I was at my cousins bday party last night with my car, and i was showing some people my e cutout while we were standing around outside. I told my uncle he could see it operate if he looked beneath the car from the rear end. So what does he do? puts his hand on the rear bumper to get down and look at it, twisting his the ball of his hand. My car was a little dusty at the time. I thought about saying something, but figured, eh, im being to ****. NOPE. wrong. I was drying it off today and looky looky. It looks as though my uncles hand was made of sandpaper (LITERALLY!!!) Besides the major part where the ball of his had twisted, i can see where every one of his fingertips touched!!! That is what makes me mad. You should be able to touch a slighty dusty car with 6 layers of zaino on it without it scratching!!! Heck, you should be able to gently touch it even if it didnt have 6 layers of zaino. I figured I could take on anything like that with six layers of zaino but i guess not. Is there something wrong with my car or do i just need 12-18 layers of zaino? I cant imagine what this dam* thing would look like if i drove it everyday. I abuse my truck all through the winter, through parking lots, dirt roads, you name it... the paint looks great for 12 years old. There are no hand prints anywhere from people touching it when its dusty. NONE. (yes, i realize black is harder to take care of that blue, but this is rediculous)

Im gonna take a pic of the huge hand print gouged into my paint eventually... need to cool off first.

 

That is the nature of clearcoats, unfortunately. You probably will have to start insisting that people do not touch your car in order to avoid unwanted fingerprints, etc. It might alienate some people, but they don't have to live with scratches and grief.

Keeping a good build up of a wax or synthetic will help prevent some streaking, but of course they can only protect up to a certain amount of abuse.

You should probably try a paint cleaner and/or a light clearcoat polishing compound to get the scratches out, if they did not go through the paint. Good luck.

 

ill try that clearcoat polishing compound...is that something you can buy at the local autoparts store? the scratches are all VERY tiny, but all of them put together makes a haze effect; its invisible at certain angles, and sticks out like a sore thumb at others. I tried taking pics of it, but pretty much gave up. The camera just doesnt pick it up like the eye does, or im just not getting the right angle with it. I guess I got lucky in a way, this hand print is over a big spider crack, but even though the spider crack stretches across half the bumper its less noticeable.

 

Paint cleaner does not remove scratches. Compound is for removing sanding scratches, but also introduces its own marring.

After 2-3 layers of ANYTHING it's just a waste. There are solvents in any liquid wax/sealant, and after that it stops layering.

Use a Paint Polish....NAPA has Meguiar's Mirror Glaze products. #2 or #9 should work well with a terry applicator. Do not use cotton or terry regularly for applying sealants or drying the car......one word: MICROFIBER! www.exceldetail.com

Good luck,
Matt

 

A paint cleaner can remove light scratches. Several times I've gotten ooops and ouches from tree branches and streaks from passerbys that I was able to remove with a good paint cleaner. Gliptone's "Pro-Buff" was especially good at that.

Some scratches, however, may penetrate more, which will require some mild compounding. Just use moderation when you are treating the area.

Wetsanding is also possible if the scratch is deep, but stops short of breaking through the paint. Just bear in mind whether it is appropriate judging on its size (and the fact that along with the scratch you will remove layers of clearcoat). If its a small scratch then I'd just keep trying with either the paint cleaner or the clearcoat compound, then top it off with wax.

BTW: That is not correct about wax layerings. A pure wax does layer beyond two coats, and will layer almost perfectly. Cleaners, polishes and cleaner waxes do not layer. There are visible resolution differences between two, five, ten, and 15+ coats of wax. You normally won't require that much wax on your surface unless you are seeking a deep resolution. Two to five is enough for yearly maintenance and general cleaning. You will have to take care that your wax coatings must go onto a clean surface, or else you will have hazing and a greasy feel, especially if you did not thoroughly buff off your previous coat's haze.

 

Is that something I can pick up at an auto parts store?

Im definetly not gonna wet sand it, the car is gonna be stored when I go to college [in a matter of weeks] and I eventually plan to repaint the front clip (when I get my SS hood)... so i might as well just repaint the back bumper while im at it. I should anyway with that spider crack.

 

I don't care how pure the wax is, it still has solvents in it to a certain extent, and will stop layering at a certain point (usually 2-3).

Gliptone Pro-Buff is very good, I agree, but it's more like a polish, not a paint cleaner. A paint cleaner does just that...cleans the paint as a preparation step.

 

Yes, try AutoZone or any popular auto goods retail store. If you don't find Gliptone, then you should pick up either meguiar's paint cleaner (beware, they have many, I would stick with the #1 of their 3-step carnauba wax system. It is non-abrasive, yet provides great cleaning and polishing action).

Also, look for Dupont Polishing Compound for clearcoats, and use some of that to get out stubborn areas of blemishes and scratches. When you've worked the area in question to your satisfaction, finish up with a pure wax.

I hope you will have good results.

 

Who says that a pure wax will not layer? Produce the facts or a published study by an authority that has done an observation on automotive waxed surfaces. Most experienced detailers will say otherwise. The better manufacturers of pure waxes (Zymol) specifically will state that their products will layer, and will back up all of their claims for their products. Which authority is saying that it will not, and what proof are they basing their claims on?

Solvents are in the wax so as to make it workable to apply to the surface. The "solvents" in pure wax (with lesser waxes having more of them of course) are not cleaning agents, so they will not clean or remove what is on the surface. Waxes with cleaning properties, however, will clean previous deposits before adding a limited amount of wax.

PS: Gliptone "pro buff" specifically states that it is a cleaner. Gliptone has a separate product that polishes. I've used pro-buff for years, and it is one of the best (if not the best) paint cleaners I've used.