I had posted a picture of my scratches a few weeks ago made by a reckless hose covered with dirt.... see piicture.

i dont know why it wont let me attach 2 pictures...any help? will post after pic in reply

 

ok, i found all my detailing supplies and got rid of 99% of it.

wet sanded to start. applied all 3M products. 3M rubbing compound with wool pad, 3M glaze with foam pad, then some generic carnuba wax...mother's i think.

i dont think you can see the one small scratch left, it was the bright white one on the bottom right of the previous scratches. you cant notice from more than a foot away. very happy with results. got my first scratch out of the way!! hopefully no more for a while, and fortunately, i only have myself to blame for this one

 

Looks pretty good... Any reason why you can't notice the glitter on the second pic??

 

didnt have the sun shining on the second picture, and its not quite as close up. i'll try to get another picture in the sun so that you can see the tiny scratch that remains

 

looks good !

how much time does it take to get the results?

 

I washed and dried the area to get off heavy dirt: ~3 minutes
wet sanded the deeper areas: ~5 minutes
rinsed and applied rubbing compound with wool pad: ~2 minutes
removed excess and applied glaze with foam pad: ~2 minutes
waxed buffed area: ~1 minute
washed whole car, then waxed whole car: ~2 hours
total time: ~2:12 minutes
a clean, scratch-free car: PRICELESS!

not quite scratch free, but good enough to ease my broken heart

 

Not feeling like an idiot no more now right? If feels better too when done by yourself and achieve good results

 

nice job...

 

did you use touch-up paint at all?

 

no. one, because i didnt have any and wanted to get the big scratches out of the way, and two...only the scratch on the far right was through the clear coat. i coudl just barely catch it with my fingernail. now it looks like a gray hair stuck on the paint if you're looking from any less than a foot away. i've tried to get a picture of it with my camera phone, but i wont pick it up.

i somehow have 2 little rock chips on my trunk lid that i'm going to use touch up paint for...no rush though. I'll post before and after pics. I've had great luck with chips in the past.

i remember i once spent like 8 hours detailing a customer's car, 4 hours of that on his hood that had about 50 sizeable chips in it...probably would have cost him less to have it painted than what i charged him but he was happy, so i was happy.

 

what methodology do you use to remove that many chips or just chips in general?

 

there are a few steps...each chip is done individually.

first, you get rid of any rust within the chip. i have a little fiberglass ember brush that sands it.

then you rinse it clean and let it dry. apply a thin coat of touch up paint, let it dry until tacky, then recoat, and make sure touch up paint is raised above existing car paint. let it dry until 100% dry. usually an hour or two depending on weather and humidity.

i have a small sanding pen of 500 grit i believe...might be 800. take off the high spots of the touch up paint and make it flush with existing paint. once level, wet sand with 2000 grit...buff with rubbing compound, then buff with glaze, then wax. if done correctly, you will only notice if you really try to notice.

with big jobs like the one above, i will sand all spots, then fill all spots, then sand all spots, then wet sand entire area so that it blends in...in that case, i wet sanded pretty much the whole hood. then buff the whole car.

I regret not taking before and after pictures of all my detailing work, but i knew it wouldnt be a career, so i didnt make a portfolio :-p

 

do you do all this by hand (buffing and all)? Thanks for the info.

 

everything is by hand except for the buffing. i use a variable speed Dewalt buffer. i buff at about 1200-1300 rpm for both glaze and compound. then wax by hand.

 

Great Rebound

SMG is a great looking color.....the small blue/green metallic flakes are awsome