Hi folks,

I discovered some mysterious white scratches on the rear (boot) roof of my 2009 Clubman the other day and I'm wondering if you might have some advice on how to safely remove them? I've posted a picture for reference. (And yes, they're scratches - I know in the picture they look like water stains or dirt smudges, but they do not go away!)

They're fairly superficial in depth but very noticeable. I was really disappointed when I saw them, as I'm very careful to not put anything on the roof. I really can't figure out where they came from. Grrr!

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

Can you catch a fingernail in these "scratches"? If not, of if it's barely catching, you can polish it out. Try by hand first, but you might need to use a machine to fully restore the roof.

 

A porter cable polisher, Prima Cut and a white pad.( may need a more aggressive pad)

You may want to go to the detailing 101 forum and hook up with Richard...aka octaneguy. He can help you every step of the way... Hopefully they are light enough where you can get 90+% of them out.

 

By any chance do you use automatic car washes? If you do I think that is what might have caused the scratches.

 

Automatic car washes that are NOT touch less...are evil and will scratch the daylights out of your paint, especially dark colors. Not to mention the dirty scratchy Terry cloth towels that the guys dry it with.

 

Turtle Wax makes a line of colored polishes that will help hide any scratches that you can't polish out. I've used their Black one for years on my other vehicles and it works great.

 

Even touchless car washes are bad. The chemicals they use are so strong they'll strip your wax off. If you use the wax they offer you get uneven coverage and it doesn't last as long as a "real" wax.

The best thing to do is fill in the scratch with some clear touch-up then wet-sand and polish and there ya go.