It's great to see you being so positive in your replies. Most people get really mean when people start criticizing their videos, but I have noticed everything you have said has been nice.
For someone who's just about to try to touch up a few chips on my pretty new BMW 430i I found this video really useful, basically cos you're just like me: ain't got a clue but learning as you go! Cheers
Thanks bro, I am ordering some touch up for my pickup. Wasn't quite sure how to do such a small amount of paint. I'm glad some experts chipped in too in the comments! Good work
Super Great Video. A truck pulled into the same panel on my Toyota yesterday. Mostly rub marks with a few places where the paint came off. I used wax and it cleaned up about 99% of the rub marks. Now I will be fixing the five spots of missing paint. Could not believe she pulled into me. Thanks for all your help. :)
Hey Rich, that looks good bro! As a professional detailer, can I give you some helpful tips for the future? First of all, you NEVER wanna sand in a circular motion! You do more damage that way to your paint. You always sand from left to right and stay as consistant as possible with light to moderate pressure. Second, stay away from the paste compounds. What you should be using for sanding jobs on any vehicle is Meguiars M105 Ultra Cut Compound. It's the best liquid compound around for tough jobs. It'll make your job a hell of a lot easier. Last, anytime you sand, you don't want to be using an orbital polisher cause there's not enough speed to take the haziness out completely. You should be using a DA Buffer or rotory high speed buffer. It takes half of the time instead of workibg 5 times harder and 20 times longer. Just apply the liquid compound on the yellow pad (compounding pad)and and smear it on the surface you're going to be working on a little bit so it doesn't splatter when you turn the buffer on, then you can start buffing the compound into the paint with low RPM's to start. After you start seeing the compound starting to haze a little, then you can crank up the RPM's a little more. As I noticed, you were polishing in circles also. That's how you can put haze marks, also known as holograms into the paint. You gotta move from right to left bro. Other than that, I think it looks good man. You sure did put some work into it. Maybe a little more than it should have been but that's because you were using an orbital polisher, not a high speed buffer. Great work man. I hope you can use those techniques I mentioned to you to cut your time in half and work less? It's up to you though. Hope this helped a little. Keep the world clean, one shine at a time!
Scratched the FRS and this video will be my guide...looking forward to letting you kow it goes...this was a great help to build confidence for me to DIY. Thanks
The 2nd video is an improvement. The rubbing alchohol trick helped me to removed the dirt and grime, showing the real paint underneath which I thought was a scratch. Keep it up and thanks for the tips.
black cars are the most difficult to touch up and buff up after, you have done a great job. I fixed my silver bumper on my tacoma, and it looks brand new after waxing, silver is a lot easier to fix than black though. well done.
If you are working by hand, after you are done with the 2000 grit sandpaper, do a 3000 grit sand paper sanding. It will make the scratches a lot easier to remove with the compound. As others have mentionned, that wax spreader is useless for componding and polishing... just do it by hand. Use a small wax applicator pad (microfiber, cloth or sponger, doesn't matter) and compound until you can no longer see the haze. Then do a polishing step with a finishing polish. The best combo you can buy on a retail level is Meguiars Ultimate Compound and Ultimate Polish. That will bring the shine back to the paint. Then apply a wax or sealant to protect the area. Also when sanding, using a sanding block or something that makes the sandpaper really flat is pretty much a must if you want to do a good job. In a bind, use a kitchen sponge. Just make sure only the sand paper touch the paint, not the scotchbrite pad, or you will ruin the paint.
Thanks for making this video. My car got scratched while sitting in the parking lot and I totally freaked me out (new car!). After watching your detailed video, I'm now in the process of fixing this myself. I'm not finished yet, but thanks to you, I know have a clear plan of action on how to fix it. Plus I can take care of small chips in my car from random rocks and such. Great job!
Thanks for this video! It showed me not only what to do, but the possibilities that come from doing it incorrectly. I'm much more confident in the fixes I'm about to make, so thank you for this.
Had a tilted street sign jump out and graze the rear side of my car last night...just enough to take about 6 inches of paint off. I'm waiting on an estimate for repairs, but I may just try your method if it costs too much for a shop to do it. Thanks for posting!
good job man. I been painting cars for a while too and I learned something new from you. This will actually be helping my job much more efficient now. Btw, buy yourself a porter cable 7424xp . Best polisher for amateurs and pros. Very safe to use no matter what speed youre on. It'll shine your car up real good!
Clear coat works really well as it blends in the paint, I used 3 base coats and a clear coat, then used t cut to blend and smooth the paint which left a bit of a haze before adding a final clear coat and rubbing compound.
I use this to touch up chips and dings in guitars. I found it best to use a tiny brush with lacquer thinner to smooth the edges of the scratch or chipis. Then fill up the scratch with paint a couple layers. Then fill the rest of the way up the clear until it sits up proud of the surface. Then sand 1500 then with 2000. Then hit with a scratch remover compound with a drill and buffing wheel. (The rotation works better then the vibration buffer) Then a polish. And I try not to stand the original finish so much.
Good job! Compared to before, it's night and day. Even if it's not "professionally" repaired, it's still almost 100 times better than before, and at a fraction of the price.
