How To Remove a Deep Scratch From a Car At Home? | DIY Tricks to Remove Scratches

Scratches on your car are a pain. And unfortunately, they occur far too frequently. Everything appears to be trying to nick your prized whip, from errant grocery carts to obnoxious tree branches and misplaced keys.

The good news is that minor scratches can be repaired without going to the doctor. In truth, household materials and a DIY mentality can be used to cover car scratches. All you’re doing is filling in the small area where paint used to be and blending it in with the rest of the car. No mechanic or car knowledge is required to do this task, which can be accomplished with common home items like toothpaste, nail polish, and WD-40.

You may need to spend more time if you need a more lasting cure or are dealing with a deeper scratch. It’s important to understand how paint is applied to cars before deciding on the best technique for dealing with scratches. A primer, base color coat, and clear coat are applied to the car’s metal.

Using Clear Coat

The clear coat is much thicker than the other two layers, and the clear coat is where most daily scratches occur. Scratches that penetrate the clear coat and reach the color will be more difficult to take off the coat.

A scratch on the clear coat causes light to deflect in a different direction, generating a white mark that is more evident on a darker car. As a result, various cosmetic adjustments can help conceal the scratch.

If you need help mending serious scratches on your car, we strongly urge you to get assistance from a reputable auto body shop. However, we recognize that repairing a little ding in an auto body shop is not always possible or acceptable. Here are a few choices for fixing big scratches on a car if you’re in the mood to DIY a patch for any reason.

Make sure the area surrounding you is clear

Before attempting to heal the scrape, give it (and the surrounding region) a thorough cleaning and drying. To avoid exacerbating the damage, be cautious near the scratch itself. Cleaning the area is critical to avoid dirt and dust particles becoming lodged in the scrape or the materials you use to repair it.

Wash the area with car-specific soap to avoid removing the protective coating from your car, then dry with a chamois or microfiber towel. To ensure it’s thoroughly clean and ready, swab the surface with rubbing alcohol to remove any leftover debris or cleanser.

Make use of a scratch-repair kit

Unsurprisingly, many items on the market cater to consumers who want to address small cosmetic faults on their cars. These kits, which can be obtained at your local auto supply store or online, usually come with everything you need to buff out or fill in a large scratch. However, they are not all made equal. Ask a store representative for recommendations if you need help picking a kit.

It’s best to apply a rubbing compound

Whether buying a kit or just a compound, apply a little amount of the scratch remover on a buffing pad or microfiber cloth. You’d have more control over the product if you applied it directly to the scratch. In general, it’s better to use too little compound than too much, so take your time. In some circumstances, the instructions provided with your kit or the compound box may specify how much to use.

Once you’ve placed some compound on your buffing pad or cloth, swirl it into the scratch with smooth, tight, fast circles. Buffing the compound into the damaged area wears down the scratch’s rough edges, resulting in a more uniform surface. (Toothpaste has been said to work similarly in a pinch, although we can’t say we’d recommend it.) These compounds can damage paint if you buff them too hard or for too long, so keep a watch on the pad or cloth you’re using for signs of possible paint removal.

Buff until the scratch is almost disappeared, then wipe away any excess with a cloth. Examine the scratch and repeat the buffing and polishing process if necessary.

Buffing with the compound should erase the majority of pretty deep scratches

If you can’t completely erase the scratch using the buffing compound, touch-up paint may be able to cover it up.

Apply touch-up paint to it

Touch-up paint is an easy way to hide scratches. Touch-up paint is available in spray paint, paint pens, and small bottles with brushes in various colors to match almost any automotive paint.

The latter applicators are frequently preferred over spray paint for scratches because they provide more exact control over the paint application. Before using the paint on your scratch, test it on an inconspicuous portion of your car to see how well it matches.

A touch-up primer should be placed before the paint if your scratch is particularly deep and metal is visible beneath the paint.

As with anything else you paint, it’s critical to prepare the surface before adding touch-up paint or primer. Use another wash or a swab of rubbing alcohol to remove the last of the polishing substance.

After prepping the scratch, use your touch-up primer or paint to fill it in. Finish your job with a touch-up clear coat and a wax after completing priming and painting to ensure it shines like (nearly) new.

If you don’t already have a lot of these ingredients on hand, and depending on how bad the scratch (or scratches) are, this DIY fix could take a long time and cost a lot of money. While you may save money by completing the repair yourself, it’s not a terrible idea to get a quick quote from an auto body shop on how much it would cost to have the damage professionally repaired.

You may still wish to fix it yourself, or you may decide that having the damage repaired by a professional specializing in auto body paint and auto body repair is worth the money.