Rear ended by noob parkers

[jermano]

Someone scratched up my stock rear diffuser today and I was wondering if there are anyways to buff it off because the scratches are really irritating me Thanks for your help

[teagueAMX]

Depends

1. Hopefully the case, the paint was only smudged with another color or some dirt when it was hit, then you're good to go with a buffing. Be careful. Recommend using a good detailer, or a body shop (more expensive). The detailer is the way to go. There's some great polishing/buffing compounds out there now days.

The guy in the link below can do a lot with taking out scratches in your clear coat that I didn't think was possible. He has 23 instructional videos. If I were you I'd watch them all, but the one that deals with your issue is "Chapter 8". On the bottom of this post you'll note I included the menu of videos.

http://www.adamspolishes.com/

2. The thin clear coat layer got damaged but the paint layer below that is still there. In this case you can recover pretty good. The paint itself is not meant to be exposed and won't last long that way. The area where the clear coat got chipped will have a slight rough edge. If left unattended, the clear coat chip area will widen with time. So it's important to catch it early and have someone buff and feather edge the damaged area. Your detailer will put a few coats of wax on it to protect the paint. The other alternative is to have a body shop re-spray the clear coat.

3. You can't buff what's not there. If the scratch is deep enough to go through the clear coat and possibly into the actual base coat paint surface, exposing the primed area under the paint - no it's not possible to buff. Touch up paint (yuk) or a body shop respray are you only options.

Post a close up photo of the damaged area.

I stumbled on this link the other day. It worth posting your question there as well - they got a few detailing pros hanging out there.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=13


Keep us posted and let us know how it turns out for you.

Hope this helps FWIW.


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[jermano]

Oh sorry, I forgot to mention that the diffuser isn't painted. I believe it is textured plastic so there is no clear coat on it. But non the less, thank you for response.

[Harajuku]

I too was 'front-ended' by noob parkers who didn't know how to parallel park - they backed into the front of my car and left an impression of their bumper/license plate...

By the time I saw it they were long gone. Just sux how a 2 second impact at 3mph can cost $1k to make it look right again (sigh)

[teagueAMX]

Originally Posted by jermano

Oh sorry, I forgot to mention that the diffuser isn't painted. I believe it is textured plastic so there is no clear coat on it. But non the less, thank you for response.

You're right, good point - sorry I missed that.

Your problem is obviously a little different.

Sometimes a little heat on the back side of it might help you smooth it out, but that depends on how deep the on deep the impression is.

Post a photo.