Scratch Remover
About Scratch Removers
Scratches happen. There is no getting around that reality. Even if you are extra careful with your car, some careless person will find a way to do the damage. The worst part is the high cost of repainting a car panel. But scratch removers can be a great bit of help in most of these cases.
A scratch on your brand-new car that you took care of like a precious stone can be nothing less than heartbreaking. But when you realise how much money it will cost to get it fixed by a professional, you probably will choose to let it remain. But there is another option besides paying an arm and a leg to repaint your car or to drive around in a battered-looking car. You can try fixing the scratch yourself. But you might ask how? You can use a scratch remover kit that will only cost you a fraction of the cost to repaint the car. This article will tell you everything you need to know about scratch remover kits and how to use them.
A guide to scratch remover tools
The time you spend learning to do the simple maintenances of your car yourself is worth every second of it. Car repair shops charge their customers ridiculously huge money even for the smallest touch-up. The same is the case when it comes to repairing scratches. That’s why every car owner needs to have a scratch remover kit too in their garage. This article will give you a glimpse into the wide world of them. In this article, you will also find some really useful tips that you can follow while shopping for scratch remover tools online. So, read on to find out more!
Car paint
Some things that we thought were simple, in reality, are much more complex. Similarly, car paints consist of three layers. And each of these layers serves different and important purposes. The first layer is the primer. This layer goes directly on top of the metal. This layer protects the car body from corrosion and also provides a smooth surface for the next layer. The second layer provides the colour. On top of that is the final layer that provides the shine in modern cars. And this final layer will be the thickest layer of all. Knowing this is important to figure out how to fix the scratches.
All scratches are not created equal
Before you start fixing the scratches on your car, you should know how scratches are formed. Anyone can tell you that a scratch forms when something solid scrapes against the car paint. But there is more to it. The method to fix a scratch depends on where it is and how deep it is. Shallow scratches and deep scratches are very different. Not only in their depth but how they work as well. Shallow scratches only affect the outermost layer of the car paint. It does not really remove the paint. But because of the way light reflects off of the outermost layer, these scratches appear white to us. If the scratch is a little deeper, then it will scrape some paint off.
Fixing the scratches
Car experts find scratches more difficult to deal with than dents. This is because a scratch can be shallow in one place while being deep in another place. So, fixing a scratch requires some skill. If the scratch is shallow and only affects the outer layer, it is easier to deal with. All you need to do is to smoothen the area with a polishing compound, and the scratch will blend in with the rest of the body. If the scratch is deeper than that, it gets tricky. Scratches that are too deep and wide are not possible to fix with simple scratch removers. If the scratch is not too wide, you can hide the scratch by using a polish that will remove the lacquer layer and work on the colour.
Components of car paint scratch removers
A scratch remover includes a couple of different items. Two most basic items in every scratch remover kit are the abrasive and the polish. It is the abrasive that helps you remove the outer layer of the car paint, i.e., the lacquer layer. It might not necessarily remove this layer completely. Rather, sometimes it can make the scratch invisible if it is superficial. But for deeper scratches, you need to remove the third layer to work the colour layer of the paint. Then comes the polish. You can either use the polish after fixing the scratch or mix it with the abrasive depending on the scratch. Finally, dont forget to explore other amazing products in the car supplies category.
Tips on how to buy Car Scratch Removers
There are so many scratch removals kits. Therefore, it can be quite difficult to choose one from thousands of different products. The fact is, if you are not using the right kind of product, you won’t be able to improve the appearance of the car ever so slightly. But, you can find the right scratch remover if you follow these tips when you are shopping.
- Consider the type of scratch – The most important thing to consider when you purchase scratch remover is the type of scratches that you will be dealing with. While some scratches can be fixed with a cheap scratch remover pen, you will need some fill-in paint in order to repair deeper scratches.
- Accessories – You will need additional accessories to work on the scratches apart from the scratch remover compound itself. These include sandpaper, microfibre pads, microfibre cloths etc. Look for the kits that will include these accessories as well if you don’t have them already. That way you can save a bit of money.
- Make sure the tools fit your skill level – Some tools are easy to work with while others need a bit more skill and experience. Scratch removers like polishing pads that you fix at the end of drill need more experienced hands. Otherwise, your car will end up looking worse than you started with.
- The finishing product – After you have fixed the paint, you have to finish it off with a layer of polish to complete the look. Without this layer, the portion which you have repaired will look different from the rest of the car’s body. If the scratch remover already has polish in it, the whole thing will come out fine. Otherwise, you will need an additional car wax to shine the surface.
Although these tools can fix some scratches, don’t expect any magic to happen. The scratch will still be noticeable if you look carefully. But if you get it right, the scratch will look much less conspicuous than it was. Remember that for severe damages, you will need to repaint the whole-body panel. Because every scratch is different, you’ll need a specific type of tool. You can find whatever you want using our product search engine and compare different products and their prices. There are more than 500 shops and brands on Shops.ae offering various car care products. These include brands like Renumax, Quixx, Armor All, Meguiars, Simoniz, and Sonax.
Question & Answer
Do scratch remover pens work?
Scratch remover pens contain the same lacquer as the outermost coat of a car’s paint. Basically, what these pens do is the opposite of what an abrasive does to the lacquer layer on the car. Instead of grinding down the coat to make it smooth, a pen fills up the scratch on the clear coat. So, to answer the question, they do work but not always. It is difficult to fill the scratch with the pen. If the scratch is thinner than the tip of the pen, it gets even more challenging. There will be a lot of extra lacquer on the scratch that you will have to buff off. The result can vary between convincing to horrid depending on how well you do it.
How to use scratch remover?
Before using the scratch remover, you have to wash and dry the car. Marking the area of the scratch will make it easier for you to work on it. Therefore, you can start by placing masking tapes an inch above and below the scratch. Then apply the scratch remover with a microfibre cloth and rub it on the scratch by applying pressure for thirty seconds. Feel the area with your hands for any rough edges. You can repeat the rubbing process again until you smoothen it out completely. Once you are done polishing, apply the polish with another clean microfibre cloth. If the scratch is too big, you will also need to fill the scratch with paint and let it dry before working on it.
Can you use toothpaste to remove scratches from cars?
Although it might sound like any other of those hoaxes that you find on the internet, surprisingly, it actually works. Well, kind of. Toothpaste has tiny abrasives in them that work similarly to a scratch remover. But you cannot use any toothpaste for this. Specifically, look for those that are marketed as a whitening toothpaste. This is because the size of abrasives, usually they are silica and calcium carbonate, in them will be small. You can also look for the RDA value of the toothpaste. If the RDA value is less, it works better. But toothpaste won’t bring about the same perfection of a scratch remover. So, use them only as a last resort.