So today it happened, someone door dinged my driver side door and put 2 small scratchs on it. You cannot even see them unless your looking for them. I know this is going to happen so I'm not freaking out too bad, but I want to find something good to put on them so I cannot notice them anymore.

I have heard of scratch X I think, and Black touch up paint. Was just curious if anyone else out there has a good way of making them covered up. And most importantly look good or not noticeable.

 

I feel ya, I have used Scratch X, covers the marks for a little while but wears off too soon. Try taking it to a professional for a last resort in fixing...Someone might come in with a better solution too... Hope you get it taken care...

 

can you feel the scratch's with your finger nail????If you can there to deep to polish out completelyblack is fairly easy to touch up easy color to match you can fill the scratch with touch up paint and then compound to level out then finish polish outpics would be helpful is see how bad the damage is good luck

 

I will get a picture up tonight, I can get my fingernail in it...

 

Sounds bad to say, but you're actually lucky. Your car being black, you can get a really good match on touch up paint. Since the scratch will catch your fingernail, you'll need a bottle.
Clean the area with degreaser/wax remover(Dawn dishliquid works great), then use painters tape to mask around the scratch. Leave about 1/16th of an inch around the scratch. If it's a fine line scratch use the end of a toothpick to dip in the paint and slowly fill the scratch. Just place the toothpick end in the scratch and the paint will flow intself into the scratch.
If it's larger, use the brush in the bottle to lightly brush a thin coat on. Wait about 20 minutes the brush another coat on. Brush thin coats on until the scratch is just above the level of the paint. Many thin coats is WAY better than one thick one.
You can also put one layer of touchup paint over the scratch, then use clear to fill the area above the level of the paint. But wait 24 hours before using the clear over the color.
Let it dry for 24 hours.
Wetsand the touched up area with 1600 to 2000 grit paper. The finer the grit, the more work to get the paint sanded down smooth, but the less polishing you'll have to do.
Go slow! You only want to sand it down to the level of the original paint. Once you get it sanded down smooth, use rubbing compound to compound out the scratches from the wetsanding. Then polish using your favorite polish. ALL DONE.
Sounds harder than it really is. Just remember to wetsand lightly, don't put a lot of pressure on the paper, and use LOTS of water. I like to use my water hose to keep a trickle of water flowing over the area as I'm sanding.
Hope this helps. Good luck!

 

with Tim on most points imho Dawn dishliquid is asking for problems DOESN'T promote paint adhesion(it is dish soap) your adding paint into the void it must adhere or it can just pop out....i use ipa 91% with out cutting it down will remove all waxes clean and clean again
i use 3000 grit wet/dry lots of water and sand in one direction only with a sanding block a little more work to sand but will polish out faster without removing to much clear coat good luck black paint is a blessing in doing touch-up repair

 

I never even thought about IPA John, good point. Also, the sanding in one direction is key. I never use a sanding block as you can't feel anything through it. Using just my fingers lets me feel when the touch up paint is level with the original surface, without taking my hands off the car.
But then again, I'm not patient enough for 3K grit paper either. My stubborn butt would rather polish his fingers off I guess.

 

Great information. May just try this on my wife's car - it has a few scratches that needs to be repaired.

 

good luck with repairs

 

I feel your pain I think my Vette's previous owner liked to tail gate 18 wheelers, requires alot of wax to hide.

 

My camera is dead at the moment, charging it. And will get a picture up in the morning.

Thanks so much for the advice thus far, and glad it sounds like it's helping out a few others also.

Once again, this isn't a terrible scratch. But you know how the small things can bother you for sure...

 

What kind of wax hides scratches ?? I have a couple myself I'd like to cover up.

 

I know what you mean I got a good view of the sun shining on my black car this morning and it put me in crap mood

 

Great advice.

 

I've been using Meguiars NXT Tech wax. It doesn't get rid of them but at 5 feet they disappear, any closer and you can spot them.

 

It depends on how deep the scratches are. Scratch-X works well, but is temporary. If they are only surface, I would get buffed out.

 

Here they both are

2 Different angles...





And yeah I know their is a lot of grass dust or something on the car, freaking guy mowed today at work....

 

The comments about Scratch X are baffling.

Scratch X is not a temporary cover up of some kind. It's a very light abrasive that is designed to remove light scratches and swirl marks.

The comments about it wearing off after a while make no sense to me.

I've used it on both my black daily driver and my black Corvette (beginning of last summer) and it works exactly as advertised in removing swirl marks and light scratches.