what compound/product to remove paint scuffs?

[earlyre]

so after a little while at work today, I went out to my car to put something in, opened the passenger door, and something went POP!
didn't see anything that had fallen out closed the door, and saw This:

some... lovely person... gave me a nice door ding, and no note, they didn't come in the store, and say "hey...is that red car yours?" etc. they just hightailed it out of there...
and of course there are no cameras on that parkinglot....
grrr...

I can Deal with the dent... it's a 7-8 yr old car, and I work at a Grocery store...dents and dings happen... just...GRRR!!

 

[Lubener]

That's more than a door ding. You might be able to push most of that dent out from inside the door.
I would try some polishing compound first and if that doesn't do it, try rubbing compund. If the scratches went through the paint, there's not much you can do other that repainting.

 

[SatinSilver]

PDR specialist should take care of that. Sometimes they will buff out the scratches. Although that probably needs touch up paint. Chris Fix on YT has an excellent scratch repair video. Meguiars Ultimate Compound is good.

 

[Gimpy1]

The general rule to determine if a scratch will buff out is if you can feel it with your fingernail its too deep and requires a conventional repair. The dent appears to be a candidate for PDR. The scratches appear to have gone thru the clear and base coat. You say you can live with the scratches, but I highly recommend that you at least get a touch up pen and cover up the deep scratches, reason being that the you may start to get rust in that area, especially with winter coming.

 

[earlyre]

The general rule to determine if a scratch will buff out is if you can feel it with your fingernail its too deep and requires a conventional repair. The dent appears to be a candidate for PDR. The scratches appear to have gone thru the clear and base coat. You say you can live with the scratches, but I highly recommend that you at least get a touch up pen and cover up the deep scratches, reason being that the you may start to get rust in that area, especially with winter coming.

Didn't say I could live with the scratches, said I can live with the dent...

 

[earlyre]

just back from the body shop. he's gonna email me a real estimate, but the verbal was about $1600. scratches are through the paint, esp/ that one right on the body line.
they'll have to repaint/blend that side of the car. YAY!
now I guess i need to call the Insurance Company....more fun....
oh well...thank god for good insurance and a $250 deductible.

 

[earlyre]

Real estimate came in just over $1400.
Talked to the insurance, they have a policy for this type of hit and run/ no fault of the customer accident that lowers the deductible to $100. ! Woohoo!

 

[danez_yoda]

I wouldn't pay that for that small dent.

See a paintless dent repair guy for a low cost pullout of the dent.

Then this is what you do. Get some touchup paint from the dealership with the brushes. Just the paint no clear needed.
but some 1500 grit wet and dry sandpaper from autozone. The little 4" x 8" sheets are perfect.

lightly sand the scratches so they ridges are flush with the rest of paint. Lots of water and light pressure on the paper. let the paper do the cutting. I wrap the paper around my finger and use 1 finger for this job.

The dry it and dig the scratch out with your fingernail.

now shake up the touchup paint and very carefully paint over the scratches. you want to overfull the scratches. wipe off any big access or drips with a paper towel.

Let the paint dry the use the wet/dry 1500 grit to lightly sand it until the paint is level with the surface of the other paint. It should be a even satin sheen. Be careful not to sand the flat part of the paint too hard. rinse and wipe dry.

next you can get Meguiars ultimate compound or a small tube of Meguiars scratch X. using a mircofiber cloth or foam applicator buff the area aggressively by hand you want to make heat as you are buffing. Once done the finishe will be shiny.

buff the residue off with a towel and enjoy. you should apply wax over the area since you have stripped it.

enjoy a pretty good repair that cost little more than an hour or so of your time.

 

[earlyre]

the VAST majority of the cost is repainting/blending that side of the car.
I have a vial of touch up, but... it'd never look right with the metallic paint.
besides, they're only charging me a $100 Deductible. so that's all I have to pay out of MY pocket.

do any manufacturer's use non-metallic flake paint anymore?

you over estimate my painting abilities.

 

[Crash Bandicoot]

Depends on how your insurance company handles claims, I’d file a claim on a dent like that because of the dent (I think the paint will clean up pretty nicely) but make no mistake you’re going to pay for it eventually in premium increases unless you have a lot of other things (business, real estate, multiple cars, etc) insured with the same company.

Confused as to why they have to paint the entire side of the car when it’s just one door that’s affected but maybe I’m looking at the picture wrong.

 

[earlyre]

Depends on how your insurance company handles claims, I’d file a claim on a dent like that because of the dent (I think the paint will clean up pretty nicely) but make no mistake you’re going to pay for it eventually in premium increases unless you have a lot of other things (business, real estate, multiple cars, etc) insured with the same company.

Confused as to why they have to paint the entire side of the car when it’s just one door that’s affected but maybe I’m looking at the picture wrong.

the scrapes are THROUGH the paint. they ain't "cleaning up"

That's just the nature of Getting Modern Metallic paints to blend in...

 

[Crash Bandicoot]

the scrapes are THROUGH the paint. they ain't "cleaning up"

That's just the nature of Getting Modern Metallic paints to blend in...

Ohh I’m sorry I misread your initial post and thought you were asking for advice instead of just commiseration. My apologies, sorry about the schmuck that hit your car, people suck.