E85 scratch/Body respray

[Jhetfield]

Hey guys

When I bought my car it had a number of scratches on it around the body, I'm looking to get rid of them but I don't know whether to try myself or whether to just go and just the whole thing done.

Can I just ask all of your opinions on this, if I was to do it myself how would I go about doing it etc and also and if I did choose to get it professionally done, what the average price is?

All opinions matter

Thanks guys
Jude

 

[PerryGunn]

When I bought my car it had a number of scratches on it around the body, I'm looking to get rid of them but I don't know whether to try myself or whether to just go and just the whole thing done.

That's a question that's almost impossible for anyone else to answer - you can google for instructions & videos on how to touch-up or polish out scratches, but so much depends on how bad those scratches are and how confident/competent you are with the techniques involved.

As a very rough guide
- Cobwebs, fine surface scuffs or scratches that feel 'smooth' should polish out either by hand or using a machine polisher
- If you can feel a scratch with a fingernail, it's gone through the clearcoat and you're unlikely to be able to polish it out completely but you may be able to make it much less noticeable
- Deeper scratches that have gone through to primer/metal should be obvious and will definitely need paint.

You may find it worthwhile to try hand polishing (or machine polishing with a DA polisher) to see how much improvement you get. If you are unhappy with the result, talk to a pro detailer or a bodyshop to see if they think that they can polish out the remainder or if a respray of one or more panels would be advisable - estimates are usually free and at least you'd know where you stand.

 

[Jhetfield]

Thats really helped me,

Thanks
J