Repairing deep scratches, as seen on SaabCentral
Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2009 9:18 pm
On my drive home, last night, my SAAB was egged; four teenage boys were driving around the streets of Downtown Denver, egging cars from the back seat of a fourth generation Jetta. I was driving toward them and didn't even see them throw the egg; I only knew what happened when I heard it hit the back door. I followed them, took down their license plate number and gave it to Denver City Police. We'll see what happens there.
Two cars passing each other at 35 is like having an egg hit your car at 70 mph; with this force, its shell takes the paint all the way to the base metal.
As much as something like this annoys me, there's nothing that can be done about it other than repair it. This is how to fix such a thing (this also applies to any sort of scratch or chip in your paint).
Here is the damage (the grey is actually where the paint was completely removed):
I began by thoroughly washing the door to remove all egg, dirt, wax, etc. I cleaned out the damage with a toothpick to ensure it was clean and dried the area with a microfibre. I then filled the scratches with SAAB supplied touch-up paint. I used thin coats and built up the area until the damage was filled in.
I let the touch up paint cure and then sanded the door with 2000 grit wet-or-dry sandpaper. This smooths out the finish and highlights any low spots. I then proceded to apply more touch-up paint until the damaged area was filled. Here is the door, sanded, with the last coat of touch-up applied:
When the scratches were filled and adequately sanded, I polished the entire panel using 3M's Fine Cut rubbing compound. This removes the scratches and blends the touch-up into the surrounding paint. The results look much better than the original scratched area; the color match isn't perfect, but it works!
And the same results, in the daylight, without the highlighting flash (and a glimpse of my reflection):
The link to the original thread:
http://www.saabcentral.com/forums/showt ... p?t=105573
Two cars passing each other at 35 is like having an egg hit your car at 70 mph; with this force, its shell takes the paint all the way to the base metal.
As much as something like this annoys me, there's nothing that can be done about it other than repair it. This is how to fix such a thing (this also applies to any sort of scratch or chip in your paint).
Here is the damage (the grey is actually where the paint was completely removed):
I began by thoroughly washing the door to remove all egg, dirt, wax, etc. I cleaned out the damage with a toothpick to ensure it was clean and dried the area with a microfibre. I then filled the scratches with SAAB supplied touch-up paint. I used thin coats and built up the area until the damage was filled in.
I let the touch up paint cure and then sanded the door with 2000 grit wet-or-dry sandpaper. This smooths out the finish and highlights any low spots. I then proceded to apply more touch-up paint until the damaged area was filled. Here is the door, sanded, with the last coat of touch-up applied:
When the scratches were filled and adequately sanded, I polished the entire panel using 3M's Fine Cut rubbing compound. This removes the scratches and blends the touch-up into the surrounding paint. The results look much better than the original scratched area; the color match isn't perfect, but it works!
And the same results, in the daylight, without the highlighting flash (and a glimpse of my reflection):
The link to the original thread:
http://www.saabcentral.com/forums/showt ... p?t=105573