I'm a complete idiot - Fixing clear-coat scuffs and possible other damage?

[BLiT]

Alright, I know TN's stand on this kind of thing, so I'm going to go ahead and clarify.

I know that what I was doing is stupid, and to be frank, I did it completely wrong...

Secondly, I was NOT on a public road of any sort or even anywhere near it. I was on a family-owned private road with no occupants other than myself on it. I don't condone speeding on the highways and I sure as hell don't support crazy driving.

Anyway, I was going down the road ultimately to get away from people so I could work on tidying up my Hella Horn wiring, since the horn connectors are awfully close to the radiator. On the way down, I just got possessed and lost all common-sense. I took the turn fast, got just a bit of understeer before the apex, then after regaining traction I accelerated too soon WHILE turning harder. Add that in with shitty tires and a shitty line, and you get this:











Most of the "damage" was just berry juice, which I promptly washed off to prevent it from staining the clear-coat.

The bad news is that my clear-coat apparently hadn't hardened on some parts of the car yet, from where I finally got my door fixed. That's why if you look in the third-to-last picture you can see that the rear-quarter panel is scuffed but the rear-bumper is not. Nothing's really bad, and it looks like a lot of the scuffs will be able to be buffed off with some polish, wax, and a hell of a lot of elbow grease.

However, it looks like I might have to wet-sand the clear-coat in some places on the rear-quarter panel and on one place on the roof... being my age, I've never done it - I was wondering if anyone could give me any advice or tips?

That's the only damage I've found on the car, with the exception of the window sills which will have to be re-painted at the body shop who repaired my door. I'm also wondering, though - since I did all but go into a ditch - what else I need to watch for in the terms of damage. AKA, wheel misalignment, etc.

I'm lucky to walk away from this with nothing more than a bug bite, and I'm sure as hell lucky to have the car in one-piece and on four-wheels. I think I'm going to wait until I actually have a track to go to before I do anything else with the car, be it on my own land or not.

[msncorolla422]

I would clay the car too just in case Heck on my silver S I need to the same thing...my car has gone through hell within the one and half years I've owned it....and sorry I cant give you any advice on the other stuff such as buffing...Im a noob at that as well.....and if anyone knows how to fix the scratches down to the plastic then that will greatly appreciated and if not then off to the paint shop...farther in the future of course....I was thinking touch up paint, sand, and then polish but Im too scared to mess with that

been in the ditch just like you and scratched up the left side skirt, normal scraping on the front(no biggie), kinda gentle backed up into a wall(<1in scratch), right front lip curbed a little, two almost invisible door dings, and my car had coffee poured onto it and then sat in the August sun last year for the whole school day, and I had recently understeered for the first time....and man was it scary
Do you have the Goodyears? I HATE them with a passion, I cant wait to replace them geez.

But most importantly is that you are okay and that the car is barely damaged!
oh and a video of the new hella horns would be nice

[BLiT]

I'm really glad I'm not the only one who's done this.

No, I've got Bridgestone Turanzas. They're decent, at least in the dry. I don't think I'll buy them again, though. Horrible traction in the rain, only lasted 17k Miles (not doing this a lot lol,) and they're loud as heck on the tarmac.

And yup, I'm perfect. Was pretty shaken up, but got off with only an ant bite. I had the windows down thankfully. Got a lot of bugs and debris in the car, but I'll take that over broken/scratched glass any day. And as for a Hella video, that's a 10-8 can-do. They're fun as crap to scare your friends with!

[roberto1187]

dude easy fix would be to wash the car..dont know if you did already and wax it..i would recommend rubbing compound first to clear off all the red stuff on it..then wax it w/ regular wax and or just clay wax the car..

what your car went through is nothing new to me..esp the amount of birds in my area that happen to "crap" diff colors that match that exact same color of the berries or cherry stains

but be quick about it though but if you got money go to a detail spot that does it for $100.00 and you get your interior done too lol

let me know how it comes out

[msncorolla422]

Originally Posted by BLiT

I'm really glad I'm not the only one who's done this.

No, I've got Bridgestone Turanzas. They're decent, at least in the dry. I don't think I'll buy them again, though. Horrible traction in the rain, only lasted 17k Miles (not doing this a lot lol,) and they're loud as heck on the tarmac.

And yup, I'm perfect. Was pretty shaken up, but got off with only an ant bite. I had the windows down thankfully. Got a lot of bugs and debris in the car, but I'll take that over broken/scratched glass any day. And as for a Hella video, that's a 10-8 can-do. They're fun as crap to scare your friends with!

Oh I have the goodyears and they are really bad just like the Bridgestones...mine are loud on the road, horrible traction in the wet as well, make a lot of noise even though the turn is at 25 mph, etc.
Are these the dual horns right? I have normal dual car horns which is still nice and unexpected from a corolla but I want it LOUDER!I want to scare people muah ah ah ah!
Here is my vid of my setup and thinking about making a better one tomorrow

You Tube

You Tube

[Exit9]

I have been buffing out scratches in a 2002 Buick Century my mother-in-law gave us. It appears they used the hood to store cardboard boxes filled with things and then dragged them across the hood leaving many scratches. There are also scratches on the sides of the car which vary in depth. So far I have gotten about 95 percent of the scratches buffed out without going through the clear coat.

I have been using all McGuires products which I have had for a few years. For scratches which have relatively small amounts of paint from another car, I use Heavy or Medium Cut Cleaner with a clean rag and hand rub the other color from the car. For the areas where rubbing compound was used and all other scratches, I use Fine Cut Cleaner and a 10" powered buffer - the circular style buffer with handles on each side (about $30). You just have to keep moving the buffer around the scratch all the time - If you hold it in one place you risk burniing through the paint.

With fine cut cleaner the car looks pretty good, but I probably will try going for a show car finish using other McGuires products. You can visit their website and watch the videos to see what they recommend.

I have Swirl Remover and Glaze which I am going to try. I also have a variety of premium waxes and a polymer coating to use. I figure this is a good car to experiment on. It really doesn't need a show car finish.

[jimd_at_mothers]

I think I'd avoid wetsanding and instead use a Scratch Remover, or a compound as others have suggested. Sometimes a Scratch Remover used by hand with a little finesse can be a better approach than the brute force of a compound.

If you can get close-up photos of those areas, we might be able to point you in a better direction.

Certainly claying would be a fine idea, but avoid waxing any of the freshly painted areas -- it's best to keep any wax from those areas for 90 days, unless told otherwise.

For those who haven't tried it with their touch-up paint, Langka is one alternative that helps smooth the blobs that are commonly left behind. Dupli-Color also has a kit to address touch-up blobs -- they used to have a helpful video, but unfortunately I can't find it.