Automotive Journal

You’ve just exited the store and are striding confidently towards your new car when you notice something isn’t right — the paint is SCRATCHED! You look around, hoping to see the culprit, vainly wishing they were still around so you could vent your rage. Then, you walk up to the scratch hoping it will “rub-off”. Alas, that doesn’t work either. What do you do next — get out the touch-up paint?

For God’s sake NO! The sound of the words “touch-up paint” always make me cringe.

Don’t get me wrong - if you have a big, deep scratch, touch-up paint is probably appropriate. But I don’t recommend that an average person uses it. First of all, it’s very hard to apply correctly unless you’re experienced. Second of all, it’s usually overkill. There are other methods of reducing the appearance of a scratch that are easy and relatively cheap.

For a light scratch, a wet sand is the preferred method. Basically, the paint is sanded with rubbing compound and the surface molecules of the paint are reorganized to fill the scratch and make it disappear. Provided your scratch isn’t deep, this is the way to fix it.

You can find out if your new scratch is big or deep with a couple of simple tests. When you gently pass your fingernail over the scratch, can you feel a bump? Does the scratch stretch over the entire length of the vehicle or of an individual body panel? If the answer to either of those questions is “yes”, then you need to see a body shop and you may need to call the insurance company. Big or deep scratches can be expensive to fix, but not always. Make sure to check around.

If the scratch is light, your local body shop should be able to fix it up for less than $40. Make sure the shop you’re going to us has a written guarantee and that you understand it. Usually the person repairing your car will tell you what it’s going to look like when they’re done.

With all repairs, nothing works 100%. There’s a good chance that the local body shop will remove most of the scratch, but often times a small scratch remains. Relax. You’re probably the only one that sees it because you know where to look. You can be happy that it looks a lot better than it did before.