NICE LONG Scratch - Any easy fixes

My 10-yr-old daughter is for sale. She put about a 3-4" scratch from L to R over the back drivers-side wheelwell of the 09 GT CX9. If you lightly rub your fingernail from top to bottom perpendicular to scratch, your f-nail will lodge in the scratch. In essence, this is not a "buff it out".

Besides dropping a bunch at the dealer, does anyone have a reasonable fix?

Thank you inadvance for your help.

Feeling sick,
tstex

BEAT her from R to L.... by accident !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is it in the paint, or just the clear coat?

I think it is below the clearcoat. The color of the car is Silver and the color of the cut is kind of darker gray...does this make sense?

My wife closed the electric gate while she was backing out of the drivewayand hit the rear door. That event prompted me to buy a randon orbital polisher and I was able to dramatically reduce the damage (scrape but not through the paint). It did take about an hour of work on one small area to make is less visible (you can't see it unless you know it is there). This won't work for you as it sounds like you scratched through the paint to the primer coat.

I have not tried this but I'm going to use it on my other car (black) but look up Dr. Colorchip on the internet. It says it is not as effective for scratches as for chips but it may be an option. Darker colors are easier to repair (hide) imperfections.

I've seen some good results with scratch repairs using touchup paint on TV car shows but I've always been afraid to color wet sand on clear coat and have never done myself.

Good luck. I bet the scratch came from the handlebars on her bike, I have 2 boys and my SUV has marks down both sides from their bikes.

tstex said:

I think it is below the clearcoat. The color of the car is Silver and the color of the cut is kind of darker gray...does this make sense?

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Yes. It would be a whitish scratch if it was just in the clearcoat.

Get a touch up bottle from Mazda, and a can of clearcoat lacquer from a parts store.

With a sharp toothpick, or other similarly shaped object (do not use the brush or 'pen') lay several layers of paint into the scratch until it's a slight ridge, waiting about 15 minutes between layers. Let it dry overnight.

Gently sand the ridge down flush to the rest of the surface with a very fine sand paper (a fine sanding sponge works well to make them even) Be careful to only sand the new paint, and blend the edge into the surface.

Clean and dry the area well with a lint free cloth.

Mask anything within 12" of the scratch , preferably on a seam or transition.

Spray several thin layers of the lacquer, again 15 minutes apart, keeping it as localized to the scratch as possible. Use a back and forth motion, stopping and starting with each stroke. Practice on a piece of cardboard first if you haven't used spray paint before to get the feel of focusing it on the scratch without causing runs.

Let dry for 4 days. Then use a liquid polishing/rubbing compound to polish the repair. Make sure its for polishing new clear coat, not for restoring dull paint.

Done.


You could skip the clear coat and polish the paint repair itself, but it will look and last better with the lacquer.

Check out this series of videos on the subject:
http://www.monkeysee.com/play/6576-how-to-polish-a-scratch-out-of-a-car

If your finger nail is catching this may not help you but I was able to make several heavier scratches look a whole lot better with the process he uses on the light scratches. I don't have a machine buffer so I used a random orbit buffer.


As for Dr Colorchip. I have used this on 2 cars and it works pretty well on paint chips. It didn't work well for me on a scratch I tried it on. The great part about it though is if it doesn't work you can easily remove the applied paint as long as you don't wait too long.

Great tip.... Good video.

Guys,

I really appreciated your responses and feedback - great info - i might try to tackle this one with a bit more research - however, last thing I want to do is create more h-aches than I have now.

Regards,
tstex

The worst thing that will happen with rubbing compound and a orbital buffer is some hazing. If you follow it with polishing compound and then wax/polish you will be fine.

Rock on!!

Don't feel bad about the scratches....when we bought our CX-9 and had it for about 1 week I was washing it and my daughter was watching me(she was 2). I was on one side of the car and she went to the other and decided to help me wash the car. Well she was not using a sponge she used a rock and you can only imagine after about 5 mins what the side of the car looked like...wow. My stomach dropped on the ground along with my Took it to a friend and he buffed it almost completely gone. Still can tell on some areas.

blkcx9 said:

Don't feel bad about the scratches....when we bought our CX-9 and had it for about 1 week I was washing it and my daughter was watching me(she was 2). I was on one side of the car and she went to the other and decided to help me wash the car. Well she was not using a sponge she used a rock and you can only imagine after about 5 mins what the side of the car looked like...wow. My stomach dropped on the ground along with my Took it to a friend and he buffed it almost completely gone. Still can tell on some areas.

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blkcx9,

Sorry to hear that too. It is harder to sell your girls when they are only two, but I heard the sale gets easier the older they get. I am pretty-much over the initial shock of the first damage to the new car, but it really sucked that it was "family induced". Two-Yr old daughter, tough to beat a better age and what can you do when that happens?

Regards,
tstex