Repairing Key scratch on door

[sarchevyman]

Hello, my wife scratched her new car with her key, the scratch is a fine line about 2" long, and it catches my finger nail as I run across it. It does not look like it is through the clear. How would I go about repairing this? Build the scratch up with clear, wet sand the area and compound, polish? or ???????????

Thanks for the help, Steve

[Len]

Hello, my wife scratched her new car with her key, the scratch is a fine line about 2" long, and it catches my finger nail as I run across it. It does not look like it is through the clear. How would I go about repairing this? Build the scratch up with clear, wet sand the area and compound, polish? or ???????????

Thanks for the help, Steve

A scratch can sometimes be sanded and polished out but if you can feel it with your finger nail it's most likely too deep to be helped by this process. Applying clear can sometimes work but it usually leaves a visible line however if I were a novice I'd try brushing the clear on then sanding and polishing first then, if that didnt' work, I'd try sanding until the scratch is gone then polishing. If you're not satisfied with either of those two methods you'll need to surrender to sanding it as if it were a chip, down to the bottom of the problem then apply a little filler primer, guide coat and block sand to level the surface. After the problem area is smooth and level you can apply color over the spot then clear the entire panel. I know it sounds extreme but spraying color over the problem then clearing the panel is probably the quickest way to do the job properly. The process for chip repair (below) is about the same as for scratch repair.

[Robert]

Or you could just try filling it with super glue then polishing off the excess.

Use a very fine brush and try not to get material outside the scratch.

Take Care,
Robert

[sarchevyman]

Thanks for the help

[sarchevyman]

OK I tried the clear in the scratch method, no go. This is on a 06 civic, the area in question is the top of the door, (don't ask me how she got a scratch there!!!) This area has a end edge toward the hood no problem with the clear there, but the other side goes into the quarter panel. I talked to my jobber today and he sold me some dx840, seems like pretty cool stuff to blend in the clear at the start of the quarter. My question is this, the area of the repair is only about 1" running up and down on the panel, which is about 21/2 inches wide and about 2 feet long. I have always wanted to buy a touch up gun, is this a good repair size area to use one on? I hope so, this may be one of the times when my wife actually agrees to me spending more money on this hobby.

[Len]

Yes, this sounds like the right job and the right opportunity to get yourself a touch up gun.

[sarchevyman]

Thanks Len, I am going to get this a go today, I will let you know the results, I appreciate all the good advise. Steve

[Chris L]

Steve,i personally do not like sanding out a scratch because its way to easy to leave a bulls eye even after priming and blocking if not done correctly.I would rough up the scratch with120 paper then fill it using polyester putty with a razor blade so that there isnt much build up.Finall sand with 220 then 320 then prime.

[68-chevyman]

Good luck!

I think you might be a bit hastie, blending clear is one of the most difficult things in painting. You say it's an 06 I would clear edge to edge. It's just alot easier for a novice. For blending the clear edge MUST be past the base edge and the paint edge MUST be blended far enough to prevent the haio. LEN can you pull blending procedures for us>I* would like to see them also.

[sarchevyman]

Well I am up to my waist in it now!!! I have the base blended in, so the easy part is over now the clear, I have done a lot of research, practiced on a few panels, I guess we will see soon. I wish I could have waited for the u-pol product for the blended clear, I have read great reviews about it, but this is the weekend so the DX840 it is. :o
Looks like I will be a hero or a zero on this one, I can tell you I am learning a lot and really appreciate everyones advise and direction. Thanks again, Steve

[68-chevyman]

I never used UPOLs but I know the 840 is very good. Its what I use to blend clear.

[68-chevyman]

I can't stress enough how much I think you should clear the whole panel even with the fact that blending works if you work it. Fact is if your blend looks bad its hard to go back and fix.

[sarchevyman]

update, Clear came out really nice, using that DX840 really works nice, I used it like the p-sheet stated, mixed 50% into ready to spray clear and it melted the dry edge right in. Base is a little lighter then I would have wanted, I found I should have blended it further down the panel, but it is acceptable to me for a first time blend job.

Again, thanks for the help, Steve