2001ws6ft

Hopefully I'm in the right place. I'm planning on buffing out "scuff" marks, the result of idiots cleaning my townhouse complex and blowing dust and salt that got under the car cover. When I uncovered it this spring, it was dirtier than if left uncovered. The cover moving in the wind rubbed the debris against the edges of the car scuffing it up (fenders, doors, etc.). The hood and trunk escaped unscathed. Needless to say, I will never cover it again. The car port I have keeps the rain and snow off of it, so good enough.

I'm confused as hell about what compound to use. The marks do not appear to be very serious, but black paint exaggerates it. I have a dual action orbital and I'm very comfortable with the prep work. This is the first time I'm attempting this. I'm very concerned about how to correct the paint though. I don't want to go too aggressive. Also, I have no idea how much clear coat I have left on the car although from the looks of it, I think there should be enough. (never been buffed before, kept out of the sunlight, garaged in the winter, etc. I bought Meguiar's Fine cut polish and Meguiar's medium cut polish which claim to be a 5 and 7 respectively on a scale of 1 to 10 in cutting ability. My friend gave me his Chemical guys v36 and v38 final polish compound. My plan is to use Meguiar's fine cut polish and then using chemical guys v38 final polish compound to finish it off. Any suggestions? I'll include a picture. The picture exaggerates the scuff marks. It taken at night. You can see a scuff line to the right of the flash.

By the way. It is a 2001 black Trans Am ws6 if it makes a difference. Don't know if gm used a hard or soft clearcoat assuming I have enough clear coat left.

98CayenneT/A

Are you going to be doing the whole car? Looks like you have a lot of fine swirls also.

Black 4th gen paint is very nice to work with.

I would use Carpro ClearCut with a fine finishing pad. It will cut very good but will also finish down very nice.

2001ws6ft

Yes. I will be doing the whole car i think. But my plan was to use heavier compounds on the more affected areas. The swirl marks are worse in the areas with the scuff marks. Rest of car, especially rear spoiler, is almost immaculate.

The Guz

iTrader: (8)

What are the numbers on those Meguiar's polishes?

You could get yourself Meguiar's Ultimate Compound and M205 and you will be set. These are readily available over the counter. Ultimate Compound is not that aggressive. 98-02's have hard paint.

2001ws6ft

I spent the last two days going through the car and I think I did a decent enough job. I am happy to say that I 100% eliminated the "scuff marks" and lightened up the swirl marks by at least half. It was a long and tedious process. I used Chemical Guys' v36 cutting compound which is their second lightest cutting compound. I might have gotten slightly better results moving to their slightly more aggressive v34 compound or doing a second pass with the v36, but the one pass with v36 provided almost all the pain correction I needed. I finished it off with v38 which is their finishing polish. The v38 provided very little visible improvements over the v36. Possibly none at all, but I do think I was able to tell a tiny difference. I'm sure this is due to the hard clear coat gm used. I also applied two applications of ceramic coating.

98CayenneT/A

Looks good, you enjoy the process?

2001ws6ft

It was a lot of work, but yes, I did enjoy it. Especially since I made it look better than it was before and not worse. I have a 3 inch dual action so you can imagine how long it took me, but I feel that it gave me better control. It was confusing deciding on what compound to use and how much pressure to apply, etc. The steps I did were as follows:

1. Light Rinse (No pressure)
2. Foam entire car with chemical guys clean slate wash (to get rid of the years of waxes used and any possible tree sap,etc.) and let soak for a few minutes
3. Rinse with pressure washer
4. Wash entire car with clean slate soap using microfiber wash mitt and two bucket system
5. Rinse again using pressure washer
6. Clay the entire car using clay luber to lubricate the surface
7. Rinse with RODI water (I have a RODI system in my basement I use for my fish tank)
8. Dry car using soft microfiber drying towels
9. Use medium cutting pad with chemical guys v36 polish compound on entire car and wipe off with microfiber rag
10. Use final polishing pad with chemical guys v38 polish compound on entire car and wipe off with microfiber rag
11. Do a quick foam wash with chemical guys clean slate and rinse
12. Wipe down entire car with 15% IPA solution (I was scared of damaging the paint, so this is the strongest solution I made)
13. Dry off car with microfiber rags.
14 . Apply ceramic coating following avalonking directions and wait an hour to apply a second coating

The whole process was exhausting, but I have a car that looks better now than when I bought it (I bought it when it was 2 years old)

wannafbody

iTrader: (2)

Griots compound is easy to use and works pretty well.

whitcomb

iTrader: (1)

I've been painting for yrs and love Maguire's ultra cut 105. That with the megueirs red pad is almost aggressive as a wool pad but less swirl Mark's and u can use same compound with a black or blue 3m pad and itll be like glass

LETZRIDE

iTrader: (6)

I like the Meguiars M1 Glaze for swirl marks like that. You can follow this process for repairing minor scratches - I would skip the rubbing compound part and go from the polishing compound down.