Fairly Deep scratches

Kazzer

Junior Member
Messages
203
4 long scratches have appeared down the side of the car not quite full length but over both doors and the front wing plus under the wing mirror showing a faint white colour
They are fine scratches not on the masser but on one of the alfas- is there anything I can try instead of having to get someone out to sort them apart from tcut
Car is mint for its age and had it since it it had 30 miles on the clock 14 years old so any suggestions would be appreciated

Karen
 

D Walker

Member
Messages
9,827
Yep - Auto Glym scratch remover - think about £15-20 a bottle. Move it along the scratch, not across, do it in sessions, then some polish as normal..

Dave
 

spkennyuk

Member
Messages
5,930
Try farecla G3 scratch remover it does take time by hand to remove them. Use a foam waffle pad if your doing it by hand. If you have a DA kit its much easier.
 

D Walker

Member
Messages
9,827
Yes, It can be quite abrasive, if not too bad you could try the Auto Glym Super Resin Polish first - again, rub it along the scratch with a decent micro fibre cloth, it's a bit like the hair and dog, take time and do bits at a time, if that doesn't work you may need paint correction, when you run your nail over it does it catch as you may have taken the lacquer off.
 

Kazzer

Junior Member
Messages
203
Will check tomorrow when I wash the car hopefully not but it looks a mess hoping not to need to have it done by a repairer due to its age etc.

Don't have a DA kit so by hand it will have to be - thanks fingers crossed one of these works

Karen
 

spkennyuk

Member
Messages
5,930
G3 breaks down and polishes as you work it. Very small circles and have water spray bottle handy. If you start to feel it drag on the pad a quick mist of water works wonders.

If i was nearer i would bring a DA kit over.
 

highlander

Member
Messages
5,214
If you can feel your nail catching on it I would not be confident of flattening a scratch with or without a DA. IMO a scratch "nail deep" deep means lacquer and possibly paint layers gone, so be careful and think twice whatever flatener you use.
 

Kazzer

Junior Member
Messages
203
G3 breaks down and polishes as you work it. Very small circles and have water spray bottle handy. If you start to feel it drag on the pad a quick mist of water works wonders.

If i was nearer i would bring a DA kit over.

Thankfully I should be able to use G3 deeper under the wing mirror the sides I have a go at
 

Heavenly

Member
Messages
164
Get it done properly as it wont cost a massive amount. Maserati paintwork can vary from between 120-220 microns and the clear is generally only 40% of that and marrs easily. You cant just use a non diminishing product and expect it to finish down to the same level as 2 or 3 stages of polish the same as you cant sand a piece of wood and expect it to take out a large amount and leave a beautiful finish at the same time. The Maserati paintwork responds well to a diminishing or smat technology polish that will use the aluminium particle to remove the scratch yet diminish down to refine the surface and leave it feeling like glass and blend in with your paintwork. Its great looking in dull weather but when its in the sun it will look horrendous. I use mIcrofibre systems on Maserati's and then refine down with a water based product.
I would say if you are going to do it yourself go online and buy yourself some glaze for finishing it, maybe Ez Creme Glaze or Blackhole dependant on colour because at least this will mask what the aggressive product does. Non diminishing polishes are basically concrete boulders that tumble on your paintwork and cut the paint away but never do anymore than that so like a low grade sandpaper they remove loads but dont refine. Diminishing polishes and smart technology are like easter eggs that cut the paintwork then in laymans terms crack open to reveal smaller smarties that then cut less and start to refine then they also breakdown and you are left with oils that finish the paintwork off to a nice presentable finish. They both have their place, when needing aggressive cut to really get some tough paintwork back to life you need all guns blazing so a diminishing product would simply die of death before its managed to do anything so you combine the two and can also determine whether a water or oil based product is required dependant on ambient temperatures of humidity as obviously oil and water not mix so wet or damp conditions outside dont work well.
Its amazing what you can achieve with paintwork with some time, below is just an example when I do training days with guys wanting to learn how to detail.
If you were closer to me id say pop round and ill whip it out in half an hour for a beer :)

I have a fair few products for all eventualities in my garage :)

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JonW

Member
Messages
3,259
Wow - that is a well stocked garage!... I'd really like to learn how to detail my car properly...
 

