Minor Scratches In Clearcoat

[rx300mac]

Today when i was washing my rx300 i decided that i wouldn't use soap since i just got it a week ago, and it already had a good layer of wax on it. I just wrinsed it with tap water, and dried it with towels.

After it dried i noticed pretty much the whole car was covered in minor, very minor scratches all over the clearcoat. The color is dark green.

how can i get rid of these scratches all over?? I tried re-waxing it but it looks just sa bad. Please help!!

[cantsleepnk]

You probably scratched the car while drying it. Having a coat of wax doesn't mean that you shouldn't wash the car.

Waxing alone will not remove the scratches.

Go to your local auto supply store and buy:

1. Auto car wash soap.

2. Quality wash mitt,meguiar's applicator pads (3 or4) and a couple of drying towels ( i use microfiber towels).

3.A swirl mark remover like 3M SMR or Meguiars #9 SMR.

4.Four or five wax removal towels.They should be either microfiber or 100% cotton.

4. A good quality wax.

Start by washing the car .Make sure your wash mitt stays clean otherwise you'll be adding more scratches. Dry the car with a clean towel.

Apply the SMR (after reading the instuctions on the bottle) with a clean applicator and remove with a clean towel. Start with a 2X2 area and inspect your work. If you still have scratches repeat the process until the scratches are gone.Always work on a cool surface and do one panel at a time.

After you're satisfied with the results apply your wax with a clean applicator.

There are a lot more dedicated products out there but most of them can only be bought online.

If you need more in depth instructions go to the meguires site or to any detailing forum like Autopia and read.

Hope this helps and good luck.

[mugwai]

all you need a to use some rubbing compound i sugest mothers they make some verey good stuff and a good wax i sugest somthing with teflon esp if your car is black. this is what i used on my ES300 affter someone rubbed my bumper in a parkinglot and left a large paint transfer on my newly painted wight bumper. the rubbing compound will remove a verey fine amount of your clear and take any dirt or fine scrateches with it just rubb the product on and work it in this should do it. i removed a verey large black mark that whent all the way acrose the left side of my bumper. this will not remove any deep damage but should take care of any minor.

[JasonATL]

all you need a to use some rubbing compound i sugest mothers they make some verey good stuff and a good wax i sugest somthing with teflon esp if your car is black. this is what i used on my ES300 affter someone rubbed my bumper in a parkinglot and left a large paint transfer on my newly painted wight bumper. the rubbing compound will remove a verey fine amount of your clear and take any dirt or fine scrateches with it just rubb the product on and work it in this should do it. i removed a verey large black mark that whent all the way acrose the left side of my bumper. this will not remove any deep damage but should take care of any minor.

←

Whoa! I respectfully disagree with this. Rubbing compound could (and probably would) be overkill here. He said that these are "very minor" scratches and that they are the result of drying a dirty car (I say "dirty" since it wasn't washed before rinsing and drying). These are very likely to be microscopic scratches. The prior advice of using a swirl remover should do the trick. Swirl remover is, as far as I understand, much less aggressive than rubbing compound.

You only want to use as mild a product as is necessary to do the job. If you can't find the swirl remover products listed above, you should be able to find Meguiar's Deep Crystal products -- a 3-step system -- at Auto Zone or stores like it. These are 3 products: (1) Paint cleaner -- this is essentially a mild scratch/swirl remover (2) polish -- this might even work to hide the light scratches (3) wax -- this is a good carnauba wax.

For future reference, check out the "Detailing Forum" here. What you did with the rinsing and drying would have been better (and possibly more conveniently) done with a Quick Detail spray (again, Meguiar's makes one that is sold almost everywhere, including Target) or washing with a car shampoo (yet again, I prefer Meguiar's shampoos that are readily available). If the car is dusty, just use a quick detail spray and several microfiber towels. Make sure to only wipe off what you've sprayed with the QD spray and turn the towel to keep the dirt off the car. The dirt on the towel is what scratched the paint. The QD spray keeps the surface lubricated so that the dust won't scratch as you wipe it off. This is only for dust. If the car is dirty, wash it.

Good luck. It doesn't sound as if any harm has been done that is irreversible.

I just re-read your original question. My reply above ASSUMES that you are responsible for the scratches. On a 3-4 year old car, this is probably a bad assumption. The scratches that you see are probably not all due to you. In this case, a rubbing compound could be necessary. However, I'd try something more mild before jumping to rubbing compound. I've used the Meguiar's products on two cars (red 1999 RX 300 and black 2000 ES 300) and the paint cleaner and polish removed almost all of the scratches (even fairly bad ones on the rear bumbers from rubbing them with cardboard boxes). So, a swirl remover followed by a wax should do the trick. Again, the detailing forum has more great info. The FAQ/detailing "how to" steps are worth a read for your situation.

[rx300mac]

Thank you for your responses I am going to Autozone today to get the stuff.

I just got this 2001 rx300 last week. It has 27,000 miles on it. It honestly doesn't have even one paint chip or even one scratch on it!!! (well before i got to it).

I agree with you, these scratches are very minor and are reversible. I scratched the paint rubbing the towels on them. I just didn't know HOW to remove them. There must have been dirt that acted as sandpaper. There are just tiny, I mean VERY TINY scratches only in the clearcoat. Not very deep at all. They are very visible in the sun though. The whole hood and tailgate are covered in them.

Also there were some weird swirl scratches on the side panels. I'm guessing this was caused by the dealer waxing it. There must have been dirt on the car.

I will just use the products you all reccomended and get them out. Thank you!!

[SKperformance]

moved to detailing section

[SW03ES]

Apparently not SK lol

I'll move it to the detailing section.

Yep, when you rinsed then dried you just drug all the dirt on the paint right across it. Also if you use poor quality towels to dry you'll always get that scratching no matter what you do.

Spend some time reading through the detailing section. It'll do no good to remove the scratches you have until you learn how to properly wash to avoid creating them or they'll always come back.

And a rubbing compound is definately overkill.