When I first looked at my new avenger from the dealer I noticed 3 scratches just behindthe driver side door.. (And a semi emptycoke bottle on the passenger side seat).. The dealer told me they would buff it out before the car was prepped and ready for pickup but the scratches were still there when I came back to pick up the car.. So instead of leaving the car there to have the dealer fix it I decided that I would try and remove them myself since the dealer clearly was not taking proper care of the car while it was in their lot.

I purchased a few different clear coat compound products and after washing my car I tried them out.. They all sucked except for one which removed the scratches and made the scratches totally disappear.

Since I have noticed that the paint and clear coat used on the Avenger seems to scratch easily I figured I would write up a few tips for removing scratches for anyone that would like to try removing scratches themselves.

You can tell if you have a scratch that is just in the clear coat or if it is a deeper scratchby running your finger over the scratch.. If the scratch is smooth to the touch then you have a clearcoat scratch,if you feel roughness or can see the primer/bare metal then obviously your scratch is deeper and will require a different method of removal/repair. If you have paint from another object (Such as another car) that has rubbed off in a collision without any deep scratches then you can treat that as a clearcoat scratch as itcan be removed the same way.

Clear coat scratches can easily be removed by cleaning/washing the scratch areaand using a good clear coat compound. Basically use a soft microfiber cloth ormicrofiber buffing pad, apply the clear coat compound to thecloth/pad and work the scratch. You canrub in circlesand occasionally following the scratch line. In about 5 minutes of rubbing the scratch should be gone.You can also use a power polisher/buffer to remove the scratch which will take less time but you should take care tobuff for a short time then check the area as you caneasily buff off your clear coat if you don't pay attention, or worse.. your paint.
I have had excellent results using Gliptone's Clearcoat compound (Step 2). ( http://www.autobarn.net/gliptone-cle...-compound.html) It did not scratch the finish at all, removed theexisting scratches and polished the entire area.


Deep scratches can be filled by purchasing touch up paint and filling the scratch with the touch up paint taking care to not paint too far over the edge of the scratch. You may have to apply multiple coats using the small included applicator brush to fill the scratch. after you have let the paint dry, you can use the same buffing method above to smooth out and blend the new paint with the rest of the car's surface.

 

Thanks for the info and the write up.