I noticed my first scratch today.....on door...my color is Chili Red...this scratch is 6 inches long, white, and I can feel it with my fingernail.....but it is pretty subtle and not too visible until about 4 feet away, unless the sun is right on it....do y'all think it would be better to just live with it, or should I buy Scratch-X....I do not have an orbital polisher and am afraid of making a lil subtle scratch into a wide patch of off-color off lustre

 

The bad news is:
1. White means it is through the clear and color coat and into the primer.
2. Feeling it with your finger nail means it will not be totally removed.

You still can do some things to make the scratch look much better. You can fill the chip in with color , flatten it and buff in the edges, where it isn't so deep, to reduce the size of it. Check out this tech tip first.

 

I've had good luck with touch-up paint followed by the Langka process (read all about it at www.Langka.com, click on the low-speed option). btw, this procedure works best with deep scratches and paint chips!

 

If you can feel the scratch then it should be sanded down smooth and repainted, then re-cleared. This is the only way it will look like new. Those other "paintless" repair things have drawbacks such as loss of durability, loss of solvent resistance, faster fading etc. Outside of re-painting actual automotive paint anything else is just a "as-seen-on-TV" gimick. Think about it....if it was so good wouldn't the body shops use them and save thousands of dollars a year in labor and materials?