Never seen a body shop painter sand in circular motion. Always sanded a 90 degree angle to the area that needed to be sanded. Even when using a da sand 90 degrees to the area. Now there up to 6000 grit sand paper which makes pull out that sanding marks so easy. You can do it with a da instead of a rotary polisher and a wool pad with a heavy cutting compound.
thanks, nice videos. only suggestions i would have is you want to sand in only one direction, not circular.any small flat "block" can be used as a sanding block, it just helps keep your pressure even when you are sanding. cut a piece of paper a little larger than the block so you can wrap it around the block and hold it in place when sanding.follow the compound with a less abrasive polish, look for something like a finishing polish or final polish. this will remove the compounding haze.
Great job Rich, very clear and easy to follow tutorial! I'll definitely use this if my car ever gets scratched... NOT! j/k It looks great, I just hope that same guy doesn't park next to me :-P
I have a very small (2 inch) scratch on a side body panel of my car and have watched your video about 4 times and will try it out later today and tomorrow. Like I said, a much smaller repair but I'll let you know if it worked. Thanks!
@happy9z I used the Color Magic (Black Wax) because it fills any voids in the paint with colored wax- giving an even better finish. If your car has a lot of nicks and/or scratches in it, the colored wax works great to fill in those voids. Because your car is silver though, the normal Meguiar's NXT generation wax should work fine. I used to have a silver car and the Meguiar's worked great. I recommend getting the Meguiar's for your color car.
I watched your first video and thought that didn't work. Then I watched your second video and that's kind of the way I would have done it so well done and thanks for helping others out there.
Thank you for watching both videos. I kept the first video up because I figured I would be to reach more viewers that way. I'm thinking of taking it down though because I did a better job in the 2nd video. I appreciate it!
@NavVvStar Buffer is preferable, but a good microfiber or soft terry cloth towel should be fine. The buffer requires less effort so it makes it easier to do, but you don't have to use one.
@rcorrea26 The clear coat isn't necessary as long as you are careful when adding the paint. I've touched up my car a few times without the clear coat. I actually used to own a silver Neon as well. The clear coat gives it a nice touch though and would seal the paint (allowing it to last longer).
Just a little heads up in NZ i use a product called 'JIFF' its a white coloured fine paste used as a whiteware cleaner and its great as a very fine buffing or a scratch remover as its so fine over doing it is very hard to do...give it ago on a faded old bonnet and you will see what i mean plus its great for cleaning mag wheels...let me know how you got on...cheers
I've been painting cars for close to 20 years What you did wasn't bad I just have 1thing. That haze you have isn't because you sanded too hard its because that wasn't a buffer you were using to buff with Its was more of a polisher used for aplying wax and polish, not compound. they sell little buffer pads you can stick to an electric drill at auto parts stores that would work better. You need more friction and heat to get those scratches out. Don't listen to these shade tree detailers who know nothing, what you did was fine (not at all perfect lol but fine )just next time use a real buffer
Brandon Steele RichsMethods what he said :). Also I know you uploaded this vid in 2011 but you mentioned a sanding sponge early in the video just wanted to say that you can cop those at homedepot or lowes for a few dollars. I think they only sell low grit sponges(up to 3 or 400 i think, not sure) but I just wrap watever grit I need around it. Nice job!
Can you be a little more specific? There are lots of polishers out there, but how can you tell if it is a buffer? Speed? How fast? I just want to do a Q&D on an older PU, the clear coat is gone. I was just going to go and spray bomb new clear coat, and buff it out. nothing fussy.
Great video RichsMethod. Good to see you can take consctuctive comment. It's also nice to see a bare-bones scratch repair without expensive machinery and compounds. Well done for posting mate.
I liked your video, and I'm sure it helps a lot of people who are distraught by a gnarly scratch in their paint, and not able to pay $$ to have a shop fix it. My only tip(s) is that if you add a small drop of Dawn soap to your bottle of water, it helps lubricate a better, degreases as well. For the kind of repair you're doing, you were on track with using the primer after the scratch was super clean and degreased...then the paint and clear. One thing I've seen a lot of people do that causes a bad result, or takes a lot longer in finishing....is to put paint 'over' the scratch. The touch up paint should 'fill' the scratch, instead of brushing over it. Using a capillary action will fill the void without causing it to brush/flow over the edges. Lastly... as a lot of people have mentioned here... is to always use a SMALL sanding block instead of fingers. Autozone (and most others) have a small kit that's like $14 that has a small wedge block and several stick-on grades of paper for finish work. The highest I've ever used on a car before finishing/buffing is 2000 grit. Otherwise, it takes way too long and the results (on a road car) are not worth the effort. Depending on the severity, I'll wet sand at 800-1000-1500-2000 - then on to machine work. Again, cool video, great attitude, and clean production!
RichsMethods Nice video. Thanks for upgrading it. Also, you can use a hair dryer or heat gun to very gently dry it on low heat so you don't have to wait 24 hours. I used to work in a test lab and we did that all the time with paint. But as with everything in this project, gentle is better, less is more.
question for you. Does paint get bad? I bought a spray can that I custom fill with my car colors about 1 year ago. I tried to used it this year and what funny is (my car is red with sprinkle in it) while I apply it, it's perfect match. But once it dry out, it's way more darker and mate. Since I was doing touch up from stone chip, I spray the paint in a cup and used a small brush (pretty much the same as you used) to make the touch up.
@happy9z I used the Turtle Wax Color Magic (Black). I don't know if they make a silver color. I would use the second wax I should in my video- Meguair's NXT Generation Tech Wax 2.0. It's around $15 and you pretty much can buy it anywhere. I think it gives the car an awesome shine and is totally worth the money! Good luck.
Much better bro,yea u don't wanna go past the clear coat.but you should be able to get just about a prfect match with dat buffer ur using..I prefer a variable speed polisher with different pads.but definitely looks much better than the first video..
