I'm looking on advice for what to do for this. Any professionals out there can help me I have no idea how this happened. It's on the hood.... The fact that I can see all the way down to the metal is probably not the best sign.

 

The proper way to do it is to sand down, respray the area. The cheaper way is to get some touch up paint and fill it in. After that, use some rubbing compound on the area to try to level it out.

 

Deep Scratches

A surface scratch that will `catch' your fingernail is approximately 0.04 Mil (1.0 µ) deep will usually require wet sanding and the clear coat refinishing Removing a scratch requires removing the layer of paint that contains the defect; you need to level the paint to the lowest point of the scratch. Removing more that 0.5 mil (12µ) of clear coat will cause premature paint film failure as UV protection percolates to the top of the clear coat. Check paint film thickness with a Paint Thickness Meter (PTG) before you attempt to remove

As you go over a deep scratch, the abrasives round off the edges of the high spots of the scratch. The result is a shallower scratch (when no full correction can be made) rounded edges don’t reflect light the same way a sharp edge will and is therefore less noticeable.

It may be necessary to carry out some localized wet sanding to facilitate full removal of any deep scratches, once again, paint thickness must be checked, and if the paint is too thin wet sanding should not be considered

 

With the scratch down to the metal, you won't be polishing (mildly aggressive) or wet sanding (very aggressive) it out.

Unless you have had plenty of practice, a DIY approach is unlikely to be very successful. This leaves two options:

1. panel repaired and sprayed
2. localised repair and spray

In the UK, we have a franchised organisation called 'Chip Doctor'. I've used them for stone chips; the results are remarkable and the repairs undetectable.

I can't found the same company operating in the US but this one looks very similar:

Paint the Chip and Not the Car.

It might be worth checking if you have a local operator offering this repair service.

Graham

 

Do you think this area is going to be a concern for rust, if left alone.