Some low life piece of crap decided to key the passenger side of my white ML500 at some point this past weekend. Luckily a smy detailer stated my car is white and it only looks to have scratched the clearcoat. My car is a lease, but i still care about the appearance. My detailer recommended wet sanding and a nice wax buff and polish but wasnt 100% positive if the wet sanding would work. ANy feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Steve Snowrider

 

Have wetsanding done only at a very experienced detailer... experienced with wetsanding, not so much detailing. It's very easy to screw it up if you're not careful... I've done it a few times, but only on my family's cars, and while all turned out great, I'm still scared to trust myself on clients' cars. If you have some patience and can think logically, it's pretty easy to do yourself... make sure the paper is SOAKED in water (some leave it soaking over night) and go with front to back motions, no circles...

As for the polishing part after, if you're quoting your detailer when saying "nice wax buff and polish" he most likely has no clue about detailing, and is one of those "hacks"... I hate to stereotype here, but if someone says that, they most likely don't know much about detailing... maybe he's different...

Anyway, after the wetsanding, you would need to spot polish, unless the whole car needs a good polishing... I would recommend polishing the entire car because if done properly, the wetsanded part will look nearly perfect, compared to the rest of the car, if it has swirls etc... white might be a good trade off
In any case, you will need to use a pretty rough polish for the sanding marks (I use a 4" pad on a rotary polisher with Meguiar's #84) but you must be careful not to destroy the paint with it... again, taking it to a very good detailer for everything would be a good idea

As for wetsanding working or not... it's your only option, or re-paint, assuming the scratch is deep enough where polishing alone won't do much... if you're not sure you need wetsanding, have a good detailer run a few of his polishes over the scratch to see how much it improves... on white, scratches look 10x better than other colors when polished, so you might not even need to go with sanding it

sorry for such long post... good luck

 

Thanks Ivan. Appreciate the info. I was not quoting the detailer, I am the inexperienced one using "nice wax and buff" lol

 

Haha it's ok... I was simply stating that because many of the bad detailers usually say "I'll buff your car with a nice wax" or "polish it with a nice wax"... you polish with polishes, then wax with waxes haha... either way, good luck with it, hopefully it turns out well

 

I hope so too.

 

Here's the rule of thumb for a wetsand. If your fingernail catches the scratch, it usually too far into the clear or even in the paint. Take it to a reputable body shop and have them examine it. I too am hesitant on wetsanding. It's an art that takes years to perfect. If the scratch doesn't bother you, polish it out with a good polish like Menzerna Super Intensive or Intensive. This will round the edges of the scratch making it less visible. Then use a wax to further hide the imperfection. My 2 cents.

 

Dont do it - I learned first hand the hard way that wetsanding is meant to be for pro's that have alot of experience. Bring it to a pro. Either way - Best of luck