How to prevent and repair scratches on your car

Date posted: August 23, 2012

Spotting a scratch on your car can be extremely frustrating, especially when you take the time to carefully maintain your vehicle. Luckily, there are a few simple ways to both prevent and get rid of those nasty imperfections on your paintwork.
Scratch prevention

By taking a few simple steps, you can easily avoid the risk of your car getting scratched, in addition to curbing a hefty scratch repair bill! Funnily enough, all it takes is simple car maintenance and a greater level of care.

Believe it or not, careless washing (or lack of) can cause scratches to your vehicle, so it’s important that your wash it properly and on a regular basis. It doesn’t have to be a chore – make the most of a sunny day and devote half an hour of your morning to washing your car. Use plenty of water; giving your car a good rub down will remove any abrasive dirt from the body of the vehicle.

Remember to wash from the roof of the car down in order to reduce the risk of spreading grit down and across the panels, which will therefore cause scratches and scrapes along the paintwork.

If you notice a blemish on your car, don’t wipe the dirt with your bare hands (a common mistake made by many!). This will only score the paint surface, so it’s best to wait until you are home so that you can wash the whole car properly.

Finally, try to avoid parking in areas where people are quite likely to brush past it, preferably in a less popular area, away from supermarkets or shopping centres.

Repairing scratches

To repair a scratch, you need to abrade the paint surrounding the damaged area until they are both at the same level, so that the blemish is not longer visible. The goal here is to sand down to the level of the scratch without affecting the next layer. An abrasive cutting compound usually does the trick.

However, if your car has metallic paint then you’ll need to know that this will be harder to sand down, which means you may have to invest in an advanced compound paste, which are designed to tackle deeper scratches.

If the scratch is very deep and has penetrated down to the metal of the car then you may need to replace the whole panel. If so, seeks the advice of a professional paint shop.