Minor scratch and scuff removal

[guillory]

Long story short, I have a few areas on my truck with minor scratches and scuffs. My local retailer quoted me an astronomical amount to buff out these areas. I am willing to take this task in myself, however.

I have some markings on the chrome portion on my running board, and hairline scratches and scuffs on my paint. Please see attached. My apologies if some aren’t visible.

Any products and techniques to buff these out or flat out remove them outside of paint and chrome finish?

 

[Treburkulosis]

If you only knew the amount of time and effort it takes to get scratches like that out, you would understand why it costs so much. We currently have a black single cab 16 Silverado with 9k miles on it. Its taken 4 days to get the right combo figured out to correct very similar scratches and scuffs like yours. Honestly if you want to cheap it try a scratch remover and some elbow grease. It will mask it at best, but it also wont cost you an arm and a leg. Meguiars scratch x would be what I would try.

 

[Dinky]

Black paint for you. They look sexy when clean and fresh wax but you look at it and scratches form right before your eyes. I would recommend having it cut and polished professionally twice a year and use some of that new quick wax detail mothers makes a good product. My chevy was black and it required a lot of maintenance to keep it looking good.

 

[guillory]

Good to know about the quote. Thanks!

 

[Treburkulosis]

Black paint for you. They look sexy when clean and fresh wax but you look at it and scratches form right before your eyes. I would recommend having it cut and polished professionally twice a year and use some of that new quick wax detail mothers makes a good product. My chevy was black and it required a lot of maintenance to keep it looking good.

That and dont take it through a car wash. There are reasons why we refuse to ceramic coat vehicles. It just wastes their money if they are going to run it though a car wash. Honestly get a second opinion, but make sure whoever you let touch it is reputable. Lots of things can happen.

 

[CheechDogg.0n37s]

Black paint for you. They look sexy when clean and fresh wax but you look at it and scratches form right before your eyes. I would recommend having it cut and polished professionally twice a year and use some of that new quick wax detail mothers makes a good product. My chevy was black and it required a lot of maintenance to keep it looking good.

Cut and polished twice a year? Are you serious right now ? lol ...

A cut is polishing a finish first of all, that alone will remove quite a bit of clear coat, doing that 2 times a year to any vehicle compromises the finish/clear coat ... you ever only want to polish a vehicle's finish 1 time a year if that ...a buff which is a less aggressive form of paint correction is ok to do more than once a year ....

A full cut and polish is going to remove at least 15 microns from any finish and that depends on how bad the finish is, most vehicles only have about 50 microns of clear coat at the most and usually only have between 30-50 microns ... how are you going to tell someone to cut and polish their vehicle 2 times a year ? .... SMH ...

 

[CheechDogg.0n37s]

Long story short, I have a few areas on my truck with minor scratches and scuffs. My local retailer quoted me an astronomical amount to buff out these areas. I am willing to take this task in myself, however.

I have some markings on the chrome portion on my running board, and hairline scratches and scuffs on my paint. Please see attached. My apologies if some aren’t visible.

Any products and techniques to buff these out or flat out remove them outside of paint and chrome finish?

Get a full paint correction and ceramic coat it but "only" if you are actually going to take care of your vehicle's paint after they do so ...if you are not , then just get a good polish that is going to remove most swirls and scratches .... remember, the only way to completely remove all scratches as long as they are not deep is to wet sand a finish or a full 3 step paint correction and even then you are probably still going to see some scratches ...

For my customers I always let them know the following

1. Don't expect for all scratches to be removed unless you are going to pay at least $1500 + for a paint correction to do so

2. If they only have swirls and some scratches, I will point out what scratches "will" be removed and which won't do to the amount of clear coat on the vehicle, I will not remove scratches for any customer just because I can and they want me to if it's going to degrade the clear coat

3. For black vehicles, the price for any paint correction is almost certainly going to be double the price of any other color, don't expect to have a perfect finish if your vehicle is more than 2 years old unless you have taken care of that vehicle very good

4. I will recommend what "I" would do to your vehicle depending on how you drive your vehicle, where it sits over night and the age of your vehicle ..


From the pictures @guillory I would quote you a minimum of $1400 no less ... Like @Treburkulosis said, it takes time and a lot of patience for us to paint correct ....

 

[Treburkulosis]

We are using heavy cut on the black Silverado. That took a good two days to get it cut then it was onto polishing. We are sitting at 36 hours currently and its still not done. Should hit the 48-50 hour mark to bring it back, but like @CheechDogg.0n37s said you cant get it all out. You can get dang close and in a lot of cases you never notice the ones that didn't come out unless you hit it with a flash light.

 

[Quick_Shifter]

Long story short, I have a few areas on my truck with minor scratches and scuffs. My local retailer quoted me an astronomical amount to buff out these areas. I am willing to take this task in myself, however.

I have some markings on the chrome portion on my running board, and hairline scratches and scuffs on my paint. Please see attached. My apologies if some aren’t visible.

Any products and techniques to buff these out or flat out remove them outside of paint and chrome finish?

Solid advice being given above
A different diy approach would be to use a wax/sealant made specifically for black vehicles. Like stated above if you want it done right pay a professional to do a paint correction. If you want to tackle it yourself, you’ll be investing a few hundred dollars on tools and products and when you get into it the acres of paint seems like miles.
A polish will leave the deeper scratches and a made for black wax will mask them which would be a days project so depending on how you use your truck is how you decide to move forward.

 

[guillory]

I will go with a good polish. The scratches are not deep at all. Any suggestions regarding the scratches in the chrome of my running board?

 

[Treburkulosis]

This is what I am talking about. That’s my intake photos on the 16 Silverado with 9k mile. It was also smoked in, so we won’t talk about that bill. I went home with a migraine after cleaning and detailing most of the interior minus the glass. If you want it right it costs.

 

[Not A Cop]

My truck came with two scratches to the metal (bought used)
Had a buddy at work who used to detail and paint correct tell me he could fix it. He brought a DA buffer and a boat load of chemicals, pads and cloths. He hid the hell out of those scratches in about 45 minutes. After that, I started learning the ropes.

If you want your black to stay glossy, and you don't want to spend loads every year to keep it that way... Pay for a full paint correction at a reputable shop (bring lube) and get PPF. It's a film that acts as clear coat over your paint. It's expensive, everything is expensive with paint, but you'll thank yourself in the long run.

Then learn how to work a polisher and have fun waxing that beauty.