How to Get Rid of Paint Scratches

Stylishness is a certainty with a coating of aptly colored paint. Cover any item with paint and that item's aesthetic value will be raised. However, paint has one glaring drawback. A few scratches on a painted surface can turn a nice paint job into a massive eyesore. Scratches can make any painted item look shabby, cheap and poorly maintained. You can say that an item without paint looks even better than an object with a badly scratched paint job. Clearly, you must do away with paint scratches as soon as possible.

Paint scratches come in various appearances. There are the normal scratches and scratch formations. Some scratch formations look like scattered cobwebs, while others look like ugly swirls. These scratches are much harder to remove than normal scratches since a scratch formation signals that the deeper layers of paint are cracked. It's a good thing there are items on the market that are formulated to remove scratch formations such as scratch removers and specialized car waxes.

Solutions for Scratches

Paint scratches are tricky to remove, especially the deep ones. Faint scratches are usually taken care of by scrubbing the various scratch-removing solutions available on the market, while deeper ones require several procedures. Be sure to remove scratches early because if scratches become too deep, your only course of action is a new paint job, which is pricey and time consuming. Here are some ready solutions to remove scratches:

* Wash and Wipe – When you take a bath, you can scrub off dirt trails and dirt deposits from your body. The same logic can be applied to removing scratches from your car or any other painted object. You can shower your scratched item with water and apply soap on the scratched portions. Once done, scrub the soapy areas with a chamois. Rinse the scratched item and wipe it with a microfiber towel. When the item is completely dry, you will notice that the item is missing a good number of faint scratches.
* Makeshift Concealers – If you find the washing and scrubbing of large scratched objects too taxing, you can instead conceal scratches with a handful of items that can act as cheap paint substitutes. A good scratch concealer is nail polish. Nail polish provides a tough coat and its built-in adhesive sticks to any surface, just like paint. As long as you have nail polish that bears the same color as the paint, you can use the cosmetic product to conceal minor scratches. Other good makeshift concealers are oil paint, acrylic paint, and spray paint.
* car wax Car Wax – Some car wax models are specially formulated to remove scratches. Not only do these car-polishing solutions give your car a fine sheen, they can also eliminate scratches from other metal items such as refrigerator doors or metal ornaments. Apply a generous amount of scratch-removing car wax on a scratched surface then scrub it with a chamois to remove most minor scratches. To maximize the effects of car wax, you can use it after washing the scratched item with soap and water.
* Scratch Remover – Scratch-removing solutions work just like a specialized car wax, only their formulations are much tougher on scratches. In general, scratch removers are gentle to most surfaces. They won't cause discoloration even if their active ingredients are abrasive to severe scratches. The application of scratch removers is also similar to car wax's, where the best results can be generated after washing the scratched item with soap and water.
* use sandpaper Sandpaper – For the most severe scratches, sandpaper may appear an unconventional solution. Severe scratches are usually lined with sharp grooves, which cannot be handled by scratch removers. The rough surface of sandpaper can steadily reduce the grooves and realign the outmost layer of the scratch to the surface's level. When a deep scratch has been reduced by sandpaper, you can simply hide the scratch with spray paint or any other makeshift concealer. By the way, sandpaper should only be used on severe and violent scratches. If you use it on minor scratches, the rough surface of sandpaper will rip through your paint job.


Scratch My Back and I'll Repaint Yours

Some scratch formations are simply too severe for any of the solutions listed above. Normally, groups of deep and violent scratches will not be erased by the best scratch removers, nor will they be remedied by sandpaper and makeshift concealers. You have to follow a specific procedure to get rid of these annoying lines on your car or any other painted property.

Materials Used:

* paint thinner
* cloth
* spray paint
* towel
* car shampoo
* water hose (if necessary)
* sandpaper (if necessary)

Collect Materials

The materials for this project are pretty easy to find. The spray paint, paint thinner and sandpaper can be purchased at any hardware center. The water hose can be bought in a gardening store. You can purchase the car shampoo with one quick visit to a car accessories store. As for the rest of the materials needed, you can surely find all of them in your home.

By the way, when you are purchasing spray paint, make sure that its color completely matches the color of the scratched material's paint. You would not want to remove portions of different-colored paint.

I am Carwash

Wash the scratched object with running water. If you are handling a large object such as a car, you can use a water hose to make the job a lot faster. When you are done, apply car shampoo on the scratched object until the shampoo lathers. The car shampoo will collect dirt and dust, which can hamper your repainting job. Rinse off the shampoo then wipe the object with a towel. Make sure that the object to be repainted is completely dry because water can lessen the potency of the paint thinner.

Scratched Paint is Like Dandruff

Apply a generous amount of paint thinner on a piece of cloth and scrub away at the heavily scratched areas. If the paint does not wear out, you can directly apply thinner on the scratched areas. Still, if the paint stays, you can substitute the cloth with sandpaper. Continue to scrub until you are able to remove the paint covering the scratched areas.

The Repaint Job

Now that you have practically removed the scratches, your next mission is to repaint the portions that you rubbed off with paint thinner. Get your can of spray paint and paint the discolored portions. When the paint dries, your formerly scratched object will look as good as a newly purchased item.

Final Thought

Paint scratches make stylish objects like cars look like less than what they are actually worth. Good thing you have several options at your disposal that can take care of those annoying lines. Just follow all the steps and procedures indicated in this guide and you will be able to handle any type of paint scratch.

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