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Magic or Luck?


jjackkrash

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I came home last night (I drove my Audi to work) and found a 5 inch long deep scratch on the front driver side quarter panel, above the wheel well, up near the windshield, on my new truck.  I have no idea how it got there.  I was pretty sure I was f'd because I could run my fingernail over it and my nail would solidly catch and it was deep and I was convinced it was through the clear.  I went through an hour or so alternating between anger and tears, and then even though it was getting dark I got out my shop lights and went to work with my buffers to see if I could at least make it look better.

I used mostly a Rupes Mille gear-driven forced orbital alternating with a Rupes mini random orbital with the course blue foam pads and the course blue cutting compound, and just kept hitting the spot.  Little by little it got better and I almost stopped a few times because I was worried about getting too deep into the clear.  But I just kept making passes until it pretty much disappeared.  Then I hit it with a few passes with a finer yellow foam pad and a finer polishing compound, and I'll be damned if the whole scratch isn't pretty much gone.  There must be a fairly thick layer of clear on that truck; although I am not sure how much is left on that spot because I must have pull quite a bit of material off to get rid of that scratch.  

This morning I could find about a 1/4 inch of hairline evidence of the scratch where the deepest part was using a Scangrip Sunmatch detailing light, but that's it.  It is almost impossible to see that little section without the detailing light and I only found it because I knew what I was looking for.  But I don't think I am going to press my luck anymore on the clear thickness.

I am going to hit the whole truck today with a machine polish and then cover the truck with a ceramic coating and hopefully give it a little more protection over the clear (especially that spot).  All said, I am pretty impressed with that Rupes forced orbital and the Rupes foam pads.  I wish I would have took a before pic now.    I feel like that forced orbital is magic to take out something that deep without leaving a hint of holograms or swirls, but really it is luck that I had enough clear to take out a scratch that deep. 

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Ceramic + top coat finished.  I have about 15 hours into it.  

Pressure wash;

Wash with dish soap; pressure rinse;

Apply Car Pro Tar-X; sponge in; pressure rinse;

Apply Car Pro Iron-X; sponge in; pressure rinse;

Mother's clay bar;

Three step machine compound and polish using Rupes Big Foot 21, Mille, Mini, and Nano depending in panel using Rupes green/medium pad (roof, chrome, windows, a few scuff marks in quarter panels); yellow/fine pad (whole car); white/extra fine pad (all major parts of panels).

Apply Car Pro Eraser and buff (takes out oil from compounding)

Apply Car Pro C-Quartz UK 3.0 (2 coats)

Apply Car Pro Gliss (next day to allow C-Quartz to cure) (2 coats).

 

 

 

 

 

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Edited by jjackkrash
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36 minutes ago, ahopkinsVTX said:

Were you using a weed whip on your truck? :Tease3:

That's how he put the scratch in it in the first place so that he could practice his mad buffing skills. 

Amazing job, by the way!

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2 hours ago, ahopkinsVTX said:

Were you using a weed whip on your truck? :Tease3:

Hehe, that had the blower attachment on it.  I use it to blow off the water after rinses.  

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GM uses a real soft clear coat.  It's great for correcting etching, scuffs, scratches, etc.  M105 and M205 with some polishing and finishing pads are your best friend if you have a GM vehicle.

They wouldn't put a dent in the scratches on my wife's Audi, but other than stone chips, my '16 GMC looks fantastic despite a bunch of etchings from bird schizz, hard water, etc over the years.

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2 minutes ago, UWSkier said:

GM uses a real soft clear coat.  It's great for correcting etching, scuffs, scratches, etc.  M105 and M205 with some polishing and finishing pads are your best friend if you have a GM vehicle.

They wouldn't put a dent in the scratches on my wife's Audi, but other than stone chips, my '16 GMC looks fantastic despite a bunch of etchings from bird schizz, hard water, etc over the years.

I've had to use wool pads on my Audi for scuffs that look minor.  That makes sense on the clear.  

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6 minutes ago, UWSkier said:

GM uses a real soft clear coat.  

From one angle with my detail light I can see a tiny hint of clouding where I was really wailing on it.  I must have got it hot with the forced orbital.  Lesson learned: don't buff angry.  :)

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13 minutes ago, dcarl said:

Man @jjackkrash that's one expensive buffer. I thought spending $199 on my TORQX was a lot.
Glad you go the scratch out, ride looks great!

Now that's a proper tow vehicle.

A TORQX will get the job done, for sure.  The Rupes buffers are spendy, but they have very good ergonomics and pretty much zero vibration and a few little features I really like.  I did splurge a bit but don't regret it.  

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Here is a low-mile 2013 S5 I picked up a few months ago.  I did pretty much the same routine on it but started with a medium wool pad on the hood.   The car was/is in excellent shape except the paint was pretty contaminated and had a ton of surface scuffs and a few scratches mainly on the hood.  The paint felt gritty everywhere when when I ran my hand over it.   I got almost all of the scuffs out and there are still a few minor but deep scratches if you look close, but overall I was pretty pleased.  It is smooth as silk now and the water behavior is crazy.   

9Fy0ufYjRdazAJVQMERggg.jpg

Edited by jjackkrash
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5 minutes ago, jjackkrash said:

A TORQX will get the job done, for sure.  The Rupes buffers are spendy, but they have very good ergonomics and pretty much zero vibration and a few little features I really like.  I did splurge a bit but don't regret it.  

I just bought mine and and bunch of other stuff from the Chemical Guys.  I hope to give the boat a good cleaning, remove some minor scratches, and wax this week.  It was recommend to me from a guy on a sand bar. He had an 11 year old boat that looked like it just came off the showroom floor.  I've been using 3m stuff for years but thought I'd give the Chemical Guys stuff a try.

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1 minute ago, dcarl said:

I just bought mine and and bunch of other stuff from the Chemical Guys.  I hope to give the boat a good cleaning, remove some minor scratches, and wax this week.  It was recommend to me from a guy on a sand bar. He had an 11 year old boat that looked like it just came off the showroom floor.  I've been using 3m stuff for years but thought I'd give the Chemical Guys stuff a try.

Gel is awesome to work with and it is thick.  I would make sure you have some medium or even course wool pads and then fine wool pads if you have any significant correction to do and don't be afraid to hit it with a rotary to start; you can come back over it with the orbital and a course or medium foam pad to take out the swirls from the rotary.  

 

 

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