Hi, I have a Camaro that I picked up couple of years ago. It's a SC, from the original 70 year old owner. No rust, 70K kms, (Camaro is in Canada) interior is a excellent.
The owner kept it garaged for it's life BUT someone stored stuff on the hood and it's well scratched up. Paint is original and the clear coat is still pretty good.
Any suggestions on something that might work to remove the scratches and save the paint?
If this is the wrong section to post. plse let me know. Thanks

 

Depending on how deep the scratches are you might be able to buff them out. If you can catch your fingernail on them then they're too deep, but if not then you're in good shape. There are a ton of videos on YouTube if you want to tackle it yourself, or just take it to a reputable shop and have it detailed.

If you choose to do it yourself I would recommend watching "Pan the Organizer" on YouTube

 

If they are not too deep, can feel with a fingernail, try Meguiars scratch X 2.0. If that won’t work have a pro try wet sanding or cut and buff

 

Thank You for the advice. I like the suggestion of, if it catches on a nail.
I may get it detailed if I can find a good detailer here in Ottawa.
From one "Harrison" to another, Thanks
Paul (Harrison)

 

Anytime! Honestly it's not a hard skill to learn, it just takes patience and time. I bought all of the equipment to do the work myself and enjoy seeing the finished product. I purchased a variable speed random orbit polisher from Harbor Freight and then a whole bunch of foam pads off of Amazon. Watched a ton of videos on YouTube and just took a stab at it. I'm not a pro by any means, but I like the results I have achieved.

 

The flip side is sanding or buffing through. Use foam pads if your going to buff. Wool is very aggressive. Get some 2000 trizact paper and be very careful. Lots of vids on utube as said above. It's how I learned.

 

Nice hoist, every garage should have one!!
Thanks

 

I would gladly help you if you were closer. I'm in NS and I detail for customer like you... and have a hoist lol.

Probably not a big job. HOWEVER, you need to know what you're doing because the devil is in the details, specifically light source and angle views. You could have a nice shine in the shade and once in the sun it's full of macro marring and holograms. So shop around and don't let them up sale you stuff you don't need. Stay away from detailing packages and have them explain exactly what they are going to do and what products they are going to use. Stay away from off the shelves Canadian Tire stuff unless you have reviewed it, understand what it does, how to use it and with what tool to use it.

I have seen disastrous jobs by dealerships and body shops who hire minimum wage employees. The latest one was rotary buffer holograms on a brand new metallic black 2020 Dodge Ram limited ($90K truck). The owner was very upset to say the least. He had paid $150 to get scratches removed. They removed them alright, but left their hidden signature on the truck. God knows how much clear coat the had removed! Once the sun came out, the owner had a nice surprise. Popular detailing shops are often glorified car wash offering shampoo, wax, sealer and product packages with again low wage employees. The big thing now is ceramic coating... careful about that! You need to find a specialized detailing shop that knows their stuff when it comes down to paint correction, like Apex Detail in the Youtube links below. You also need to understand limitation of paint correction.

The trick is the minimum amount of clear coat removal for the maximum finish. That means the scratches could still be visible but diminished a lot. Sometimes, paint correction is not the answer which means a trip to a body shop. Removing too much clear coat to achieve correction means the paint will be compromised.

After correcting, you could glaze the scratches (like a filler) and seal them with a synthetic sealer. If your car is garage kept and don't see the rain and excessive sun, the sealer should last a long time. Make sure you decontaminate the paint surface first and use a wax/sealant remover before attempting anything. Some products are stubborn and will interfere with the wet sanding/buffing process. You'll have to do the whole hood, top fenders/bumper to match the shine. The Meguiars scratch X 2.0 recommended in this post will hide the scratches like make-up but they will constantly come back. The worse is using that product with a cheap microfiber towel, like Simoniz. You run the risk of inducing more scratches to the clear coat using too much pressure with your fingers. I personally do not recommend it for efficient paint correction based on my experience using it.

