bozer

Why is it all of the scratches on my car (which I treat perfectly) are white? Why not have whatever is under the black paint also be black? Can someone explain this to me? I would think if you made whatever is under the black, also black, you'd never be able to tell? Scratches KILL ME

valgs350

iTrader: (1)

This is why I got silver!!!

My black Lexus LX470 has alot of those white scratches.

2thfixr

Wow, you must have done deeeeeeep scratches to be showing white.

Modeler

Amen! I love how cars look in dark colors when they are new and clean, but I can't stand looking at the scratches, dings, bugs, tar and dirt, on a day-to-day basis. That's why I'm back to buying silver cars again...

bozer

They arent deep scratches at all. They're really really small little scratches but no matter what size or how deep they always show white. I dont understand why

rozGS430

i agree with bozer. i have a 07 430 and it is black. i am meticulous with my cars and already have two minor chips/scratches in the hood and with only 8k on the car. they are minor but they are bright white. got one on the way back from pittsburgh...i heard it hit. it's because of the trucks...i can hear stuff hitting the front of the car and the windscreen...sounds like i am driving through a sandstorm. i feel like the nicer the car i have the quicker it gets dented, scratched, etc. i had an 03 330ci in steel gray metallic for 4 years and you couldn't see any scratches, etc in that car.

flipside909

Can you take pics for us to see?

tjp74

If you are talking about light scratch being white, then it's the way light reflects off the scratch and stands out on dark colors expecially the black color. Put wax or better yet put water on top of the scratch. If you see the white scratch disapear then there you go. Have it buffed out by pro.

It's like ocean wave apears pure white when wave breaks. As you know ocean water is blue not white.

But if scratch doesn't disapear then you have a paint coat deep scratch and white primer is showing off. Why white? That I don't know.
TJ

AlexusAnja

Exactly. The layers of an auto body are usually:

metal, primer (grey), paint, clear coat

The white you see is the surface of the paint being compromised and light not reflecting properly to give off the "correct" color. Unless it's scratched to the metal, you should be able to "Scratch-out" it. This is a small yellow bottle and it works like wax. You clean the surface, wax the Scratch-out on, wait until haze, then buff off. I'm not sure really how it works, but works excellent on surface scratches and paint haze. It has small particles in it for buffing, so in a way it sort of "scratches" the surface of the area to smooth it again. I usually buff and wax the area afterwards because I'm sure it took the wax and if not, clearcoat off, although it looks shiny afterwards.

Good luck...

rominl

iTrader: (4)

basically if you can barely (or can't) feel the scratch with your nails (please, do that lightly), then it's just light scratches. like tjp74 said, it's all about the reflection. buffing by a pro would do all the trick. had that on my car and took care of it myself

if you can "feel" the scratch, then it's a lot deeper. just pray that they are not through the clear coat

kickin8

iTrader: (1)

^^^^^ agree ! hahaha

MShybrid

Explaining why the scratches seem white is quite simple. Generally, the scratch is on the clearcoat and not on the basecoat itself. As stated above, the reflectivity is compromised when the clearcoat is damaged. This can often be repaired by using a polish such as Poorboys, Optimum, Menzernas, as well as many others on the market.
Look at a scratch this way......the cleatcoat is a smooth surface and the scratch forms a type of "V" cut in it. Generally the angles of the sides are steep and this effects the basecoats reflectivity thru the clearcoat. When using a polish, you are basically tapering the "V" to a smoother surface with less of an angle. This helps regain the reflectivity. The polishes also add oils and cleaners to help hone the surface smooth. One rule of thumb to remember, when tackeling scratches, always start out with the least aggressive product you have and progresively work your way up to the combination needed to remove the scratch.