating with most of you. Got to love PI!!

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: New LR3 w/ Minor Scratches: How to fix?

to mol. Don't worry about it. Everone has been were you are, this is the place for learning to detail and there is always very knowlegeable people out ther to lend a hand. Good Luck.