tried removing some dried, slpatterd bugs from the bonnet and have inadvertently scratched the paint work. ther are also a few other spots that could do with some attention.

is T-Cut still the go-to brand?

and what is best for removing dried flies/moths/beetles, etc? going to drive at a liesurely 60mph rather than 115mph to avoid the splats next time.

must have been over 10 years since i’ve bothered about the appearance of my car.

not T cut.

Can you feel the scratch with your nail or not is the first question.

If not then get some decent cutting and polishing stuff (look up polished bliss or the like). If you can then probably have to get someone to touch it up for you, or just don’t bother and just let the dirt cover it.

not deep scratches… not visible when the paint is wet, but you can see them when it’s dry.

letting dirt cover it was my prefered method until the GF saw fit to buy a smart looking motor.

The tcut scratch remover stuff is pretty good I’ve found, for light scratches

I recently bought a second hand car, had a few scratches and on the rear bumper loads of deep ones where the previous owner hit something.

For the smaller scratches I used a rubbing compound and a micro fiber cloth to gently work them away. They were in the clear coat and not down to the paint or under coat. went over it a few times to make sure the scratch was gone. The finish then looked dull so I then used Autoglym polish to put the gloss shine back.

I did the same on the bumper but used a buffing machine rather than by hand. I got the worst out but it really needs doing by a pro. But for now it will do… I can hardly see it.

Getting rid of tar and bugs is best done with a clay bar and a lubricant. Works wonders. You can buy the sets for £20.

Autoglym paintwork renovator is pretty good at getting most scratches out, although if it’s gone through to the primer / undercoat you’ll struggle to get rid of it completely.
Once you’ve got it out give it a quick polish.

Autoglym Super Resin polish, or, if the scratches are bad, Autoglym Paint Renovator, much easier to work with than T-Cut IMO.

If you use Tcut or Autoglym Renovator you’ll need to apply polish(Autoglym Gloss Protection) to seal the paintwork afterwards. Super Resin Polish does both, seals and removes scratches and would be my first choice (also works well on bike frames), you can’t go wrong with anything in the Auotglym range IMO.

It depends how much work you want for yourself. If you really want to go to town, wash it with a decent wash only (no wax) then use something like Meguiars 3 step process with a paint cleaner (good for bugs and small tar spots, very mild and easy to use) then their cleaner, finished by a wax. Once its done, generally going over with a paint cleaner every few months and a wax should keep it looking fairly tidy. Some colours will need more work (dark and blacks) compared to pale colours and silvers. If you dont wax the paint will attract the polutants again quickly.

As an alternative something like Zymol will be great but its a bit of an all rounder. It does smell amazing too!

Zymol +1

Fantastic stuff which you can even pick up in Halfrauds. Used it remove all sorts from paintwork including those lovely ‘hedgerow’ scratches.

i’m so confused….. 😕

one of my biggest problems is that i don’t have a garage or even a driveway to work on.

as i said, the scratches are not deep, just taken the shine off the paint/glossy bit/top (?). i’m working next to a body work specialist this week so will ask him and might even just give him the damn thing and be done with it….

i wanted a shabby motor, she didn’t. she won.

I like Farecla stuff, very easy to work with. It’s one of those weird ironies that pro finishing stuff is usually pretty easy to get good results with, and most off-the-shelf stuff aimed at the public is not so easy.

Has any normal person ever totally treated a car with something like meguiar’s multi stage stuff? I did my motorbike a couple of times but its total paint area’s about the size of my car’s bonnet.

WD40 works a treat on removing deed bugs and tar etc. Try on a small inconspicuous area first tho… But TBH I am pretty liberal with the stuff now where the tyres sling crap behind the wheels. Wash off with fairy liquid and hot water then hose off, however I always put auto glym wax on the areas that have had WD40/fairy to restore protection.

You can try fairy liquid on its own to remove crap as it’s a lot stronger than car shampoo but definitely not to be used all over the car regularly.

Super resin polish is good but only for very light scratches IMO.

Northwind – I bought a meguires clay bar and lubricant kit and the amount of dirt it brought out of a seemingly spotless car was unbelievable. Followed up with super resin polish and autoglym extra gloss wax and the whole car was like a sheet of glass.

Took 5 hours but the results were very good.

At the other end of the scale the autoglym aqua wax is fantastic for getting a deep shine and doesn’t take any longer than just washing and drying.

think of it like this –

Paint cleaner/cleaner wax is a very light abrasive for removing light swirl marks, dead bugs, tree sap, etc that havent been removed by a good wash.

Polish is heavier duty, going past the scratches and evening out the paintwork to fill the scratches. This is for scratches you can feel.

Wax is just a protective barrier.

I would have said Zymol for what you want. Easy to work with, smells good, relatively well priced too and you’ll probably get about 10 full cars out of it depending upon how keen you are with instant results.

DON’T USE FAIRY LIQUID! Unless you like lots of fine scratches from the salts it contains.

That’s why I said not regularly but only to get some stubborn stuff off the paint work. Plenty more salt coming up off the roads in winter. Salt ain’t the problem it’s that it’s a strong cleaner. You can get swirls but it’s great for a deep clean of the front bumper before polish and wax.