The bright summer sun can be less forgiving to imperfections on your car’s bodywork, casting a shadow over your long drives in the country. That’s because sun rays reflecting off your car can reveal scratches that weren’t previously apparent.
Many drivers may despair and assume a visit to a car body repair shop – and the expenditure associated with it – is inevitable, but in reality most scratches that don’t go in too deep can be dealt with at home.
If you follow a few simple set of steps using commonly available materials you can remove almost any scratch from your car.
Light scratches on the surface of the paintwork can usually be fixed by polishing. Run your finger over the scratch and if you can’t feel it then you can polish it out.
Steps to follow for lighter scratches:
- Clean and dry the area to make sure that the scratch is clean before applying any new material to it.
- Use a fine cloth and some clear polish and begin gently buffing the scratch.
- Apply the polish in several thin layers to get the best results, allowing each layer to dry before applying the next.
- Once the scratch is removed, wipe away any excess material.
Household toothpaste can be enough for the lightest of scratches which have not penetrated the clearcoat to reach the paint. Apply toothpaste in a gentle circular motion to smooth out any small scratches – whitening toothpaste is recommended as it is more abrasive.
What to do if the scratch is deeper:
- Use a light abrasive pad to clean away any rough edges, then apply a cutting compound.
- Work the cutting compound into the scratch with a light pressure and finish the process off by waxing and polishing the car.
- If you are using any coloured products, make sure you know the exact name or code of your car’s paint to be able to get the right match.
- If it looks like the cutting compound will not do the job, some deeper scratches can be fixed with a scratch repair pen.
