So I'm not super savvy with detailing, and that may become very evident in a second. I may have made a big mistake, but I'm hoping someone has a fix for me.

I was attempting to remove a (what I believe to be) clear coat scratch on my roof. I used Barkeeper's Friend, which I know isn't made for cars, but I've used it on small bumper scuffs and it works miraculously. I usually apply it quickly and then wipe it off immediately with a wet cloth. So...I did that today on my roof for the first time, and now I have big swirl marks that I can't get out. I went to a car wash and they kind of brushed me off like "we gotta keep moving sir, its a scratch."

Any tips for fixing this? Did I permanently screw up my roof? Someone please help!

 

I believe bar keepers friend is an abrassive may work on glass but not paint. If you are lucky you could have someone who knows how to detail come out and maybe polish it out.

 

From the looks of that picture, although tough to tell without seeing it in person, you have quite a fees swirls and holograms. The angle and light make it out to look like he barkeeper a friend may have done some decent damage. Before looking to do something yourself, you should go to a reputable detailer (not body shop) and have it looked at and assessed. They can tell you if it can be fixed and jut how good an outcome to expect. The really good ones will even tell you if it is something you can tackle yourself or if you really need the help of a pro.

If you just have a bunch of swirls an no deep scratches (those where your fingernail gets caught in the scratch) an it does not look like the clear coat is damaged, you could try Meguiars ultimate polish to see if it improves. But please be aware that many readily available polishes from the local auto shop will typically have a lot of polishing oils and may just mask the swirls and may not fix it permanently. The meguiars products are usually the better ones that you wi find at your local pep boys, etc.

 

Thanks a lot! Yeah, I'm gonna try to swing by somewhere in the next day or so. There are no scratches that can be felt, so I think it's all pretty superficial and limited to the top layer of the clear coat (but I honestly don't really know what I'm talking about).

By your username I'm assuming you're in Jersey. I'm in Philly. Any recommendations for retailers?

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No problem. Yes, I'm in NJ and I have to say, there are unfortunately not many retailers around here that sell some of the higher-end products and have brick and mortar storefronts. I usually end up ordering my products through some of the sponsors here (who give some great advice if you call). As for over the counter stuff, Meguiars is still the best which can be found at any of the usual places (pep boys, autozone...). Their ultimate compound is really good if you are going to attempt to correct this by hand and not with a random orbital. Detailers domain, autoality, and show car supplies are some of the detailers on the forum that sell products that are really good as well as giving a lot of helpful tips.

 

You could try some Scrach X to see if it improves the swirls.
You did damage the clear, but it looks fixable.
A dual action orbital would be helpful but you may be able to correct with Scrach X.
I would not take it to a shop because most use way to much corrective action which will give you problems later. Try the Scrach X and then go from there. It may take a couple of trys and some work but it looks like you can correct by hand.
Barkeeprs friend is not a friend to your paint, ever.

 

Thanks. Yeah, I used it a couple times to get scuffs off my bumper and it worked great. But that was on pepper white... :(

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I had a bird with some vicious innards leave its calling card on my roof. I caught it within an hour of it hitting the paint, but left some etching. About four or five rub throughs with Scratch X initially made the etching disappear, but it reappeared about 2 weeks later. I hit it again with the Scratch X and it hasn't shown back up.

The damage I experienced is different than the Barkeeper's Friend, but it may take a couple of attempts with the Scratch X over a period of time as it did with mine.

I am curious as to what the problems are that may come up later. I will admit that I don't have the fullest of understanding of the paint layers, but want to educate myself so I don't do some irreparable harm to my MINI.

I would imagine that the abrasive in the Scratch X is extremely fine, but there has to be a point where continual usage of it does damage the clear. Does anyone know of a reference somewhere that shows the abrasiveness of common auto finish products?

I have a good understanding of grit scale of sandpaper (done a bit of hobbyist woodworking) and something like "Scratch X ~= 2,000 grit" would help me visualize it better.

 

I have seen many cars which the shop just used a buffing wheel and some covering products (wax) to get defects out of paint and hide the damage they did.
The problem is a buffing wheel is way to agressive to deal with such a light problem. The buffing wheel could do damage to the clear and even into the paint. Could, not would. That is why I say try something less first.

Scrach X has a demishing abrasive so it will break down as you use it. This is what makes it safer than some other products. So unless you hit the same spot over and over it is safe to use.

I don't know a resource for your last question about a comparision of the different products, but it may be out there somewhere.

 

From the items available at the local auto parts chains and sticking with Meguiars since you mentioned scratch X, the order from least abrasive to most would be swirl X, ultimate polishing compound, scratch X, ultimate polish. The ultimate products use something meguiars calls smat abrasives (don't remember the acronym) but as Thulchatt mentions, they all feature some sort of diminishing abrasives that will allow for some decent working time with the product and hopefully leave you without any haze. I don't think that any of the above products could be compared to a particular grit sandpaper in terms of abrasiveness, in fact they are usually some of the products used to removed wet-sanding marks from paint.

 

So I used the Meguiars ScratchX 2.0 and it worked great! Thanks everybody for your help. This stuff is magic!

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Glad to hear you had a good result and you were able to keep this a DIY project!