Well done! However, it would b good to inform the viewers that this type of touch up will only look this good on solid colors. Any type of color w metallic in it, i.e silver, tan etc. will not turn out the same. Metallics shoot out of the paint gun in a specific pattern and without using a paint gun, the matallics will never lay down the same. Great video!
I have fixed a lot of scratches, and I think you did a good job on this video. I'm sure you picked up on a lot of small things you would do a bit differently next time, but overall real good info. I will be fixing some scratches later today on a silver car (these are hard to do). How was it that my daughter managed to scratch each of the four corners of her bumpers front and back? That's what I would like to know. ha!
Hi good video , was very informal to watch. I tried your method but I think I was to harsh on the sanding. My car door looks very hazzy even after adding the wax. Dilemma..can you please advise me. Thanks
My recommendation to you (or anyone watching this video looking for good info on scratch repair) is to watch any (preferably several) of the literally thousands of videos on UA-cam on this subject made by people who actually know what they're doing. No disrespect, just keepin' it real.
Yeah, I was going to say that you probably wet sanded the clear coat off of the surrounding paint when you were trying to level the paint to where the color was. Would have been better to get some spray clear coat and apply that on the whole area at that point. Or instead of sanding as much as you did, apply the clear coat at the start of the video to level it off the scratch. Then let that cure and wet sand it smooth. Then compound, then polish and then finally wax. Compounding takes out the scratches made by wet sanding. Polishing takes out the scratches put in my compounding. At that point you shouldn't have any scratches and then apply a wax to seal the paint. Applying the wax earlier in the process just fills in the scratch with wax. And as the car is washed the wax wears off and the scratch comes back.
In all fairness I've watched tonnes of other vids and I've learnt more from this than many of the others. It ain't always about what to do, sometimes it's about what not to do
if you have a scratch on a bumper that got through the paint, do you have to prime the affected area first or can you just go ahead and start applying coats of paint to your car?????
Hi , i have 1 tip also.. After you sanded the new layerd touched up paint , spraypaint it with the same color and fade it over the original paint , after you did that , spraypaint it with brilliant lack and fade it like you did with the colorpaint .. After that you only have to polish it with your maschine or by hand , u won't see a thing ;) . Good luck ! From Holland
For the sanding you should have used 3000 after the 2000 like others have said, then you should have used both compounds, first the orange one you mentioned then the white one, then to a more fine polish, then wax. But it all depends on how much time and money you want to spend, I think you got nice results.
Nice job, Rich. Three questions: 1. you mentioned that this is the bumper, which is likely a plastic. use the same technique on metal? 2. I have a black BMW with many chips on the front. Some of the chips show an exposed white color while others show an exposed reddish color.. same technique and products on both? 3. what do you think of using a paint stick rather than a brush.? Thanks for the video and tips.
If you use a process called her back masking with your tape on the vehicle you are able to feather the paint instead of having the harsh straight line that tape could give. Making spraying the best solution.
Nice vid. This was uploaded quite some time ago. There have been a bunch of leaps in technology on polishing. using a Porter Cable 7424XP, Orange L.C. Pad and some M105 followed by M205 probably would have polished down to near perfect.
do you mind zooming in the end result actually im doing this to my car but i backed off because i wasnt sure what i was doing so far it seems you did a nice job i might try it again tomorrow but i would love to see some results from what you did mate and also is there a 3RD part of video?
Different components of the paint could have evaporated or deteriorated over time. Also, was the paint matched based off of your paint code on the car (it's usually under the hood, trunk, or in the inside panel of your front doors)?
nice job. use a soft block for back up block on 2000 or 2500 more uniform sanding. always straight strokes done this way you can actually buff by hand with a pro diminishing polish and micro fiber cloth with nice results. avoid circular sanding. using bare fingers causes irregular sanding which makes buffing more difficult. always soak wet sand paper for min 30 minutes prior to use...makes it more flexible less irregular scratches...use a few drops of liquid soap for lube in bucket of water
Good video, my only suggestion is to use polish between the compound and wax. If you still have haziness go back to the Polish and then wax again. If it's still there then go back to the compound then polish then wax.
hey Guy.I just got a Ford f150 x.l. 2016.Theres this like wavy lines on gas cover & underneath the door by ground how can I smooth it out to look like the other paint?almost looks like they didn't finish something with paint from factory? Compound wax I was thinking?The truck is black by the way.
Hi Rich, great video! So awesome to see that we can actually do this ourselves and save a ton of money. I was wondering where do you get 3000 grit sand paper?
The haze at the end looks to me like the result of the polishing compound. The surrounding paint appears to have been rubbed with rubbing compound, which doesn't leave a haze. Apply the rubbing compound to the entire panel followed by waxing should solve the problem. Sanding with anything above a 2500 grit is rarely necessary for a street car. If the problem is not solved with rubbing compound, which it should, and the clear coat thick enough, slightly wet sand the entire panel with a 2500 grit to even it out. Then, polish; rub and finally wax the entire panel. if the clear coat is too thin or the haze persistent, consider repainting or spraying with clear coat over the entire panel to thicken it after wet sanding the whole panel existing clear coat. Proceed with polishing and rubbing. This will create a weak paint-clear coat bond that will only last up to 2 years depending on weather conditions. Allow to rest for 2 weeks before waxing with breathing wax.
