Detailing Error

[WhisperBlade]

So I made an error.

 

I got some scratches on my car.

 

Rather than waxing it properly, I was outside in the rain and applied a layer of clear coat on top.

 

Now, my clear coat has covered some white wax UNDER the coat and I can't get rid of it. 

 

Does anyone have any kind of advice on how I can remedy this situation? :(

 

Thanks.

 

.C

[White987S]

The only way to remove any type of a scratch is to polish the paint and do proper paint correction. Prior to polishing, the car's paint must be clean and decontaminated by doing a proper wash, clay bar, rewash.

 

I'm not sure I completely understand your post and question. Are you saying you spray painted your car with clear paint, outside, during the rain?

 

Or did you wax your car in the rain with a sealant or wax product?

 

Start over. Wash your car. Clay bar your car. Rewash your car. Polish the paint with the proper tools, pads, and products. Seal the paint with the type of product you like for it's purpose, either a carnauba type product or high tech sealant. Do all this when it is not raining outside. :)

[WhisperBlade]

Well. Here's what happened:

1. Scratched car. Didn't know.

 

2. Out in the rain getting out of my car. See scratch.

 

3. Wipe area dry. Used polishing compound to get rid of the scratch. No good. 

 

4. Wax the area. No good. 

 

5. Used a ClearCoat marker (It's like White-Out, but with ClearCoat) on the scratch. Got rid of scratches. Walk away in happiness. 

 

6. Check next day; Find dried, white wax under the clear coat marker marked area. 

 

7. Frustration because I cannot get the white stuff out. Now it's a white mark in a sealed area. Annoying. :(

 

Any recommendations? :(

[White987S]

OK, you trapped some dirt or wax or moisture under the touch-up clear coat. Take your pepper to a professional detailer, and have him do an aggressive paint correction on that panel to remove the scratch. Or do the whole car. Expect to pay for a quality job. A full paint correction with a final sealant product like OptiCoat Pro (an excellent product b.t.w.) will run about $800-$1,200 depending on the amount of paint correction and stages.

[alw911@ashburnva.net]

I see I'm not the only one that made the same mistake.  I did the same thing on my charcoal color corolla DD about a month after we drove it off the dealer's lot. Some fool parked so close to me that I had to squeeze in the car and when i was squeezing, and somehow left a 2-3 inch scratch on the rear door. My home repair attempt left me in the same situation as you.

 

So I took the car to toyota to inquire about body shops.  I was in luck as the paintless dent remover tech that did work for many of the local dealers was there, he took a look and said he can do the repair. Although it was not a paintless repair, the tech rectified the problem in about 1.5 hours for $100.00 (i had touch up paint pen from dealer so i saved 20 bucks)  while i waited.

 

Here is what the tech did to repair the trapped polishing compound.

 

1. Used a pointed pic (like the ones dentists uses) to scratch through the clear coat

2. used wax and grease remover on soft bristol brush (looks like toothbrush) to clear out all the polishing compound

3. washed area with regular car wash soap from a spray bottle to clean the area

4. wiped area with a tack cloth and let it dry 

5. used a artist paint brush and filled with color paint from the paint pen i got from the dealer and placed a quarts heat light to dry paint

6. used a micro size painter to spray some clear coat over the repaired area and used heat light to dry again

7. Then his clean up guy came by and ran an electric buffer over the area.  

 

Over all the repair is excellent.  Only thing is the charcoal paint pen from the dealer is a tad darker and when up close, you can almost see the pattern of the scratch.  but can never tell it was a repair there.

 

Tech told me that when he repairs cars at the dealers, he always purchase touch up paint pens from the dealer and some times it is not a 100% match and the only way to get 100% patch is for custom blending and that = $$ and time.

[WhisperBlade]

Re my repairs: I actually just buffed it out with some rubbing compound followed by some polishing compound. All good now!

 

Also - ScratchWizard.net

 

I used their stuff to fix a huge bumper scrape. Now it's spotless.