Kazzer

Junior Member
Messages
203
Thanks for the advice it's an alfa that has the scratches - if it was the other car I wouldn't attempt it myself
 

allandwf

Member
Messages
10,958
Wow, I have two buckets and a sponge! If you want to come and do mine feel free, I hate doing it.
 

Corranga

Member
Messages
1,219
Well stocked garage, and very tidy too

I can barely walk into my garage :S

Also, great post, keep posting like that and you'll pick up some customers for sure - knowledge is power - and I don't even know if you have a detailing business or are just a crazy hobbyist ;)
 

Felonious Crud

Administrator
Staff member
Messages
21,012
Wow, I have two buckets and a sponge! If you want to come and do mine feel free, I hate doing it.

Two buckets sounds like an extravagance!

In any case, that's one h3ll of an automotive beauty parlour. Makes me wonder how good mine could come up if someone who actually knew what they were doing got involved in the wash and polish activities.
 

Heavenly

Member
Messages
164
Thanks, Im honestly not here to get work, I have other fairly good reasons however I'm trying to keep them fairly low profile at the moment :)

I run HeavenlyDetail and have been detailing for many years and sponsored by ChemicalGuys who made this wax with me.

Celeste Dettaglio which is Italian for Heavely Detail.

http://www.chemicalguysuk.com/Chemical_Guys_Celeste_dettaglio_Wax_p/celeste.htm

Im very lucky as I combine it with another job in the Apple arena so feel very blessed I have a great life although amazingly busy as I expect you can imagine.

I came 2nd in a National Concours competition when I was 24 at Silverstone in 1991 with a Peugeot 205GTI I bought brand new the year before from Curry Motors in Southend for £12,800 (still have the receipt) so it also shows what great value smaller cars are these days compared to the cost back then, I also still have the trophy in my garage.

Below is some of my wax collection. I would like to think I have one of the largest collections in Europe and definitely some of the more boutique waxes available and have pretty much everything covered. Below are also some waxes I've had formulated for myself by companies like Golden Gates which is a chocolate smelling high Carnuba based translucent wax with a gold flake in so it makes darker cars have a pearl effect, not easy to use but great effect.

Im always happy to offer advice if people need it, however I'm sure there are many people on this forum into detailing and we all learn something every day.

If anyone is into detailing there is a large show at Coventry Arena on July 23rd, I am head judge on the day for the Top16 cars in the UK and would be good to speak to anyone if they are going. Its a very very good show

https://www.waxstock.com


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Well stocked garage, and very tidy too

I can barely walk into my garage :S

Also, great post, keep posting like that and you'll pick up some customers for sure - knowledge is power - and I don't even know if you have a detailing business or are just a crazy hobbyist ;)
 

safrane

Member
Messages
16,746
Thats a serious wax fetishist you have!

Always used Swisvax on my Maseratis'...expensive but does make black deap and dark.
 

Ebenezer

Member
Messages
4,443
KIlled myself yesterday polsihing and waxing. Hat's off to you. I watched multple videos on line of guys polishing and waxing their bonnets (and only a quarter of it so you could compare how great it looks) - 10 hours later, I now am far more familiar with all the imperfections, scratches, paint chips etc, and hopefully marginally better loking paint. Since it wasn't sunny I couldn't see how well I'd done on the swirl and hologram removal front.

It's all a learning curve. Bonnet, boot and roof are a pleasure to do, side and front are a pain!

It ain't easy, and I spent the day hoping I wasn't doing more harm than good tbh. Then all my stuff went back into a large carrier bag!

Eb