Could it be that or it's simply normal? I didn't sand (totally forgot to sand the paint and coating). For now, it's 4 layer of paint, 10 min dry (big wind where I am) and 3 or 4 layers of clear coat. I don't have anything to buff but I will polish using wax. Thanks
I thought the only time you would need to use primer is if the scratch was showing bare metal, if not just make sure that the area is clean from any wax or contaminants before applying your touch-up paint. The clean, degreased original primer should be ok for a good paint adhesion. Try and rub out the scratch first with compound to see if the scratch even went through your clear coat, if not, you might be able to just buff it with compound and polish.
Yes, it did save me money as well as the hassle of having to drop my car off and not have it for a few days. It probably saved me around $100 or more. The buffer was only $20 and the paint was around $15. Honestly, I have brought my car multiple times to the auto-body shop, and I got sick of doing it (and wasting money). Thanks for the comment!
A month ago I had someone key both passenger doors of my car. One side has 4 very deep long scratches & the other side has around 30 or so bad scratch marks covering half the car door. I don't know who or even why someone did this but it's very upsetting. Bc there are a lot I'm not sure the same method would work for me? I have looked at many videos and gather I need touch up paint matching my car color (red), filler paint, 3,000 grit sandpaper, & a buffer. Any tips on how I can go about fixing it myself would be greatly appreciated.
I would think that before applying clear coat, it might turn out better if you buff out the miniscule sanding scratches(haze) and than apply your clear coat to see how much blending your getting(that is one of the main purposes of the clear coat) Than repeat the process of lightly wet sanding to level it out with the original paint and than buff and wax. At least that is my plan for what Im doing to my car soon.
Use a rubbing or cutting compound and rub the scratch like hell to remove rust. Once done, use a primer as suggested in the video and then follow these instructions to fill the scratch with touch up paint. Take your time sanding and do it lightly. Don't try and rub it down in 10 strokes. Use 3000 grit if copounding by hand. Try also to feather the edge of your sanding area to remove any wayward sanding scratches. Feather by very lighty sanding the edge of the sanding area just a few times.
To get a better result, you'll have to use a machine polisher as opposed to a buffer. Otherwise, the new video is a great improvement over the original. Also, I'd use paper on a sanding block to get a nice, even finish. Stores like O'Reilly's and Autozone sell a decent assortment of papers and other body repair materials.
so to be clear: I can use my Meguiars Ultimate compound applied with a buffind pad instead of the 3000 grit sandpaper? and this would be done after applying paint/clearcoat and before waxing the area?
Stephanie Padilla You can polish the paint by hand, it requires some real elbow grease. A sanding sponge will reduce the scratching by knocking down the ridges from touch-up paint to blend it in. There are also some drill powered polishing pads (used on headlights) that are inexpensive and work well for spot repairs.
also, that machine you have is for waxing. You should get a rotary one they work a lot better and quicker. they sell them at harbor freight for like $30 and use a yellow pad for buffing and a black one for polish
Can anybody help with what to the hood of my car my dad and his brother got over their heads on becoming painters and were trying to fix my hood without me knowing what they did is put several canned clear coat sand it don't know what grit they used then buffed it don't know what compound or material they buffed it with now the hood looks hazy with white marking that are I'm there it looks like if they painted with a paint roller. Any help in what compound did he used in the video and material
Thank you its people like you on youtube who are helping others who cannot afford taking it to paint shop.
It's great to see you being so positive in your replies. Most people get really mean when people start criticizing their videos, but I have noticed everything you have said has been nice.
great video 11 years later! this is still one of the very best videos on blending crappy touch up paint out there. thank you
For someone who's just about to try to touch up a few chips on my pretty new BMW 430i I found this video really useful, basically cos you're just like me: ain't got a clue but learning as you go! Cheers
Thanks bro, I am ordering some touch up for my pickup. Wasn't quite sure how to do such a small amount of paint. I'm glad some experts chipped in too in the comments! Good work
Super Great Video. A truck pulled into the same panel on my Toyota yesterday. Mostly rub marks with a few places where the paint came off. I used wax and it cleaned up about 99% of the rub marks. Now I will be fixing the five spots of missing paint. Could not believe she pulled into me. Thanks for all your help. :)
Hey Rich, that looks good bro! As a professional detailer, can I give you some helpful tips for the future? First of all, you NEVER wanna sand in a circular motion! You do more damage that way to your paint. You always sand from left to right and stay as consistant as possible with light to moderate pressure. Second, stay away from the paste compounds. What you should be using for sanding jobs on any vehicle is Meguiars M105 Ultra Cut Compound. It's the best liquid compound around for tough jobs. It'll make your job a hell of a lot easier. Last, anytime you sand, you don't want to be using an orbital polisher cause there's not enough speed to take the haziness out completely. You should be using a DA Buffer or rotory high speed buffer. It takes half of the time instead of workibg 5 times harder and 20 times longer. Just apply the liquid compound on the yellow pad (compounding pad)and and smear it on the surface you're going to be working on a little bit so it doesn't splatter when you turn the buffer on, then you can start buffing the compound into the paint with low RPM's to start. After you start seeing the compound starting to haze a little, then you can crank up the RPM's a little more. As I noticed, you were polishing in circles also. That's how you can put haze marks, also known as holograms into the paint. You gotta move from right to left bro. Other than that, I think it looks good man. You sure did put some work into it. Maybe a little more than it should have been but that's because you were using an orbital polisher, not a high speed buffer. Great work man. I hope you can use those techniques I mentioned to you to cut your time in half and work less? It's up to you though. Hope this helped a little. Keep the world clean, one shine at a time!
