# What's the best way to fix this?



## peter-ss (Sep 3, 2008)

Unfortunately some cretin has badly scuffed my rear bumper and didn't leave a note!

The car was very dirty at the time that it happened and I'm guessing that the damage wouldn't have been half as bad had the car been clean.

As bad as it looks, except on a small section on an edge, I don't think that its gone all the way through the lacquer. Is the best plan of attack to sand with fine wet and dry and then cut and polish with a machine polisher or would I be better taking it to a body shop?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Sent from my GT-S5830i using Tapatalk 2


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## Atom1 (Jan 21, 2013)

I feel for you! So annoying!

Not being a professional but looks like it may need buffing out or even wet sanding depending on the depth?!

I'm looking forward to picking mine up mid march, forget a vinyl wrap I think I'm going to get it bubble wrapped!  it's amazing how often people can with out care damage someone else car.


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## unique detailer (Jan 19, 2013)

Try Machine polishing first with say a 75mm spot pad using something like scholls s17...have you tried running your finger nail accross the damaged suface? if it stops in the scratch its probably to deep! Leave wet sanding as a last resort.

Andy.


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## Krystal-K (Jan 19, 2013)

If I would recommend letting someone with experience machine it. Plastic bumpers react differently to metal panels when machine polished. They dont diddipate heat in the same way and it is very easy to 'blow' the paint (overheat and blister/melt) if youre not careful on areas like this. But in short if it hasnt gone through the laquer i would firstly fill the scratches with laquer from a touch up pen and then leave it 24hr. Then wetsand.....it saves having to take off too much to level it to beyond the damage as you will be sanding less.....and leaving more!!!!


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## peter-ss (Sep 3, 2008)

Thanks for the advice - I think that I'm going to get a machine polisher and have a go myself, if it doesn't work out then it'll end up at a body shop.

The next question is which machine polisher should I buy? I've been thinking about buying one for some time now so at least this is a good excuse to do so.

I'm completely new to such things so do you think that this kit would do the job?

http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/machine-p ... d_522.html


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Hi Peter,

I had something similar on my rear wing edge of the wheel arch. You could try Scratch-X or similar and a good waxing to see if it looks "good enough". If the scratches are not too deep it can largely disappear. Some Colour-Magic can blend in quite well too.

If it's roughened up too much it will still show though. Mine was too deep so I used a fine grade of wet and dry 1200 or so on a block by hand to flatten the scratches down in the lacquer until you couldn't feel them with a fingernail - not as far as the base colour which you can check by looking at the colour of what's coming off - you don't want to go through the lacquer if you can avoid it.

With mine being a flat section the reduced lacquer thickness was evident after polishing as a slight ripple when you caught the light reflecting at the right angle, so I had to add more lacquer and flatten that down and feather in to the surroundings to make it properly flat. I finished off with some rubbing compound to get things glassy smooth again followed by a wax polish. Just a can of Audi touch up lacquer, wet and dry, soap and water and rubbing compound by hand is all I used.


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## peter-ss (Sep 3, 2008)

Hi John,

The thought of taking sandpaper to my car seems horrific but it may well be necessary. I'm keeping my eye on the hedgerows, at the moment, for something to practice on - I'm sure I'll find part of a bumper somewhere, especially with snow forecast overnight! I've always fancied going over the car with a machine polisher so have decided that, now I've got a good excuse, I'll buy one.

unique detailer,

Do you think that what's on my shopping list below will be ok? I'm planning on using the kit to do the whole car but the additional backing plate, pad and compound specifically for this job.


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Rotary polishers are supposed tio be best but I don't have one so can't advise I'm afraid.


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## darylbenfield (Jun 29, 2011)

There was a thread similar to this on a USA forum, the scuff was alot worse. They ended up using Menzerna FG400 on a hard cutting pad, which cuts really hard and also glosses up very well, then a finer polish with a polishing pad.

No wet sanding was even needed, looked great after.


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## peter-ss (Sep 3, 2008)

Thanks for the input guys.

I've ordered the polisher and will post some photos after I've had a go at it.


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## digital_dreamer (Aug 28, 2011)

I've got both a DA and a rotary polisher.

Just a word of warning - watch the heat levels on the bumper, if you get it too hot the pain comes away from the plastic.

That said if your using a DA you would have to be going some to build up the heat. just simple touch and feel and your know how hot its getting.

Check out detailing world forum - has a very good guide on using a DA polisher.


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## peter-ss (Sep 3, 2008)

Thanks for the guide - I'm glad to have read it before having a go!

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/i ... ishing.pdf


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## glslang (Dec 5, 2009)

I find this youtube channel pretty awesome in case you need some inspiration. There's a recent video on wet sanding with some good advice I thought.

http://www.youtube.com/feed/UCYsa8SOy3TkoxI5D17s1u-w


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## peter-ss (Sep 3, 2008)

Well, I thought I'd report back on how I got on.

This is what I started with this morning










After the best part of an hour, carefully attacking my bumper with a spot pad and the S17, this is what I ended up with.










It's not perfect as there's a slight crease in the plastic and a small crack in the paint, plus that small spot of missing paint to deal with but it's much, much better.

Thanks for all of your advice - I'm quite looking forward to doing the whole car now.


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