Hello

Someone scratched my car in the parking lot. There is always an abundance of space. I have no idea what type of a "driver" would have trouble fitting their car.

Anyways, what would be your advice on repairing the scratches? My back bumper has 8-12 thin white scratches right above tailpipes. I tried so called "scratch remover polish" but it did not work.

I think the issue is that the bumper is black plastic painted silver on top.

Any help would be appreciated

 

I can run a buffer over the areas and that'll take the leading edges off the scratch. They won't as noticeable (if you come out to Framingham).

 

Much depends on whether the scratch has gone into the base coat or not. The base coat is the colour, on top of which is a clear lacquer. If you are a good DIYer, you can flat off the lacquer and get an aerosol of clear lacquer from the auto store and spray this on to get back to a shiny surface. It's important not to use too coarse a sanding paper. 100 grade on the scratch area, then beyond that 1500 grade. After the lacquer hardens off you can polish back to a shine.

If the colour is scratched it can be difficult to match colours with aerosols so I tend to take it to a professional shop.

 

Thanks! You think it is worth it? I will upload a photo of the scratches today

Are you based in Framingham? I moved there from Brookline last week!

Fraser Mitchell
Thank you for the advice

The paint got removed completely for 1 inch wide part of the bumper. The black plastic of bumper is exposed now.

Other thinner scrattches only took clear coat I think because they do not expose the plastic.

 

Best to take it to a paint shop, I reckon. If you really want to do it yourself you would need some acrylic stopper to fill the scratches and also an aerosol of plastic primer, sold especially to prime plastic bumpers. I have a tin of it in my garage !

 

The stuff down the black you are SOL, but stuff in the clear coat may buff out or mostly... Try the free solution first before you pay $400 for a bumper respray... Yes, I am in Framingham near Ashland.

 

Have you tried the bumper repair guys? They usually have a mobile service and can colour match on the spot. One of my daughters knocked her Mazda 2 quite badly down to the plastic and $100 later you couldnt tell, and based on that experience I recommended it to my mum who was trying to hide a nasty scrape on her s40T5, also perfect result for about $120.

 

Thanks for the tip but I don't think we have Bumper Guys in the US.

I will try DIY fixes today and see how it looks.

I might also try to get Rhodium Silver paint pen and try to cover scratches that way. Any thoughts about that?

 

Cheers, we have these guys all over the place, eg Mobile Bumper Repairs | Gold Coast | Gold Coast Bumper Repairs

They do an awesome job super cheap and in an hour or so, all they do is repair plastic though the ones who did my daughter's car also painted a bit of metal.

Maybe they call the trade something else in the US?

 

I would make a post with pics on https://www.reddit.com/r/AutoDetailing/


They'll be able to point you in the right direction