How to deal with numerous scratches into clearcoat

fresh cut trees scratched truck up, any ideas?

 

How bad? Pics would help. There are quite a few detailer on here who can help. Try doing a search under "detailing".

 

Your first step would be purchasing a Dual Action polisher. The Griots Garage 6" random orbital polisher fitted with a 5" backing plate is a nice place to start. They can be purchased at Autogeek.com for about $150. Pads would run you another $40-60. The Porter Cable is a little cheaper but the Griots comes with a lifetime warranty and great customer service.

Next- spend some time on the Autogeek forum. Lots of how-to videos and write-ups regarding the process.

It's not quite as simple as picking up a polish and an applicator pad and spending an afternoon fixing it by hand (most likely).

 

What are the best pads for light scratches and swirls. I know there are many different ones...thanks

 

What color is the truck?

I have found that rarely are scratches and swirls light or minor lol but your truck is fairley new so maybe.

 

I have an MGM and a black truck, also have a Red sports car. These are mostly swirl marks. The new MGM Tacoma doesn't have any yet but I know it will eventually. I do use the 2 or 3 bucket wash method...

 

Pictures if you can.

True light scratches I'd go medium polish pad.

 

Won't be able to get pics for quite a while. Mostly only noticeable in the sun. Won't be much sun here till spring. These are the vehicles. I think the different colored pads are first different levels correct..

 

Not trying to steal your thread but like you I'm trying to find the an answer to a similar question. Hopefully he can help us both. A pic of the scratches will help..

 

These scratches are grooves, finger nail deep, into the paint.. but not into the underlying metal.

 

Good looking Ranger

 

Generally speaking, if you can feel them with your fingernail, they're too deep to simply polish out. Sure, you can try to polish them out, but you risk taking so much clear coat off in that area as to cause future problems with UV's causing a clear coat failure. If they're that deep, you're probably better off trying to minimize / cover / fill them than trying to totally remove them - especially if you've never done anything like this before.

Now if you have minor scratches and surface marring - that you cannot feel with your fingernail - you can almost certainly polish them out. Although I'd love to say that you should simply buy a "Brand X" polisher, "Brand Y" pads and "Brand Z" polish, it's not nearly that simple. In fact there are many, many combinations of pads, polishes, products and techniques that will lead to great (or terrible) results. The only way to really get great results is practice - guided by folks who have done this kind of thing before. That's how I got started 25 years ago and I now have 3 polishers / buffers, tons of different pads and way too many products to choose from.

As has already been said, a Griot's or even a

$139 Porter-Cable 7424XP PORTER-CABLE Car Polisher and Buffer, 6", Orbital, Variable Speed (7424XP)

Porter-Cable 7424XP random orbital polisher is a great machine to start with mostly because it's very hard to do any damage with them. Of course you can't do a ton of correction with them either. You can even buy complete starter kits with those machines that include a decent selection of basic products to get you started. And yes, good close up pics will help us help you much better.

 

Thanks, that was my first build almost 20yrs ago. Too much money to finish the way I want so it's been neglected...

 

^^ Yep, couldn't have said it better myself. I will add- the GG6 has a little more correcting power than the PC. The PC is a nice tool. Might just take a little longer than the GG6.

OP-- go to Autogeek and browse the pad section. I like lake country flat pads, lake country thin pros, and the Griots BOSS pads. After reading the pad descriptions, it'll help you formulate new questions (as will anything you learn from this point on). Anyone can learn how to polish paint- but it's definitely an "art". It's sorta like becoming a wildlife art painter-- it's tough for me to just say "get X paint, Y canvas, and Z brushes". It's a learning process.

 

Check out some of the work by LTDSC here on TW. He has great success with Shine Supply Classic Cut. Really it works great as a 1 step polish. I have converted over to using it myself.

 

if you want it done right take it to a professional. my truck looked keyed after this season on the trails, and my detailer got all the scratches out. then he applied another opticoat to help it for this coming season. truck looks brand new again

 

If you are looking at doing the work yourself, then I recommend getting a better polisher. I started with a PC and quickly realized I needed something better. I would recommend either a Griots Boss, Rupes Bigfoot, or Flex 3401. Yes, more money but its a lot less painful than buying 2 polishers....ask me how I know.

 

What about Mcguiar'so DA? I like their polishes so thought I'd ask. If the others are better that's fine. Just trying to learn here. Can only do so much with an orbital...lol

 

I have not personally used a Meguiar's DA polisher. I have used a Griot's, the Porter-Cable 7424 (and the newer

$139 7424XP PORTER-CABLE Car Polisher and Buffer, 6", Orbital, Variable Speed (7424XP)

7424XP), the Flex 3401 (my favorite), a Rupes Bigfoot, and numerous rotaries. I try to limit my recommendations to things I actually have experience with. That said, the Porter-Cable machines are plentiful, reasonably priced and can do a surprising amount of correction when used with the proper pads, products and technique. I started out with one and used the hell out of it learning to detail. (I still have and use it, but only for specific tasks.) That's why I recommended that machine.

 

Porter Cable.

There are so many better products out there than Mequires. So many more.

Like any product is better lol