Can I buff out my brother's de-badging "help?"

I let my brother "help" me debadge my truck yesterday. When he finished, everything looked great. But when I looked at the tailgate today, I noticed a bunch of little scratches where the badges used to be, as well a slight outline of the badges. I tried to get the best possible pictures for you guys. The pictures show more of a color separation between the paint and the scratches so it's not quite as bad as the pictures look; but its close. I realized some of the scratches might be through the paint, but it looks as though most of them are not.

So my question is, can I clean this up with a buffer and/or elbow grease? If so, which products would you recommend I use? I really don't want to have to get my tailgate painted but I realize that might be a possibility. Thanks for any help or suggestions.

 

Hard to tell, from the pics, but if the white primer is showing through, too late for buffing, IMO.

 

How did he create these scratches? Is that primer showing through?

Also for future reference: The best way to de-badge is to use fishing line and a blow dryer.. Heat up the badge, use fishing line as a saw, the bar and tar remover for the rest.

 

Did you use a screwdriver ?

 

He used a plastic scraper. The kind you use to remove interior body pieces like door panels. The scratches are white, and the paint is Barcelona Red so it could be the primer.

I told him about the fishing line, but he said he used the plastic scraper on his car and didn't have any problems.

 

He might as well have at this point. It probably wouldn't be any more messed up than it is now.

 

It is hard to tell from the pictures... if they're just scuffs in the clear coat, I'd try some rubbing compound with a polisher. I've used Meguiar's Ultimate Compound and a dual action polisher and got some pretty nasty stuff out. If it's too deep you may have to go to wet sanding and polishing. Take it to a pro if that's not in your comfort zone.

 

The scraper may have had some ridges worn into it

 

Thanks! I'm sure some of it is just scratches in the clear coat but probably not all of it. I'll give rubbing compound a try and see what happens. If wet sanding is necessary I'll take it to a pro. And if my brother offers to do the wet sanding instead, I'll punch him right in the face and tell him to stay away from my paint!

 

This.

If you can feel the scratches with your fingernail, the clearcoat is compromised. He owes you a new paint job.
If you can not feel them, it should buff out.

The "ghosting" from the color fade, OTOH, is there forever. That is in the red under the clear and it won't buff out. Red is a horrible color for fade and I would never debadge a red vehicle older than 6 months or so.

 

I just went out and felt around. I can barely feel only a few small spots. Most of it feels pretty smooth though. If most of it buffs out but I ultimately need a new paint job, should I put some kind of coating on the tail gate until it gets painted? I'm pretty sure my brother doesn't have enough money laying around to pay for it right away so it might be a month or two before it would happen.

I wish I would have known this three days ago.

Thanks for the help.

 

It really doesn't look that bad but it might just be the pictures.

Give a quick finger blast with polish and it will probably come out. I'm pretty much positive that at the very least the colour will come back. You might be able to see the scratch in the right light at the right angle but I don't think paying a couple hundred bucks to fix a really small imperfection on a truck is worth it personally.

 

LOL. He probably already has the right tool for the job!

 

"Hey man, check out this new 80 grit wet-or-dry I got from the body guy!"

 

LOL

If the ghosting and/or the scratches bother you too much, you can always put the badge back on over it

 

This^ don't do it by hand use a buffer with light pressure Meguire's compound is great stuff just use a light touch and let the compound do the work.

 

Seems like Meguires is the stuff to use. I'll definitely pick up some of that soon. I won't have time to get to it until next week but I'll update you guys after its finished. Hopefully with good news. Thanks for the help everyone.

 

Haha. Man, if he said that I seriously think I would punch him. But he's being nice about the scratches though. He said if using Meguires at home doesn't work that he'd pay to take it somewhere and get it fixed properly.

 

Griot's Garage http://www.griotsgarage.com/ has some great car care products. I had some scratches from taking my truck out on the trails and their polishes took them out. Good luck.

 

That's cool.

Let him fix it... then throat-punch him