How to polish scratches on the body?

2024 Author: Erin Ralphs | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-19 11:42

Any self-respecting car owner tries to constantly keep his car clean. However, over time, the paint coating loses its properties. Various road dust eats into the varnish layer, microcracks are formed. All this significantly spoils the appearance of the car. Not much decorate the car and scratches formed during careless parking. But how to restore the former appearance of the paintwork? Polishing scratches on the body will help. What is it and how to do it yourself - we will consider in today's article.

Views

There are several types of polishing:

• Protective. It is intended for protection of a paint and varnish covering. Adds shine to the car. An additional layer of film is formed on the surface. It protects the body from external factors - water, dust and ultraviolet radiation. As part of such polishes there is a water-repellent component. This kind of processingthe body is able to remove small scratches (the so-called "cobweb") and protect the paint from fading. After all, now there is an intermediate layer on the paintwork - it is he who takes the whole blow. Among the disadvantages of this polishing method, it is worth noting the fragility (it is washed off within three months). This polishing of the body saves from minor scratches, but no more.



• Abrasive polish. Designed to repair deeper damage. It restores the coating by leveling the paintwork. In other words, such a polish removes part of the protective varnish. Its thickness becomes smaller, but many chips and scratches are removed without painting. But it is worth remembering that each car has its own residual layer of paintwork. Such polishing can be done no more than three times. Further, the abrasive removes the soil already - bald spots will form. Also, after restoration work, the body requires protective polishing. Therefore, this method is much more expensive and more complicated. But the effect exceeds all expectations.

Tools

Is it possible to polish the car body from scratches with your own hands? Experts say that if you have an angle grinder and a set of felt nozzles, you can restore the paint with high quality. However, it is not recommended to rub the abrasive manually - the efforts of the hand will vary, due to which the layer will be removed unevenly.

Preparation

Initially, the car must be prepared for polishing. To do this, you need to wash the entire body. It is advisable to use a high pressure washerpressure. Moreover, the entire body is cleaned, even if the scratches on it are polished locally. Next, degrease the surface area. For this, the Antisilicone solvent is suitable.

Pay attention! If the damaged area was not previously painted at the factory, it is worth using less aggressive solvents (otherwise the paint may leak). You can use gasoline or medical ethyl alcohol.

If this is the lower part of the body, you should exclude bituminous stains. They are very difficult to clean, even with anti-silicone. Therefore, we use a specialized solvent. That's what it's called - bituminous stain cleaner. It is necessary to spray the composition on the surface and after a while wipe it with a dry rag.

Applying polish

So, the surface is thoroughly washed and degreased. Now we start polishing the scratches on the car body. To do this, we pick up an angle grinder and install a felt wheel on it.

Pay attention! If the felt circle is not new and has darkening, it should be replaced. Otherwise, the dirt accumulated on the felt wheel will work as an abrasive - not evenly remove the paintwork layer, but scratch it. If the element has fallen at least once on the asph alt, it cannot be reused. Even after thorough cleaning, fine dust particles will remain on it.

Next, apply abrasive paste on the circle. Then, without turning on the machine, we come into contact with the surface of the paint, leaving it onher part of the pasta. And after that, turn on the grinder and evenly rub the composition over the surface. It is necessary to create the most smooth transition. To do this, the kit comes with pastes with varying degrees of abrasiveness. When applying the composition, the sun's rays should be excluded. Do-it-yourself polishing of scratches on the body should be done in the shade or indoors, but with a well-tuned artificial light.

Repeat the procedure over and over again, periodically checking the condition of the circle. The felt will darken with use. If there is serious contamination, it should be replaced. Do not wash - this is a disposable, consumable item. And washing the desired effect will not give.

Finish polishing

At the final stage, you need to re-treat the surface with a polish. However, not abrasive, but waxy. With its composition, it will close large “pores” (chips and cracks) that the abrasive polish did not remove.

It is worth noting that the restoration paste can only remove those scratches that have not penetrated to the base enamel. Wax polish should be applied on a new felt wheel or by hand. It is important to prepare a clean and dry rag. The paste is not as grainy, so run-up in application effort is allowed.

Conclusion

So, we found out how the scratches on the body are polished. You can restore the previous shine of the car and save it from chips yourself. However, for a qualitative effect, you should usegrinder. Why is a felt attachment not suitable for a grinder or a drill? The fact is that these tools have different speeds. In the course of work, it is easy to overheat the paintwork. This is not the best way to affect his condition. Therefore, we use only a specialized machine and only at minimum speed.