Polished out some scratches yesterday perfectly but over did it on this spot. I went from a heavy, medium, light cut of Menzerna with different pads. Any help is appreciated.

 

It should go without saying that you need proper lighting available when you’re polishing. Always work in good lighting conditions, and frequently check your work. Without it you may polish through (breakthrough) paint surface or friction ‘burn’ the paint by polishing in one area for too long.

Basically when friction heat (kinetic force) has compromised the clear coat and exposed the base coat. Paint often looks a slightly lighter colour; it’s usually concentrated on a small area or ‘spot ‘You will also be able to see a non-glossy patch (base coat) where the clear has been removed with the edges of the remaining clear coat being visible .

Areas of risk- bumpers, as they don’t conduct heat like metal panels, edges an seams and the paint in these areas is generally thin (masking tape is good insurance) Applying pressure and holding the polisher stationary for too long will cause friction heat to be concentrated, especially with a foam pad. Clear coat provides both ultra violet (UV) radiation and the paint systems protection. Repair any breaches in the clear coat system otherwise you risk the paint delaminating, which will then require repainting

Correction- replace the missing clear coat and ‘blend to match. Any areas that have been subjected to strike-through need to have another application of base coat sprayed to cover the problem, and then clear coat can be applied to provide UV protection.

The problem is that the new base will tend to lift the edge of the clear around the strike-through spot so you need to seal the gap in the clear coat before you apply more base coat. Seal the spot by using clear coat applied first and allow it to harden sand using finishing paper and then apply more base coat and finally clear coat the entire panel.

It takes some experience to blend the clear coat and a novice painter can cause additional problems until gaining the experience needed to do it properly. Spot blending clear coat is not something an inexperienced painter should attempt.

 

Thank you. Lesson learned. All fixed.

 

So how'd you fix it? I think I may have 'burned' my paint being to overzealous polishing out a few scratches.

 

Local body shop. I'm no painter. Expensive lesson.

 

how much did it cost?

 

You burned through the clearcoat and basecoat, the quarter panel would have to be repainted to fix... I estimate a $5-$700 fix

 

maybe this is a good time to ask how much it costs to get tiny paint ships filled at the dealer? I have probably 10 of them on the front bumper. any ideas? they are all very small, like 3-5 mms, but they drive me insane.

 

A little over $400 to paint the quarter panel.