What products should I get to deal scratches and chips on a black 2009 nissan altima

[theblackaltima]

So, I've got a black 2009 Nissan Altima I picked up from the dealership a couple of months ago that came with a nice amount of scratches and paint chips on the passenger side of the car as well as on the hood. Clearly the paint chips are from tiny rocks and what not hitting my car so that's just great.

I just want to mention that it was waxed in March professionally and two months ago at the car automated wash. A week ago, I tried a scratch removing product (not Meguiars) and it did absolutely nothing but waste my time. Could it be the wax that's at fault? How could it even last that long?

Most of scratches, if I slide my finger over it, I can't feel it at all; it's completely smooth. I have a nice length of scuff-mark-looking-light-scratches alongside the doors except, unlike actual scuffs, I don't feel it. In fact, there are only two scratches that are slightly deep.

The hood of my car has swirl marks on the trunk as well as smudge-like scratches that aren't white compared to the other scratches, but dark grey.

I managed to take two pictures but they look terrible due to the lighting. My reflection is also shown, so there's nothing I can do about it.

On trunk:


The scratch that I can actually feel:


Yeah, the lighting is so bad you wouldn't even be able to tell the car was black.

But anyway, I just wanted to know what products you would recommend and in what order should I use them. If you can tell me how I can fill in the tiny paint chips no bigger than 1/16", that would be good too.

[ffboy]

Re: What products should I get to deal scratches and chips on a black 2009 nissan alt

If you plan to do the entire car (I suggest that, it will be tiring but worth it), Ultimate Compound. For smaller areas or if you plan only to remove scratches on small areas, scratch 2.0, however I feel it will be less costly of you just use UC for the small scratches too. You can follow it all up with Ultimate Polish, not only will it refine the initial correction done with UC, but you will see that the real color of your Altima is a nice, deep, rich black.

As for the wax, if you choose looks, Gold Class Carnauba plus is the way to go. For durability, Ultimate Wax is the ticket.

[tiSS'er]

Re: What products should I get to deal scratches and chips on a black 2009 nissan alt

Ultimate compound is amazing, it works very well and finishes down great. You can pick it up at any auto parts store or Walmart for less than $10. If you are planning on doing the whole car, a dual action (DA) polisher is highly recommended. It will make the job much easier, and it will work much better providing much better results.

Most of the scratches you show above will come out with a good polishing, one of them look very deep and polishing likely won't take care of it. I have not tried Dr Color Chip yet, but it should work very well for you to cover up the deep scratches.

Welcome to the world of black cars One thing I will warn you about, you need to buy high quality MF towels to take care of your car after you spend all that time to correct the paint. If you use the cheap ones at Costco for example, you will most likely get marring and though the damage will not be as bad as you have posted, it will drive you nuts. Good luck!

[Jarhead0754]

I agree with tiss about a da. Really it will give u the best results alot faster. Otherwise ur probably gonna b banging ur head in frustration cuz the amount of work it will b by hand. I would just recommend going with the meguiars da and 2.0 soft buff pads. As well with UC, UP, and ULW.
If u still have trouble spots then u can upgrade to microfiber pads which are awesome from what I hear.
Also he's right about the mf towels. Again I say stick with meguiars supreme shine towels.really if u want the least amount of work with the best results then stick with quality products. . U got great info to get you started here, so if ur still unclear gives us a shout.

[tiSS'er]

Re: What products should I get to deal scratches and chips on a black 2009 nissan alt

It should be notes that Nissan's are known to have very thin paint. When I was at the paint shop the other day, one of the gents worked in the Nissan paint department form 11 years and told me that is why you see so many Nissan's with clear coat failure.

Why does this matter? You need to be careful that you don't remove too much paint. Now, the above statement is a generalization and may not apply to your car, but I do see more Nissan and Infinity's with clear coat failure here in Phoenix than any other car.

Always try the least aggressive option and then work up. I have also found with my black car that you have to pick your battles. Some scratches are just too deep to risk removing a bunch of paint. I would start with a polishing pad and Ultimate Polish on a DA and see where that gets you. You might be surprised, not only at the correction, but the SHINE!

If you choose to work by hand, be careful to use even pressure across your whole hand. Most people, me included, tend to put more pressure on your 3 middle fingers. This can cause more damage to your paint.
You can buy blocks which attach to the applicator pad which allows you to apply even pressure, and it will save you a bunch of hand fatigue. The beauty of the DA is that it keeps pressure even over the entire pad. $150 may sound like a big investment now, but it is totally worth it. Besides, if you are like everyone else here, you will soon be addicted and looking for any cars you can to correct the paint

Ultimate Compound and Ultimate Polish are very user friendly, and with a DA almost completely fool proof. On a black vehicle, I really like Ultimate Paste Wax. Just be careful as it can stain your black trim if you don't immediately wipe it off. But the looks of it after UP is incredible, and it has excellent longevity while darkening your paint and offering a nice hard candy shell look.

Here is the handle option

http://www.amazon.com/Astro-Pneumatic-4578-Interchangeable-Polypropylene/dp/B009NC9188/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1402101182&sr=8-3&keywords=meguiars+applicator+handle

But this is what you really need.

http://www.amazon.com/Meguiars-G110V2-Professional-Action-Polisher/dp/B002XOXSI2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1402101243&sr=8-1&keywords=meguiars+g110v2

[ffboy]

Re: What products should I get to deal scratches and chips on a black 2009 nissan alt

You can also try

U.C.
Black wax-a polishing oil rich cleaner wax
Ultimate Paste Wax

[Michael Stoops]

Re: What products should I get to deal scratches and chips on a black 2009 nissan alt

Lots of good suggestions from the community already - as usual!

Your pictures are probably better indicators of the current state of this paint than you give them credit for. The fine scratches are very common for a car that has seen several trips through an automatic car wash that isn't kept to a very high standard. The one deep scratch you show looks like something you could easily feel with a fingernail, so it's no shock that you can. Obviously, that's not a great sign - odds are you won't be able to fully remove it but you should be able to minimze the appearance of it.

Now, working on black paint by hand, especially if that paint turns out to be rather touch sensitive, can be a real pain in the, well..... A DA buffer could very well be your new best friend here, but if you'd rather not spend the money needed to get a good one, you might want to look into our DAPowerSystem. The DAPS is a drill attachment that uses the same foam pad material found in our larger pads, but in a 4" diameter. You would use the same products recommended in the previous posts here - Ultimate Compound and Ultimate Polish plus your favorite wax. As has been mentioned already, it's extremely easy to get pressure points on a pad with your fingertips, and that translates into a cheetah spot effect on the paint that is not pretty at all. It can be done, but it really helps to use a pad holder of some sort rather than just going at with your bare hands. Pressure points, and cheetah spots, are a thing of the past when working this way. Unfortunately, a sore arm, shoulder and back are not! There is a reason power tools were invented, and paint polishing is one of them.

Now, having said all that, when looking at the images you supplied, the paint actualy looks quite glossy behind all those fine scratches, and that tells us that this car's finish can be brought back to a very high level if done correctly.

[The Guz]

Re: What products should I get to deal scratches and chips on a black 2009 nissan alt

If you are going to do this by hand then ultimate compound and ultimate polish would be fine.

I would also recommend you pick one of these up if you can find it in stock

http://www.autodetailingsolutions.net/s3hp.html

If you go with a DA I'm going to throw M205 into the mix. It's very versatile.