my ranger is black, so every little scratch looks very bad... my paint job is beginning to look horrible and i try to take care of it. there are very few that you can feel if you touch it. so what can i use that will make it look better. turtle wax just seemed to make it shinier and attract more dust. every minor scratch was still there. i want something to take some of the scratches out.:confused: also, there are 2 quarter sized spots on the hood and a couple on the roof as well, that are very rough and look like something has eaten through the clear coat and some of the paint as well.... any ideas? ive never heard of acid rain in ok, but i dont know if that is what caused it.:confused:

I hear ya RngrRcr, I've got the same problems now too. I don't know about the mystery spots, but Mother's scratch remover (actually) does work pretty good at hiding minor scratches. But there's a fine line between what the stuff will work on and what it won't work on. Any scratch even the slightest bit more noticeable, it won't work on, regardless of whether you can't feel it when running your finger over it. Follow up with your turtle wax too.

I have a spot on my hood that is ruff and it looks like the clear coat is cracking, i know what caused it, i stripped the wax off the hood and was going to wax it when it started raining, so i didn't get to wax it and drove it to work, well a bird sh!t on my hood, the bird sh!t started to eat the clear coat, i'm going to try some fine grit sand paper.

Something you can try on the swirls. Go to a auto body supply place and get some of the 3M glazing polish. They make a couple different kinds, and most of it is recommended to be applied with a buffer. It's what is used after a lacquer finish is wet sanded to remove the swirl marks. It's not really a wax, and I've never had it harm the finish. On a black truck, I would try it on a small inconspicious area first. You can apply it by hand, it just takes longer. Ask the counter guy what he would recommend for your situation.

This is waht i did to take out my scratches

Hand buff with 3Mfine cut rubbing compound
Apply a few coats of polish, I used meguires mirror glaze
Then applied a few coats of wax

Foe smaller scratches you can try some srcatch remover mothers and meguires makes very good types, just polish and wax afeter you use them.

rnager funk you can probably buff that area lightly with a very fine rubbing compound or a heavy polish. This should merge the clear coat to where it is smooth with the paint. Just be carefull not to burn the area where there is no clearcoat.

I have tried that Meguiers Scratch X and it worked pretty good. My truck is dark blue almost black so I have a lot of problems with swirls. It took them right off.

I got some stuff called "Scratch Out" it gets rid of all the "swirl" marks, the one you see when the sun hits the truck, but anything deeper than that it don't work, you may want to try some color wax .

Yeah, I don't know what it is about the Bird Poop but it can ruin a paint job...

Here is your solution:
The stuff you want for the scratches is called 3m finesse-it. It is great. It must be put on with a buffer though. Putting it on by hand wont work. You must get the surface hot enough to sort of melt the clear coat and the finesse will fill in and bond to the clear.
there will be swirl marks after this, and that can be taken out with a swirl remover compound. Your best bet would be to go to a auto parts store that also is a paint supply house, every town has at least one.
My advise though would be to take it to a detail shop and have it done. Ive done my black jeep hundreds of times and it is tricky, because your truck is black. If ya dont know what you are doing you can get in a lot of trouble with a hi speed buffer.
the mystery spots your talking about are most likely the after effects of tree sap. Got some of them too on my jeep, good luck, havent found anthing to touch them.

90%SPOTs ON TOP OF AUTO ARE BIRD **** AND SPOT ON THE FRONT HOOD AND BUMPER ARE BUGS ACID THAT HAS ATE THUR THE CLEAL and WHICH most of the time it don't go thur the base coat ,(don't get upset I said most of the time)all you need to is get some clear and #0 or a #1 paint brush and fine line touch-up w/clear will make it look better than it doe's now ,it just adds a gloss to it.PLEASE do not try to high speed buff those out because the factor paint is fog on which is only about a mill thick of b/c and give and take 1or2 mill of clear the reason for this is the sheet metal is thinner than the older one are and it needs the flex that the metal and plastic bumper and the moldings have!!
back to the high speed buffing and trying to melt the clear back together ,if you don't use a buffer day in and day out you will get this light color of spot and that will tell you that you just ruind the bond between the b/c and the clear if not now but later down the road it will peel .

for dk colors it takes more steps to make it look good but once done it will look sweet!!!!!!
I charge 20 to 30 more $ for them depending what the job calls for more srcatches more $ and since i do those out on the dealer lots the early in the day i do those.
I know we all have are 2cent take mine or don't but i do make real good $ by useing mine and have years to back it up!
NOW the min. 3 steps i use is
#1 foam pads ONLY(all steps)!!! high speed w/meguiers med-comp to remove most of the srcatches
#2 high speed 3-m swirl remover
#3 mid speed 3-m finesse to open pours in paint (it was meant to be used for paint blends-it polish and open up the paint pours so you can melt in the egde of the blend because it don't contain silcone)
#4 slow speed and work in meguiers gold!!!!
ITS best to do section only and take your time to do it right the first time or you will be mad @ yourself
I don't tell to many peaple how to do this I make my living w/this sys w/my paint repair !!!
THE PAINT MAN!!!!!!!!!!!

Originally posted by lowrangerMS


Yeah, I don't know what it is about the Bird Poop but it can ruin a paint job...

Bird sh!t is really acidic :mad: