Polishing out scratches... who's the pro?

Ok, who is the pro at polishing out scratches? So far I'm thinking of attacking with 1000g then 2000g and then some compound. Am I on the right track? I know your going to say it depends on the scratch. Lets just assume it's in the clear and the paint is ok.

Lets say its a bit deeper now... Can I touch it up and use the above procedure to "blend" it in?

:wave:

 

Get a grinder and some slick 50.........JKD......LOL

 

If it's in the clear use Maguiars Cleaner Wax. If it's deeper, you're FUBAR'ed :biggrin: Personally I cringe at the word "compound". I know I wouldn't use it.

 

Enjoy the scratches, they are called ambiance

BZ

 

Ya I'm slowly easing into breaking the phycological barrier of not having a 100% mint bike. Living with the scratches right now just isn't mentally possible. One day I hope to be capable of dealing with such. Right now, I need to bring her back as best as possible.

I figure if I'm going to look at painting then I may as well play and try to deal with it and learn at the same time. I'm fairly certain I can do about an 80% job. I'll post some before and after pics when I tackle it.

 

Hey Jason, what happened to Capt. America??? I'm like you...I would have a hard time dealing with it.

 

What happened... well... I was going to fast around a corner, went off onto the shoulder, managed to get the speed down to around 10kmh or less and then the rear tire said this wet grass and leaves is more than I can handle and poof, down to the left I went. All my fault, inexperience and complacency being the two major factors, adrenalin junky being the rest. The hardbag took 90% of it. All in all it was a great learning experience and glad that it happened with me coming out 100%. Once again the hardbag slider came to the rescue. Now I get to play with her.

I tell ya though, there's nothing like reading and getting your reality checks from everyone else but they never really hit home till ya get your own.

 

Man, sorry to hear that. You know I was just thinking before you responded that I was hoping those beautiful Pearl Blue Hardbags didn't get damaged. As long as it didn't crack it, I would look at getting it repainted.

 

Try the meguires deep crystal paint cleaner, polish, and wax. It will temporarily (month or two) hide pretty much any smaller scratch.

The polish is a VERY mild compound (practically nothing), but I'd start WAY finer than 1000g if you go that route, unless your sanding scratches out of the plastic.

2000g might to fine enough, but you probably want to start with polishing compounds if it's only in the clear.

If it's in the color, you need to fill the scratch, and re-clear it. I know people have used products like the following and had good results. Although that's not the exact one I was thinking of:

LANGKA Paint Chip and Scratch Repair

 

Jason, let me know how it works out. I bought my RWB Sept 2008, three weeks later it fell over in my brothers driveway. 600 miles on it. I parked it on the center stand and didn't notice a crack in the pavement under the right leg of the stand. Half hour later it was on its Right Side. Hard bag took the biggest hit. Between the two of us we have one perfect set of bags. I too am sick about the scratches and have some work to do.