Hey guys, I got my car back from paint about a month ago and the guy at the shop gave me a bottle of 3M perfect-it rubbing compound that I can use to repair any light scratches myself. I tried fixing a scratch on the corner of my hood, and it is gone, but now the clear coat in that area is a little cloudy and dull compared to the paint around it. I tried the rubbing the hell out of it today with a soft rag thinking that I didn't rub off enough compound before but it's still cloudy. Helped a little but still doesn't look terrific. More rubbing compound didn't help either. It's driving me crazy, what do I do now? Thanks!

 

If I remember correctly there are like 3 different grits to the 3M rubbing compound. Autozone or Pepboys have all 3 so it could be you have the more agressive one. Check them out and if so you can get the final rubbing one and that might take out the haze you have.

Another thought would be a scratch remover kit for paint - they usually include a very fine polishing compound to even out the clear after removing a scratch. I used it on my blue metallic on my SUV and took all the haze away after removing the scratch.

Be gentle though since you just got the car painted and do it out of the sun.

 

Could very well just be a spot that they missed when buffing -- I had to take my 02 back for several of these spots after the dealer painted a couple weeks ago. They buffed right out and the car looks great now. I'd take it back to where you had it painted and have them take a look to see if they missed it when buffing.

 

No it became cloudy after I started playing with it, it was perfectly shiny before I tried fixing the scratch myself. I think Knight123 knows what he's talking about, I'll try to find the finest grit rubbing compound and see how that works. I didn't know that there were different levels of rubbing compound.

But the shop did tell me to come back after I finished reassembling the car to fix any scratches that might have occurred, I just felt like fixing this one myself to see what happens lol.

 

Now you know what happens. I'm waiting to see pics when it's finished.

 

I have some pictures of it shortly after paint ...






I think I took these pictures before the scratch even happened, but the cloudy spot is on the front of the hood by the driver's side headlight (pretty much in the sun's reflection in the 2nd picture). I'll try to get a picture of the spot if I can get my hands on a camera (mine broke and I'm not even gonna bother with the crappy cell phone camera).

 

any update? Where you able to find the finer grit and get it worked out?

 

Not yet, I've been so busy I just didn't get a chance to. I actually put about 230 miles on my TA during the past few days!

 

did you put wax over the spot???
defintly wanna do that. maybe try a color restorer product to. good luck and from the pics she's lookin good!

 

I did use some heavy-duty insulator wax. I actually got it from the body shop guy too so I'm guessing its the good stuff. It seemed to do a good job of waxing the rest of the car and it helped the cloudy spot a little but not quite.

 

hmmm... maybe pic up some meguiars color x and try that then. i cant really think what would help it, did you call the shop?

 

No I didn't unfortunately for said reason. Although hopefully I can do that next week while I still have my other car before I sell it.

 

what exactly is the the name of the product he gave u? theres rubbing compound, foam polish and hand glaze

 

Sounds like a coarse rubbing compound. Rub over it again with finer compound, as mentioned before, and afterwards rub it with some swirl remover, which is essentially even finer compound. Make sure you're using a very soft clean rag too. Especially if it was fresh paint, the paint is still soft, and after working in a bodyshop since I was 15, I know that even the softness of a rag can make all the difference.

 

YUP, thats why i was wondering what exactly did the guy gave him

 

The compound they gave you is regular rubbing compound for removing slight scratches. It's job is to work the area like a sand paper. You need to use a polishing compound now to polish it up to a shine. If you don't have a buffer, you can do it by hand, it's just more difficult and may require multiple passes.