Scratched the FRS and this video will be my guide...looking forward to letting you kow it goes...this was a great help to build confidence for me to DIY. Thanks
The 2nd video is an improvement. The rubbing alchohol trick helped me to removed the dirt and grime, showing the real paint underneath which I thought was a scratch.
Keep it up and thanks for the tips.
black cars are the most difficult to touch up and buff up after, you have done a great job. I fixed my silver bumper on my tacoma, and it looks brand new after waxing, silver is a lot easier to fix than black though. well done.
If you are working by hand, after you are done with the 2000 grit sandpaper, do a 3000 grit sand paper sanding. It will make the scratches a lot easier to remove with the compound. As others have mentionned, that wax spreader is useless for componding and polishing... just do it by hand. Use a small wax applicator pad (microfiber, cloth or sponger, doesn't matter) and compound until you can no longer see the haze. Then do a polishing step with a finishing polish. The best combo you can buy on a retail level is Meguiars Ultimate Compound and Ultimate Polish. That will bring the shine back to the paint. Then apply a wax or sealant to protect the area. Also when sanding, using a sanding block or something that makes the sandpaper really flat is pretty much a must if you want to do a good job. In a bind, use a kitchen sponge. Just make sure only the sand paper touch the paint, not the scotchbrite pad, or you will ruin the paint.
Thanks for making this video. My car got scratched while sitting in the parking lot and I totally freaked me out (new car!). After watching your detailed video, I'm now in the process of fixing this myself. I'm not finished yet, but thanks to you, I know have a clear plan of action on how to fix it. Plus I can take care of small chips in my car from random rocks and such. Great job!
Thanks for this video! It showed me not only what to do, but the possibilities that come from doing it incorrectly. I'm much more confident in the fixes I'm about to make, so thank you for this.
Had a tilted street sign jump out and graze the rear side of my car last night...just enough to take about 6 inches of paint off. I'm waiting on an estimate for repairs, but I may just try your method if it costs too much for a shop to do it. Thanks for posting!
you did a great job buddy for your experience BLACK is the hardest to get right but none the less awsome work practice makes perfect
good job man. I been painting cars for a while too and I learned something new from you. This will actually be helping my job much more efficient now. Btw, buy yourself a porter cable 7424xp . Best polisher for amateurs and pros. Very safe to use no matter what speed youre on. It'll shine your car up real good!
Thanks a lot man! Ya it took two tries, but it finally looks good! I hate how black always shows everything, but I love the way it looks.
Cool stuff man, I like how you are experimenting on camera so that the viewer can know what to do and what not to do! it's very effective!
Clear coat works really well as it blends in the paint, I used 3 base coats and a clear coat, then used t cut to blend and smooth the paint which left a bit of a haze before adding a final clear coat and rubbing compound.
I use this to touch up chips and dings in guitars. I found it best to use a tiny brush with lacquer thinner to smooth the edges of the scratch or chipis. Then fill up the scratch with paint a couple layers. Then fill the rest of the way up the clear until it sits up proud of the surface. Then sand 1500 then with 2000. Then hit with a scratch remover compound with a drill and buffing wheel. (The rotation works better then the vibration buffer) Then a polish.
And I try not to stand the original finish so much.
Thank you for the video! I really learned how to fix my own car's scratches!
Nice video...thanks....had to touch up my daughters car...thanks for taking the time to post the video....appreciate it.
Good job! Compared to before, it's night and day. Even if it's not "professionally" repaired, it's still almost 100 times better than before, and at a fraction of the price.
I think you did a good job. You researched, provided clear steps, and even gave tips from your own mistakes. Not many people will do that.
Great video. About to go work on my Toyota Prius with touch up paint for first time. Thanks!
Never seen a body shop painter sand in circular motion. Always sanded a 90 degree angle to the area that needed to be sanded. Even when using a da sand 90 degrees to the area. Now there up to 6000 grit sand paper which makes pull out that sanding marks so easy. You can do it with a da instead of a rotary polisher and a wool pad with a heavy cutting compound.
Interesting. I like the idea of using the 6000 grit sandpaper.
RichsMethods 6000 grit? What is that, like notebook paper? lol
thanks, nice videos. only suggestions i would have is you want to sand in only one direction, not circular.any small flat "block" can be used as a sanding block, it just helps keep your pressure even when you are sanding. cut a piece of paper a little larger than the block so you can wrap it around the block and hold it in place when sanding.follow the compound with a less abrasive polish, look for something like a finishing polish or final polish. this will remove the compounding haze.
This is much better than your first attempt. And you really surprised me when you busted out the buffer haha.
Hey thanks! Ya I was much happier with the final result.
Great job Rich, very clear and easy to follow tutorial! I'll definitely use this if my car ever gets scratched... NOT! j/k It looks great, I just hope that same guy doesn't park next to me :-P
I have a very small (2 inch) scratch on a side body panel of my car and have watched your video about 4 times and will try it out later today and tomorrow. Like I said, a much smaller repair but I'll let you know if it worked. Thanks!
@happy9z I used the Color Magic (Black Wax) because it fills any voids in the paint with colored wax- giving an even better finish. If your car has a lot of nicks and/or scratches in it, the colored wax works great to fill in those voids. Because your car is silver though, the normal Meguiar's NXT generation wax should work fine. I used to have a silver car and the Meguiar's worked great. I recommend getting the Meguiar's for your color car.
I watched your first video and thought that didn't work.
