Getting rid of scratches on paint

Hi

I know this topic isn't really limited to BMWs but I happen to own a
BMW and people on this group were quite helpful previously so here
goes:

A year ago I took my car to a BMW dealer to do standard servicing and
a pollution test and when I got it back a big scratch seemed to have
appeared on the roof. I took it back to the dealer to complain, the
mechanic took a look at the scratch then went away and came back with
two long pieces of paper towel; one with a big quantity of what looked
like some black liquid stuff (my car is black) and the other clean. He
then smothered the place where the scratch was with the black liquid
and then rubbed it dry with the clean sheet.
That made the scratch totally disappear, to the point that I can't
tell where the scratch was. It seemed to be miraculous.
Stupidly I forgot to ask what it was he rubbed on. Does anyone have
any idea what that black stuff was?

Today I'm in need of money so I want to sell my car. The problem is
that I've got a scratch on the right side and I would like to get rid
of it before I put it on sale. The scratch is about 20cm long and very
fine. I got some polish and was naively supposing that it would work
as well as the stuff at the BMW garage. Unfortunately it doesn't :-(
Although it seems to have made the scratch slightly less visible.
I then tried one of those polish pens but the scatch seems too fine
for the point of the pen to get in it, so that doesn't work either.
Does anyone have a suggestion of a way to get rid of the scratch
without having to spray paint the scratched area (I'm don't think I'm
competent enough to do that and am afraid of making a mess)?

In article > ,
christian9997 > wrote:
> I took it back to the dealer to complain, the
> mechanic took a look at the scratch then went away and came back with
> two long pieces of paper towel; one with a big quantity of what looked
> like some black liquid stuff (my car is black) and the other clean. He
> then smothered the place where the scratch was with the black liquid
> and then rubbed it dry with the clean sheet.
> That made the scratch totally disappear, to the point that I can't
> tell where the scratch was. It seemed to be miraculous.

BMWs use a clear coat finish. So filling a scratch with something black
would show. And polishing out a scratch takes time - and will only work if
it's not too deep.

Could be it wasn't a scratch but merely a mark which rubbed off.

--
*The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

How about some good old Rubbing Compound?
Richard

"Dave Plowman (News)" > wrote in message
...
> In article > ,
> christian9997 > wrote:
> > I took it back to the dealer to complain, the
> > mechanic took a look at the scratch then went away and came back with
> > two long pieces of paper towel; one with a big quantity of what looked
> > like some black liquid stuff (my car is black) and the other clean. He
> > then smothered the place where the scratch was with the black liquid
> > and then rubbed it dry with the clean sheet.
> > That made the scratch totally disappear, to the point that I can't
> > tell where the scratch was. It seemed to be miraculous.
>
> BMWs use a clear coat finish. So filling a scratch with something black
> would show. And polishing out a scratch takes time - and will only work if
> it's not too deep.
>
> Could be it wasn't a scratch but merely a mark which rubbed off.
>
> --
> *The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind *
>
> Dave Plowman London SW
> To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"marlinspike" > wrote in message
...
> How about some good old Rubbing Compound?
> Richard

On an enamel finish that will work fine. If it's base/clear, to rub deeply
enough you'd strip off the clear coat and need to respray it.

-Russ.

Hope I'm not too late as these folks don't seem to be familiar with
pigmented waxes. What he used was definetly, black pigmented (colored) wax.
There are several companies that make them and different brands sometimes
work better on different cars. Doesn't matter that you are hiding a scratch
in 'clear' coat, since it is over black paint it effectively 'fixes' the
problem. The fix is temporary though as the wax will tend to go away after
awhile (washes / weather).

This trick is a lifesaver for most all dark colored cars. I can make a huge
difference in the appearance of my sons, dark burgandy 325i. Mainly the nose
/ hood area where those pesky minute rock chips tend to screw up the paint
so bad.

Chris

"Somebody" > wrote in message
...
>
> "marlinspike" > wrote in message
> ...
> > How about some good old Rubbing Compound?
> > Richard
>
> On an enamel finish that will work fine. If it's base/clear, to rub
deeply
> enough you'd strip off the clear coat and need to respray it.
>
> -Russ.
>
>

That was what I thought. The wax (did I use the word polish
incorrectly?) I used is called Turtle Wax but as I said although it
helped, the scratch is still visible.

That's why I was wondering if someone had information about the brand
a dealer would use. Are there professional products that work better
than the regular supermarket makes?

Can you not just go back to the dealer and inquire from the same mechanic or
the service manager? Or perhaps a friendly phone call...

>Hope I'm not too late as these folks don't seem to be familiar with
>pigmented waxes. What he used was definetly, black pigmented (colored) wax.
>There are several companies that make them and different brands sometimes
>work better on different cars. Doesn't matter that you are hiding a scratch
>in 'clear' coat, since it is over black paint it effectively 'fixes' the
>problem. The fix is temporary though as the wax will tend to go away after
>awhile (washes / weather).

Very interesting.

What are some product names that I can google on? I've got
some nasty paint chips in my Z3's hood (dark green) that I'd
like to try this on.

Thanks in advance.
-Ted

On Sun, 21 Nov 2004 22:40:32 -0800, christian9997 wrote:

> That was what I thought. The wax (did I use the word polish incorrectly?)
> I used is called Turtle Wax but as I said although it helped, the scratch
> is still visible.
>
> That's why I was wondering if someone had information about the brand a
> dealer would use. Are there professional products that work better than
> the regular supermarket makes?

Zymol HD Cleanse followed Zymol Carbon wax will make any fine scratches
much less visible. http://www.bavauto.com is one on-line source.

--
The instructions said to use Windows 98 or better, so I installed RedHat.