This has just become a big domino effect of horrors for me! As mentioned in another post, I recently removed my front Mini grille to install a grille badge. Unfortunately I had NO idea that the bottom of the plastic chrome piece (that was raised only an eighth of an inch above the bumper) had some minor sharp edges. So when I very, very carefully pinched the pins on the backside to remove the grille, several small digs were put in the finish as I slide it off. I knew I did not want it to slide along the bumper so I held it up as much as I could. Somehow that wasn't good enough.

Next I tried to remove these with Scratch X, but I doubted that would do the job because those minor scratches seemed a little deep. However not deep enough to reach the paint. I don't know how I could have even put those type of marks on the bumper since, again, I was lifting as I was pulling the grille towards me...SLOWLY. Of course I had to clean the road gunk out from under where the grille was attached before applying the Scratch X. So as usual I sprayed the area with water, using a chamois to clean some black road soot that had accumulated, then dried the area. NOW I had MORE scratches because some of the residue of the gunk scrathed the finish!

Scratch X took care of the swirls left behind but not the new minor scratches. And all this because I wanted to adorn my baby with some new mod accessories! Certainly I've always known that dirt particles under the cloth can create scratches.

Now here comes the big question. How can I remove scratches left behind by dirt particles that inadvertently get under the cloth?...WITHOUT having to go to the dealership or body shop and without prior experience with paint touch up, wet sanding, etc.? Will rubbing compound do the trick? How does that work? I just read recently that clay bar will not remove scratches. That was dissapointing because I thought otherwise and was going to give it a try.

I'm not happy with the fact that I created this problem simply by wanting to add accessories, plus because I was insanely careful with the removal of the grille. Sorry this is so long but I thought it important to give as much info as possible. Please help!

 

Try Dr. Colorchip....http://www.drcolorchip.com/

I bought a kit form them for my chili red MCS a couple months ago to get rid of all the rocks chips i have (Person who owned the car before me didnt have a clear bra). This system is supposedly supposed to work great for chips and decent on minor scratches as well and is very easy to do. I havent used my kit yet because it hase been too col outside. Once it gets a little warmer I will give it a shot and post the results. Take a look at thier site and give it a go....might be the answer you are looking for

 

Rubbing compound is just an aggressive polish. You don't want to use rubbing compound because even if you did get out the deeper scratches, you would end up with a lot of finer smaller scratches. You really should take it to a Pro as was mentioned in your last thread. A pro might only charge you $25-$50 and 10 minutes of time to fix it.

Richard

 

Thanks minimonsterthunder for the info on Dr. Colorchip. I definitely want to check that out for future use. I have some pebble hits I'd like to take care of and this sounds liek it would be perfect.

Appreciate the heads up about rubbing compound, OctaneGuy. Never used it before and was a little weary of causing even more swirls or scratches like you said.

Definitely going to bring her back to the dealership to have a pro take care of my problem. He did an amazing job of fixing a couple of door dings I had in December so I'm sure he'll be able to take care of this with ease.

Thanks!