The closest place I would recommend is eShine https://www.eshine.ca/ . Stay away from detailing chains and look for specialized shops or even one man operation.

Take your time, read, inquire, research and read again. There is some good channels on Youtube like:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqZ...htUBnebhY_ro_Q
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgE...G9_aFJbB8ameLg
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYs...TkoxI5D17s1u-w

You will eventually do it yourself and be proud or have an experienced detailer do it for you and you will be proud also. The nice thing is you will understand exactly what is being done and have reasonable expectations.

Cheers and Good luck!

 

What do you use to decontaminate the paint before buffing?
What do you use to get rid of holograms?
I used wizards compound and have a 3" and 7" rotary buffer. I use lake country foam pads. I've found using more product helps keep paint cool, works faster and reduces chance of holograms or angel hairs, but, more slinging and product to clean up.

Dan

 

Decontamination:
Prewash foam/rinse
Contact wash/rinse
Iron remover
Bug remover
clay bar
for safety, wax/sealant stripper

then paint assessment

I don’t use rotary buffer because i have not mastered it yet. I use strictly DA with different product depending on what needs to be done and customer’s needs. Process may be a little slower but i am a small operation with no overhead, so customer don’t care about turn around time.

I use compound that can be worked for longer time, minimum residue and easy to remove.

For hologram just DA with compound followed by polish. I haven’t tried AIO for holograms, so could work too

I’m constantly learning things as i go. It is not as easy as it looks like.

That’s in a nutshell

 

Hi Dan
It's too bad you're not a little closer.
I was lucky that back in 2009, well posted to Victoria BC, I was able to get the previous Camaro done by a detailer, it was a really nice job. I kept the pictures. Car looked almost new.
I'm on the fence, I don't want to mess the current paint up (as it is all original) but also doubt I can get it looking like the FB above.
I'll see what might be avail here in Ottawa, or tackle it as the advice has been pretty great as well.
Either way, Thanks!!, and stay safe.
Paul

 

specifically what products do you use to decontaminate. Also what product do you use to buff with?

Thanks. Dont mean to hijack

Dan

 

This is my personal preferences but it changes as I go depending on price, availability and stuff that I want to try. There are endless combinations, whatever works for you.

Prewash foam/rinse: Car Pro Iron X Snow Soap Triple Action
Contact wash/rinse: Car Pro Reset
Iron remover: Angelwax Revelation
Bug remover: Angelwax Revenge
Clay bar: Mother's cay bar system (cheap and available locally) / Blackfire clay bar with whatever QED I have on hand
For safety, wax/sealant stripper: Angelwax Stripped Easy

Compound: Blackfire SRC Compound, Chemical Guys V32 (makes a lot of residue), Angelwax Resurrection
Polish: Blackfire SRC polish

Pads are Lake County flat 5.5 & 4 inches with different aggression level. Mostly Yellow, orange and white. Also Buff and Shine 5.5 microfiber that I have yet to use.

And a load of Cookie Monster microfiber towels

Cheers

 

Thanks a lot for sharing!
I am a wizards guy so far. Really like their products.

Washing I use dawn soap and clean water w microfiber mit.
Chemical guys honeydew snow foam with a foam gun.
Compound,
Wizards mystic cut,
Then i use 3m #2 machine polish
3m #3 ultra fine machine polish
then back to wizards master shine sealant. Just got this product and am really liking it a lot. Very easy to use.

Both my buffers are rotary,
makita 9237c
And
Max shine m550

Really like them both. I picked up on them quickly. Tried a boat load of different pads, wool, foam, hybrids, but really like lake country, gray, orange, white and black.

I've tried sonnax, 3d one and a few others that I'm not too fond of. Was thinking of trying the angle hair product as that guy on YouTube, his name is escaping me, really likes it and he definitely knows what hes doing.

Yes! A boat load of stuff out there. That's really why I hounded ya. Thanks again for sharing!!