Car scratches: will it polish out, or does it need paint?

Run a fingernail across the scratch. If the nail doesn't catch, it's in the clear coat and will usually polish out. If it catches, it's through the clear into the colour or primer, and the panel needs paint. If you can see bare metal or grey primer at the bottom, it definitely needs paint, and soon, before it rusts.

The layers in your paint

Modern car paint has three or four layers: primer on the metal, the colour (base coat), and a clear coat on top that gives the gloss and takes the hits. Some colours have an extra pearl or mid-coat. Where the scratch stops decides the fix.

Level 1: clear coat only

Light scratches from a hedge, a key brushing past, or a bad car wash. The scratch is in the clear, the colour underneath is untouched, and a fingernail glides over it. These polish out with a machine and the right compound, which takes off a hair's breadth of clear to level the surface. Done properly the scratch disappears. There's a limit: the clear coat is thin, and once it's been polished hard a few times there's not much left.

Level 2: through to the colour

The scratch has gone through the clear and into the base coat. You'll see a lighter line (on dark cars) or the scratch looks white. Polishing can soften it but won't remove it, because the colour itself is damaged. The fix is a localised repaint: sand the area, prime if needed, colour and clear, then blend into the panel. On a bumper corner that's a small job; across a door it's a panel respray.

Level 3: down to primer or metal

Grey, white or silver at the bottom of the scratch means primer or bare metal. This needs a proper repair, and don't leave it: moisture gets in and rust starts under the paint, which turns a scratch into a bigger panel job later. Clean it, and if the repair is a few weeks away, a dab of touch-up paint keeps the water out.

What about touch-up pens?

Fine for a stone chip or a tiny scratch on a part of the car nobody looks at closely. They fill the chip and stop rust. They never match perfectly, and on a long scratch they look worse than the scratch. Think of them as a bandage, not a repair.

Scratches on plastic bumpers

Bumper scuffs are usually level 2 or 3 because the plastic is softer and the paint is thinner on the corners. They can't be polished out, but a bumper corner respray is one of the quicker jobs we do. See bumper and scratch repairs.

How we fix a level 2 or 3 scratch

1. Clean and inspect under a light to see how far it goes.
2. Sand the damaged area back to a sound edge.
3. Prime any bare spots.
4. Colour-match from the paint code and a spray-out test.
5. Paint the colour and clear in the booth, blending into the panel.
6. Bake, then polish the blend edge.

The result is a panel where you can't find the scratch. More on our spray painting page.

Get it looked at

Two photos: one straight on, one at a low angle in daylight so the depth shows. Send them through the quote form and we'll tell you which level it is and what it costs. If it's a polish job, we'll say so.