Then I watched your second video and that's kind of the way I would have done it so well done and thanks for helping others out there.
Thank you for watching both videos. I kept the first video up because I figured I would be to reach more viewers that way. I'm thinking of taking it down though because I did a better job in the 2nd video. I appreciate it!
Omg, this is the best method I've ever seen. Perfect! I'll try this later. Thank you !
@NavVvStar Buffer is preferable, but a good microfiber or soft terry cloth towel should be fine. The buffer requires less effort so it makes it easier to do, but you don't have to use one.
Great Rich.. I learned a lot. I'll be trying your method soon...Thanks for your effort.
@rcorrea26 The clear coat isn't necessary as long as you are careful when adding the paint. I've touched up my car a few times without the clear coat. I actually used to own a silver Neon as well. The clear coat gives it a nice touch though and would seal the paint (allowing it to last longer).
Thank you! Your video was the best to help me fix my brand new Toyota's scratch. It was very simple and easy to follow your video. :)
Just a little heads up in NZ i use a product called 'JIFF' its a white coloured fine paste used as a whiteware cleaner and its great as a very fine buffing or a scratch remover as its so fine over doing it is very hard to do...give it ago on a faded old bonnet and you will see what i mean plus its great for cleaning mag wheels...let me know how you got on...cheers
I've been painting cars for close to 20 years What you did wasn't bad I just have 1thing. That haze you have isn't because you sanded too hard its because that wasn't a buffer you were using to buff with Its was more of a polisher used for aplying wax and polish, not compound. they sell little buffer pads you can stick to an electric drill at auto parts stores that would work better. You need more friction and heat to get those scratches out. Don't listen to these shade tree detailers who know nothing, what you did was fine (not at all perfect lol but fine )just next time use a real buffer
Brandon Steele Wow, my mind was just blown. Thanks for comment! I've been wanting to buy those attachments for my drill.
Brandon Steele RichsMethods what he said :). Also I know you uploaded this vid in 2011 but you mentioned a sanding sponge early in the video just wanted to say that you can cop those at homedepot or lowes for a few dollars. I think they only sell low grit sponges(up to 3 or 400 i think, not sure) but I just wrap watever grit I need around it. Nice job!
Totally agree, the buffet he was using is a worthless piece of equipment. They are far too slow.
hah i had one of those buffers once.. i think it cost $19.95..
Can you be a little more specific? There are lots of polishers out there, but how can you tell if it is a buffer? Speed? How fast? I just want to do a Q&D on an older PU, the clear coat is gone. I was just going to go and spray bomb new clear coat, and buff it out. nothing fussy.
Great video RichsMethod. Good to see you can take consctuctive comment. It's also nice to see a bare-bones scratch repair without expensive machinery and compounds. Well done for posting mate.
i like your video compare to others. i have to touch up my car soon. ur finishing touch looks good.
Thanks! Good luck.
Best touch up paint video ever, thankyou so much!!!!
I liked your video, and I'm sure it helps a lot of people who are distraught by a gnarly scratch in their paint, and not able to pay $$ to have a shop fix it.
My only tip(s) is that if you add a small drop of Dawn soap to your bottle of water, it helps lubricate a better, degreases as well. For the kind of repair you're doing, you were on track with using the primer after the scratch was super clean and degreased...then the paint and clear.
One thing I've seen a lot of people do that causes a bad result, or takes a lot longer in finishing....is to put paint 'over' the scratch. The touch up paint should 'fill' the scratch, instead of brushing over it. Using a capillary action will fill the void without causing it to brush/flow over the edges.
Lastly... as a lot of people have mentioned here... is to always use a SMALL sanding block instead of fingers. Autozone (and most others) have a small kit that's like $14 that has a small wedge block and several stick-on grades of paper for finish work. The highest I've ever used on a car before finishing/buffing is 2000 grit. Otherwise, it takes way too long and the results (on a road car) are not worth the effort. Depending on the severity, I'll wet sand at 800-1000-1500-2000 - then on to machine work.
Again, cool video, great attitude, and clean production!
petrol88 Wow thanks for the ideas! I'll definitely keep these in mind next time.
RichsMethods Nice video. Thanks for upgrading it. Also, you can use a hair dryer or heat gun to very gently dry it on low heat so you don't have to wait 24 hours. I used to work in a test lab and we did that all the time with paint. But as with everything in this project, gentle is better, less is more.
Dennis Johnson
hi how long would you use the hair dryer for? and how long would you wait after using the hair dryer. thanks.
NEVER use dawn dish soap on paint!
Everplex Media LLC... For general washing a car, sure. Nothing at all wrong with Dawn for prep or wet sanding.
question for you. Does paint get bad? I bought a spray can that I custom fill with my car colors about 1 year ago. I tried to used it this year and what funny is (my car is red with sprinkle in it) while I apply it, it's perfect match. But once it dry out, it's way more darker and mate. Since I was doing touch up from stone chip, I spray the paint in a cup and used a small brush (pretty much the same as you used) to make the touch up.
@happy9z I used the Turtle Wax Color Magic (Black). I don't know if they make a silver color. I would use the second wax I should in my video- Meguair's NXT Generation Tech Wax 2.0. It's around $15 and you pretty much can buy it anywhere. I think it gives the car an awesome shine and is totally worth the money! Good luck.
Much better bro,yea u don't wanna go past the clear coat.but you should be able to get just about a prfect match with dat buffer ur using..I prefer a variable speed polisher with different pads.but definitely looks much better than the first video..
