Blizzard Pearl Scratches into the clear coat

Car washes are killer on car paint...especially if they use brushes. From now on, I would recommend washing with a foam mit and the "two-bucket method" with "grit guards". Google it and it will save you a lot of heartache with paint and clearcoat. As far as the scratch, it is likely there for good unless you know of a good detailer who is good with a buffer/orbital machine. Be very careful with this though...do not take it to just any old detailer...they WILL jack your car up even more. I am in Florida also and can recommend you some good people depending on where you are and how much you want to spend.

 

Try NuFinish Scratch Doctor first (repeated applications if necessary). It may diminish the fingernail-deep scratch enough so as not to be noticeable.

There are other DIY methods but not really for the beginners (i.e., Zaino PC Fusion will leave behind a haze if you don't break down the diminishing abrasive enough).

 

You lost me here.

Sorry, not trying to sound like a pompous nice person but those car washes are KILLER on paint. Do yourself a favor and purchase some quality car washing supplies and take pride in doing it yourself.

 

Geeeez! Sorry to hear of the scratches but how did you get into a car wash to begin with?

But after looking at the photos closely the pattern of the marks is so random it doesn't seem it came from the car wash. It looks more like a kid did that on purpose. I'd think if it came from the brushes it would be more uniform in nature. <Shrug>

Of the 40 cars I have owned only one ,ever went into a brush type wash. The one that did I didn't care about if it got marked or not.

I have seen videos of the "Dr. Color Chip" paint repair process and it looks interesting. However they only show little chips and not scratches being done. do not know if it would work for that or not.

Always wash by hand!

I use 100% wool wash mitts, one for only the paint and one for the wheels. The last thing I wash is the wheels so that the brake dust stays out of the water. Then I dry off using 100% cotton towels, like Fieldcrest or Cannon, these towels and the mitts have had the edge binding taken off in case it's made of a synthetic material that would scratch the paint.

Good luck with it!

 

What you have there is what detailers call "RIDS - Random Isolated Deep Scratches" that can and should be corrected by a professional, but considering the ability to catch it on your finger nail you can assume the defect is down into the base coat of the paint. So what the detailer will be able to do is level the Clear Coat to lessen the appearance of the scratch, otherwise you'll be stuck damp sanding the panel which is both expensive and risky even for a professional on factory paint, hope this helps.

Robert

 

read forum info or join and ask the people at Autogeek.net
they are really into paint finishes on cars and are very smart and creative
a search of a couple things you just mentioned should get you where you wanna go
you'll probly find a video on how to do it
good luck

 

+1 about Autogeek, I'm a member over there too, great site