No matter how carful we are, at some point scratches will appear on your finish. The rule of thumb, if you can fell it with your finger nail, its through the clear coat. The number one question I get asked in my shop is "can you remove all the scratches?" I identify each one individually, and work to "improve" them. That is why I talk in terms of percentages. Example, I can improve this scratch by 65%. Ii all depends on how deep it is. Our clear coat paint system is made up of the metal surface/the primer coat/base coat(or color coat) and fininally the clear coat. Most clear coats are only 2-4 mils thick, which is the thickness of a piece of paper. So you can see how difficult it is to repair. Todays chemicals are designed to "level" the paint making it less noticable.
Due to the evolution of paint, old fashion compounds can actually damage clear coats. Modern "Paint levelers" also referred to as paint cleaners with different degrees of abrasives which need to be used with a rotary buffer. These new formulas contain heat reducing abrasives that flatten under heat. This is why I often use a rotary on just certain areas where a scratch is present. The rotary buffer will wear down the clear coat quicky, and caution must as used. (along with experience) if your scratch is a minor one, you can use a paint cleaner designed for hand use. That limits its effectiveness, but it also a lot safer. Always see a professional when a rotay buffer is needed. Hope that hopes some. Gary

www.perfectautofinish.com

 

Good write-up!

 

Thanks for the tips Gary. I saved your homepage for my dad, his tt could use some of your expertise. He has an '01 red tt with some oxidation built up on the hood and roof. Hopefully you can help restore his paint, it's not bad, but it's not smooth like butter either. He cleans it once a week, just needs some pro work done. My black tt has some minor swirl scrathes on the hood, not bad. I plan on having it touched up once or twice a year though to keep the paint as best I can. I look forward to contacting you soon so you can help keep our tt's looking good. We are in the south suburbs, it will be fun to take a ride out to your shop.

 

Tim, sounds good, perhaps we can set up back to back appointments when you contact me. I look forward to giving your cars that Perfect Auto Finish (sorry I couldn't resist) Can you help me, I'm trying to get hold of an officer of the Audi Chicago Club, went to the home page and no contact info is supplied. Thanks Gary p.s. you can use my e mail through my web site for future messages if you wish. www.perfectautofinish.com

 

Thanks for the write-up. I have a few scratches in my A6 and this helped me out by better understanding what I need.

 

Danase is one of my favorite online stores, to bad i have not seen him on here in a while.