Well done! However, it would b good to inform the viewers that this type of touch up will only look this good on solid colors. Any type of color w metallic in it, i.e silver, tan etc. will not turn out the same. Metallics shoot out of the paint gun in a specific pattern and without using a paint gun, the matallics will never lay down the same. Great video!
I have fixed a lot of scratches, and I think you did a good job on this video. I'm sure you picked up on a lot of small things you would do a bit differently next time, but overall real good info. I will be fixing some scratches later today on a silver car (these are hard to do). How was it that my daughter managed to scratch each of the four corners of her bumpers front and back? That's what I would like to know. ha!
There's also clear coat polish as an alternative to wax at the end, I think that replaces your clear coat pen technique.
😻😻😻😻😻! I did that to my front driver bumper side and back passenger side. Easy fix! Thank you!!
Hi good video , was very informal to watch. I tried your method but I think I was to harsh on the sanding. My car door looks very hazzy even after adding the wax. Dilemma..can you please advise me. Thanks
Thanks for the info. I did the same thing while filming this video. Light strokes and keep checking!
Very thorough and clear.
I liked the video mainly for your great manners. Thank you.
My recommendation to you (or anyone watching this video looking for good info on scratch repair) is to watch any (preferably several) of the literally thousands of videos on UA-cam on this subject made by people who actually know what they're doing. No disrespect, just keepin' it real.
I think that's a great idea. The more perspectives you can get the better.
Yeah, I was going to say that you probably wet sanded the clear coat off of the surrounding paint when you were trying to level the paint to where the color was. Would have been better to get some spray clear coat and apply that on the whole area at that point.
Or instead of sanding as much as you did, apply the clear coat at the start of the video to level it off the scratch. Then let that cure and wet sand it smooth. Then compound, then polish and then finally wax.
Compounding takes out the scratches made by wet sanding. Polishing takes out the scratches put in my compounding. At that point you shouldn't have any scratches and then apply a wax to seal the paint.
Applying the wax earlier in the process just fills in the scratch with wax. And as the car is washed the wax wears off and the scratch comes back.
In all fairness I've watched tonnes of other vids and I've learnt more from this than many of the others. It ain't always about what to do, sometimes it's about what not to do
if you have a scratch on a bumper that got through the paint, do you have to prime the affected area first or can you just go ahead and start applying coats of paint to your car?????
Thanks for the video bro. I have to do this myself and feel a lot more comfortable about it.
You're welcome. Glad to help out.
Hi , i have 1 tip also..
After you sanded the new layerd touched up paint , spraypaint it with the same color and fade it over the original paint , after you did that , spraypaint it with brilliant lack and fade it like you did with the colorpaint .. After that you only have to polish it with your maschine or by hand , u won't see a thing ;) . Good luck ! From Holland
Wow, thanks for the tip. Hello from the USA!
wow I like all your work and that color shirt and your shorts look really good on you. Nice!
For the sanding you should have used 3000 after the 2000 like others have said, then you should have used both compounds, first the orange one you mentioned then the white one, then to a more fine polish, then wax. But it all depends on how much time and money you want to spend, I think you got nice results.
Thank you very much! Doing something new is always a learning experience. Your videos explained a lot. Good job!
You're welcome!
Nice job, Rich. Three questions:
1. you mentioned that this is the bumper, which is likely a plastic. use the same technique on metal?
2. I have a black BMW with many chips on the front. Some of the chips show an exposed white color while others show an exposed reddish color.. same technique and products on both?
3. what do you think of using a paint stick rather than a brush.?
Thanks for the video and tips.
I have 'Touch Up' brand from Japan,is it has the same ways to use? Thankz
Can't wait to try this on my truck. Great channel. Keep up the good work
If you use a process called her back masking with your tape on the vehicle you are able to feather the paint instead of having the harsh straight line that tape could give. Making spraying the best solution.
Nice vid. This was uploaded quite some time ago. There have been a bunch of leaps in technology on polishing. using a Porter Cable 7424XP, Orange L.C. Pad and some M105 followed by M205 probably would have polished down to near perfect.
do you mind zooming in the end result actually im doing this to my car but i backed off because i wasnt sure what i was doing so far it seems you did a nice job i might try it again tomorrow but i would love to see some results from what you did mate and also is there a 3RD part of video?
Different components of the paint could have evaporated or deteriorated over time. Also, was the paint matched based off of your paint code on the car (it's usually under the hood, trunk, or in the inside panel of your front doors)?
nice job. use a soft block for back up block on 2000 or 2500 more uniform sanding. always straight strokes done this way you can actually buff by hand with a pro diminishing polish and micro fiber cloth with nice results. avoid circular sanding. using bare fingers causes irregular sanding which makes buffing more difficult. always soak wet sand paper for min 30 minutes prior to use...makes it more flexible less irregular scratches...use a few drops of liquid soap for lube in bucket of water
would a block be a good idea to not sand down to the paint? Or to prevent oversanding?
Good video, my only suggestion is to use polish between the compound and wax. If you still have haziness go back to the Polish and then wax again. If it's still there then go back to the compound then polish then wax.
AW! No fair. You should have shown the final finished area so that the results help make future decisions. Thank you for sharing
hey Guy.I just got a Ford f150 x.l. 2016.Theres this like wavy lines on gas cover & underneath the door by ground how can I smooth it out to look like the other paint?almost looks like they didn't finish something with paint from factory? Compound wax I was thinking?The truck is black by the way.
