How to buff out scratches on a car
Buffing out scratches on a car
How to buff out scratches on a car is one of the best questions because the answer changes depending on the car detailer preferences. There is more than one way to buff out scratches. This allows a certain level of creativity and planning to meet customer expectations & that keeps it interesting.
No scratch removal products can remove a car scratch alone. They need to be used with car polishing in order to slowly remove the clear coating from the surrounding area. This is done until the scratch has a good bevel, or it reaches the bottom of the scratch.
The scratch removal kits are the same as the scratch remover products. You should ask yourself if the scratch repair kit you are considering will properly shave the clear coating from the surrounding area to create the bevel or not.
Spinning buffer vs random orbital buffer
There are two types of car detailing machines used to buff out scratches on a car. One is a spinning buffer machine, and the other is a random orbital dual action buffer machine. Both buffer machines spin in a circular motion. These car polishers do not use the same car buffing pads.
Spinning buffer
Our spinning buffer example will remove porous clear coating, making it smooth and shiny. This buffer machine is easy to use if you are simply allowing a polish to tumble about beneath the pad. Using this machine to remove car scratches may cause it to go too deep and cause a major problem like a breakthrough event.
When you press on a spinning buffer machine, you’ll notice that these buffer machines can easily slip out of your hands. All buffer machines are heavy and need a strong grip. This can make you tired while buffing the car, leading to mistakes like losing your grip for just a moment. Particularly near body lines and edges of car panels.
Random orbital buffer
The random orbital buffer machine is safer near body lines and edges as it gives car detailers more control over the cut depth. It is our favorite when it comes to getting scratches out of a car. However, it’s difficult to use on curved car panels like those on the Porsche 911 and other cars like it.
The issue is that the buffer pad stops spinning when entering the valley of almost any curves. This is called freezing the wheel & it causes the problem of cutting too deep without visibility. Despite the challenge in curvy cars, we have overcome that issue & only use a long-throw random orbital buffer machine for our car detailing business.
Rubbing compound vs car polish
Simply put, both consist of a coarse or fine abrasive that is suspended in a cream. When heated by a buffer pad the cream releases the abrasive allowing it maximum cutting efficiency. Like creamy sandpaper tumbling along under a buffer pad.
It is very important to use only the proper amount of cream when trying to buff out scratches on a car. This process will shave clear coating off the surface and the amount of clear coat on the vehicle is limited.
Rubbing compound is a broad course abrasive and car polishes are fine micro abrasives. Both are used to get scratches out of a car, but each has different potential and beveling capabilities. Never use baking soda or toothpaste as a substitute.
Rubbing Compound
Rubbing compound will make the entry point into a scratch smooth by beveling its corners to a curve. This will alter how light bounces off the scratch, making it less obvious and giving it a slightly oily look. It is important to understand the differences between wet sanding and car detailing compounds to successfully get rid of scratches on a car.
Micro Compound
Micro-compounds will further bevel into the slope of a scratch and sometimes even into the valley of the scratch. A micro-compounding is done slowly, inch-by-inch and at 3-4k rpm. A good micro-compound will remove swirl marks left behind from the earlier cutting stage. Rarely would you need a finer polish step in everyday commercial car detailing services.
Final Polishing
Car polishing is the final step if you want to achieve maximum gloss and shine. Car polish has additional oil if compared to micro-compounds. The additional oil helps the small particles inside to stay in motion on the buffer pad for a longer period of time. The results in an unreal glossy finish on the car.
Car polish will bevel into any leftover roughness leaving any car looking much better then new. Good car polishes will leave thin streaks of residue that you need to deal with, which is the downside.
Repairing scratches with wet sanding
Not all deep scratches are down to the paint and in those cases, car detailing services like ours can help. You should be aware that not all nearby car detailing services will have this skill as fine-tuned as others. Level up your knowledge by reading our article on how to wet sand car paint. Be sure to remember the 180-rule before you follow this guide any further.
Even recommend to your local car detailing company that they be up to date with this article before allowing them to practice on your car. A true professional car detailer would objectively incorporate this knowledge instantly and respect the approach that we have put together.
Buffing out light scratches
To get rid of scratches on a car, don’t wet sand the paint job. Instead, find a nearby paint correction service or learn how to buff the car yourself by reading further into this article. If light scratches remain, then try removing minor scratches from a car with a very light wet sanding followed by compound buffing until it’s glossed.
If the scratches are deep, then you must alternate between wet sanding and buffing the scratch out from the car. We will explain some of that next. To learn more, you might need to know more about wet sanding. If that’s the case, we suggest visiting our blog again to learn about it.
Buffing out deep scratches
In our case, we repeat the process of wet sanding and buffing three or four separate times as we work. We never attempt to remove a scratch on a car with original factory finish during the first pass unless it’s to remove light scratches only. We use the 180-rule explained earlier in this article & within our blog.
When the 180-rule is properly applied, you will see the scratches harsh edges becoming smoother in between the steps. Car rubbing compounds and wet sanding paper have different limits and potential, but they both create bevels on sharp edges. The trick is finding the balance between the two.
Deep scratches on a car that have broken into the paint and past the cars protective finish will not always need touchup paint. It depends if the breakthrough event has passed through the clear coat, the colored paint and finally the factory sealer primer. If that primer is still intact, then the metal will most likely not have a rust reaction.
Scratch repair on a car with rust spots
If you have deep scratches that also have rust spots, then you can level up your knowledge by reading our article on how to fix rust in metal. One thing is for sure, you will need car touch up paint to seal off those areas. After reading about rust prevention, you’ll be more ready to practice removing rusty scratches from a car.
Most households have more than 1 car in the driveway that needs upkeep. Continue learning from our ridiculously long list of everything car detailing and save yourself big money in losses when you trade or sell your vehicle.
Removing buffer swirls from a car
What are buffer swirl marks?
Buffer swirls are almost impossible to see indoors but very obvious in the sunlight. They are very small voids in the transparent coating same as a scratch is a void in the coating. Just as a scratch has a slope leading down the it’s valley, swirls also have a micro slope leading from the top surface and down into its valley or bottom surface.
When we look at swirls in the car’s paint, we see a rainbow of colors. This is because the light from above bounces off the slope walls that lead down into the valley of a scratch or swirl.
Light waves are as small as an electron, and they can fit into the tiniest of places. Even though all light moves at the same speed, different light waves contact the scratch at different points along the slope. This causes an uneven bounce rate of the light waves. Where they were once all lumped together, they are then separated out.
This process is the same when observing a glass prism that separates light into its individual waves of color. Car paint swirls have the appearance of micro rainbow-colored reflections all along the slope of a scratch or swirl mark. Depending on your angle you may see red where someone else could see yellow or blue at that same location. Swirl marks are also scratches. They are both the same thing just with different characteristics.
How to remove buffer swirls
The beveling technique we covered further up in this article will not remove buffer swirls from a car. Only a micro-compound or really good polish with the correct finishing pad will safely remove enough clear coat as to get to the bottom of each swirl mark. That is the only way to remove them.
It technically is a physical damage caused by either improper car washing or left-over patterns from buffing the car with a cutting pad. There is no chemical or soap that will repair the paint. The solution is a physical solution and only a paint correction can solve the problem without repainting the car.
Shave the clear coat down until you have reached the bottom of the swirly marks. In some cases, it is not safe to dig out the bottom of the void without high risk of a breakthrough. In those cases that swirl mark should be worked on to a certain point and then left behind.
