How to repair scratches?

Hey everyone, im sure someone has asked this many times before but I can find any. Today I found a nice scratch on the side of my silver jaguar! It is through the clear coat because it failed the fingernail test. I don't want to spend the ridiculous amounts of money to bring it to an automotive body shop. Does anyone have a good guide to fix scratches? I don't trust the general Internet on advice, only detailing bliss!

 

Well, I had the same problem on my car. I wet sanded it. I am not expert on this, but here is what I did. I taped off the area, got some 2000 grit paper and soaked it in a bucket of water. Then, I soaked the area and went at it. I sanded it lightly with very little pressure until it felt smooth. Once I soaked it down to remove any abrasives and wiped it with a MF it was now full over sanding marks, but I could not feel the scratch anymore. I then hit it with some Adam's swirl and haze remover with the FLEX DA and it removed the sanding marks and the scratch was gone. Now, I did this just from knowledge I gained by reading this forum, I had never wet sanded anything before. It was unnerving, to say the least and I thought I had ruined my car when I saw the sanding results. However, after the polishing process it was amazing. You can't tell the scratch was ever there. If you don't feel comfortable doing this, consult a body shop. Good luck!

 

If I sand it would there be any clear coat left? It sounds like you are compromising the paint.

 

Touch it up, sand it (the blob), and polish it.

 

I compound over it and then use a finishing polish, sometimes it makes it goes away, sometimes it makes it significantly better to the point that I'm happy.

Before:


After 2x SIP/Orange:


Done:


You'll notice that I avoided the part somewhat towards the wheel well, I did this because I would rather have a small scratch than strikethrough.