Is there any reason you wouldn't want to place painters tape to contain the surface area that is being sanded?
I've use a 320 sandpaper instead of 3000 by mistake and I left scratches around the original scratch. how can I make it look as before? Thank you
Good job of explaining what you are doing. This vid helped me. Thx
Hi Rich, great video! So awesome to see that we can actually do this ourselves and save a ton of money. I was wondering where do you get 3000 grit sand paper?
Thanks! I think I got it at a NAPA auto store. But I know I saw it at AutoZone and Advanced Auto.
do you need to use the sandpaper if is completely filled in and looks good?
If I do not have a electric buffer can I buff it by hand
The haze at the end looks to me like the result of the polishing compound. The surrounding paint appears to have been rubbed with rubbing compound, which doesn't leave a haze. Apply the rubbing compound to the entire panel followed by waxing should solve the problem. Sanding with anything above a 2500 grit is rarely necessary for a street car. If the problem is not solved with rubbing compound, which it should, and the clear coat thick enough, slightly wet sand the entire panel with a 2500 grit to even it out. Then, polish; rub and finally wax the entire panel.
if the clear coat is too thin or the haze persistent, consider repainting or spraying with clear coat over the entire panel to thicken it after wet sanding the whole panel existing clear coat. Proceed with polishing and rubbing. This will create a weak paint-clear coat bond that will only last up to 2 years depending on weather conditions. Allow to rest for 2 weeks before waxing with breathing wax.
Could it be that or it's simply normal? I didn't sand (totally forgot to sand the paint and coating). For now, it's 4 layer of paint, 10 min dry (big wind where I am) and 3 or 4 layers of clear coat. I don't have anything to buff but I will polish using wax. Thanks
I thought the only time you would need to use primer is if the scratch was showing bare metal, if not just make sure that the area is clean from any wax or contaminants before applying your touch-up paint. The clean, degreased original primer should be ok for a good paint adhesion. Try and rub out the scratch first with compound to see if the scratch even went through your clear coat, if not, you might be able to just buff it with compound and polish.
a paint stick with the sandpaper wraped around makes a good block for little stuff
Thanks for the information and the comment!
Yes, it did save me money as well as the hassle of having to drop my car off and not have it for a few days. It probably saved me around $100 or more. The buffer was only $20 and the paint was around $15. Honestly, I have brought my car multiple times to the auto-body shop, and I got sick of doing it (and wasting money). Thanks for the comment!
A month ago I had someone key both passenger doors of my car. One side has 4 very deep long scratches & the other side has around 30 or so bad scratch marks covering half the car door. I don't know who or even why someone did this but it's very upsetting. Bc there are a lot I'm not sure the same method would work for me? I have looked at many videos and gather I need touch up paint matching my car color (red), filler paint, 3,000 grit sandpaper, & a buffer. Any tips on how I can go about fixing it myself would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks again for the tips! Hello from across the pond.
I would think that before applying clear coat, it might turn out better if you buff out the miniscule sanding scratches(haze) and than apply your clear coat to see how much blending your getting(that is one of the main purposes of the clear coat) Than repeat the process of lightly wet sanding to level it out with the original paint and than buff and wax. At least that is my plan for what Im doing to my car soon.
Use a rubbing or cutting compound and rub the scratch like hell to remove rust. Once done, use a primer as suggested in the video and then follow these instructions to fill the scratch with touch up paint. Take your time sanding and do it lightly. Don't try and rub it down in 10 strokes. Use 3000 grit if copounding by hand. Try also to feather the edge of your sanding area to remove any wayward sanding scratches. Feather by very lighty sanding the edge of the sanding area just a few times.
That's awesome. First time I seen the work "Videogenic".
I never heard of T-cut but it looks like a great product. Thanks for the info!
Start with rubbing compound. If that doesn't work you may have to sand, but just try to keep your sanding strokes small.
To get a better result, you'll have to use a machine polisher as opposed to a buffer. Otherwise, the new video is a great improvement over the original. Also, I'd use paper on a sanding block to get a nice, even finish. Stores like O'Reilly's and Autozone sell a decent assortment of papers and other body repair materials.
so to be clear: I can use my Meguiars Ultimate compound applied with a buffind pad instead of the 3000 grit sandpaper? and this would be done after applying paint/clearcoat and before waxing the area?
For the wet sanding, you could have sanded it with 2000grit and then sand over that with 2500 or 3000grit. then apply the compound.
Is there a way you can do that without the buffer tool? I need to fix my car it has lot of scratches and rust in some parts...
Stephanie Padilla You can polish the paint by hand, it requires some real elbow grease. A sanding sponge will reduce the scratching by knocking down the ridges from touch-up paint to blend it in. There are also some drill powered polishing pads (used on headlights) that are inexpensive and work well for spot repairs.
i know this isn't going to help, but ur beautiful! hope u fixed ur car.
also, that machine you have is for waxing. You should get a rotary one they work a lot better and quicker. they sell them at harbor freight for like $30 and use a yellow pad for buffing and a black one for polish
Nice vid sounds sensible will try 3 layers and sand down.
Can anybody help with what to the hood of my car my dad and his brother got over their heads on becoming painters and were trying to fix my hood without me knowing what they did is put several canned clear coat sand it don't know what grit they used then buffed it don't know what compound or material they buffed it with now the hood looks hazy with white marking that are I'm there it looks like if they painted with a paint roller. Any help in what compound did he used in the video and material
Thanks for the video, I am going to try this myself!