What's a really good polish?
 

I need an effective car polish to get some scratches off of the hood of my daily driver Boxster. The dog has apparently been jumping on it at night in the garage. :(
I'm more interested in the wipe on wipe off stuff that doesn't require a power buffer (I don't quite trust myself with those yet.
Anyone try anything that you're impressed with?
Thank you!
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...psa2skfnhe.jpg

You might have to sand those out with 1000~2000 grit wet sandpaper. Then use use a rubbing compound, then a polish to bring back the shine. The problem is that once you do the hood, you'll love it so much that you'll want to polish the rest of the car.
I use pretty much any compound, then Meguiar's 105 ultra cut, and then Meguiar's 205 polish.

Good luck. Hopefully the scratches didn't go through the clear coat.

Tony

http://www.meguiars.com/en/automotive/products/g17616-swirlx/

I like Meguiar's products. This used to be called "Swirl Remover," and while it does take elbow grease, it will remove scratches by hand. You may have to use rubbing compound if the scratches are really bad, but sometimes dogs leave nail marks which don't go deeply into the clear coat, but leave nail residue. Follow with a wax, of course. Good luck!

Based off the looks of those scratches, you might need an orbital buffer and won't be able to do it by hand. Have You declawed the dog yet? :D


I have had great results with the mequiers products

Thanks guys!
I think I'll start with the Meguiars and get more aggressive from there. ;)
Fortunately it's an older so-so repaint that's getting dull spots on it anyway. If it was my weekender with the fresh custom lacquer job I'd be tearing my hair out. That one stays under a cover in the garage, and I guess I'll have to get a cover for this one too.
The vet trimmed and smoothed out the dogs claws but I guess it wasn't enough! ;)

Aack!! I just noticed the drivers door!
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...ps5fd4u5mq.jpg

Luckeeeeeee!!! Get over here!!!!

I just want to a PCA detailing clinic where they recommended Griot's One Step Sealant that has their #3 polish built into it. I think you might need a more aggressive polish though. Griots has some good polish and their random orbit polisher is easy to use. Good luck!

One-Step Sealant, 16 Ounces - Griot's Garage

If you have to get an orbital, the Griots products have worked very well for me. Great machine, easy to use assortment of pads and polishes.

So what have you done about the dog? No sense in fretting over the scratches until you stop the source.
I find the Griot's Garage orbiters fine for working on the paint. I believe Porter Cable has similar machines for a bit less money. Griot's does honor its warranties as I had their smaller machine go bad on me and they sent me a new one after I returned the faulty unit.

AKL

I've had great luck with Meguiar Scratch Off products. Your may be a tad too deep. When the Boxster was about a year old a scratch "appeared" on the left rear fender. It was so deep your finger nail could go into it. I took it to a detailer who color sanded it to perfection. Good luck.

http://i5.walmartimages.com/dfw/dce0...fccbce3.v1.jpg

Many thanks for all the great suggestions!
I want to look into the Girot's products as I've heard about them before and have some more severe scratches and scrapes (already on the car when I bought it) that I'd like to tackle when I have the time.
I looked for the Meguiars products locally after work but only found this one:
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...psnimtvuub.jpg

So I thought I'd give it a shot.
The results were fairly quick and surprisingly good:
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...ps3aiyebms.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...ps9z6alfgf.jpg

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...ps3ldabydy.jpg

And this is my solution for now ;)
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...psvsbmjnbo.jpg

Of course I put the cheap generic cover on the Driver so I can rip it off and toss it on the bench every day and not worry about trashing a $375 cover! :eek:

I have a Shurhold buffer. It has been foolproof. You can get plenty of different pads. I understand that the wool pads cut the most. I have stuck with foam pads on autos with excellent results. The random orbitals give better results. I even used it to buff out a piece of plexiglass that was severely hazed with excellent results.

Kind of odd that he got 5 recommendations for power tools when he clearly stated:
"I'm more interested in the wipe on wipe off stuff that doesn't require a power buffer." :rolleyes:. Just sayin'...

As I mentioned, I've found dog nail scratches to sometimes be more nail on the surface and less deep scratch. Glad the rubbing compound worked so well for you!

Thanks, I was really surprised! :)
The scratches must have looked deeper than they were, or partially nail residue like you mentioned.
And yes, now I'm wanting to polish the rest of the car. The polished hood made the headlights look so bad that I've already worked them over with a headlight restoration compound. ;)

Told you. Polishing one part of a car makes for a slippery slope (pun intended).

Oh, and as for the power buffer, I like the Porter Cable. If you follow the instructions at Autogeek.net, it's pretty foolproof. Good luck.

Yeah, my bad. He had already posted up his results when I added my info. I doubt it will be useful it in case any one ever searches up this thread. :eek:

Thats an excellent result for by hand Attention. But you shouldn't be afraid to attempt correction with an ORBITAL buffer. It is very difficult to damage the paint with one of those. It's a really good investment for any Porsche owner. The Flex polisher is the most popular these days. The Griots Garage mini polisher is probably the best value for ocassional use.

Your results with Meguiar rubbing compound are probably temporary in that the compound rounded out the sharp edges of the scratches so that light would not reflect. Then the compound's fillers errr...filled in the channel to leave the surface even. But with heat and moisture the fillers will go away and you'll see the scratches again. The only way to get rid of them for sure if to use the torque of the orbital buffer with a polishing pad and the least abbrasive polish. Its a very slow process because the orbital polisher by design is meant to do the job as safely as possible In novice hands. for a car the size of a 986 it will take you about an hour and half to be completely scratch free and the car will look like it just came back from a $5k painting. Just make sure you have a creeper seat so you are working with a straight back and neck as much as possible. A $30 halogen lamp from Sears will make the job quicker as you can see if you got the swirls out abd can move on to the next square of space. You do one square at a time not one panel at a time.

If you live in Wisconsin, as I do, Usinger and Klements make the best Polish. I would not recommend using them on your Boxster. ;)

Polish Sausage smoked garlic Smoked Thueringer 2255

2.5 LB Polish Sausage | Klements

DBear

No I certainly appreciate the power buffer opinions as well. I will be looking at these and trying it out sometime. In high school I bought an old '77 LTD where the previous owner got carried away with th buffer and took all the gloss off of a third of the hood. I've had that in the back of my mind ever since. (hint: Michael Jackson was still on his first nose when I was in H.S.)
This paint job is an older mediocre job, and beginning to get dull, not to mention full of fine scratches everywhere, so I'm curious to see what a good buff n polish will do.
Also, I'm suddenly craving the polish sausage sandwiches from The Lunch Box in downtown OKC, sadly forced out of their 65 year business by developers. Homemade toasted wheat buns, homemade mustard, and sauerkraut to die for. ;)