Top 7 Mistakes That People Make While Repairing Their Own Car Scratches

Top 7 Mistakes That People Make While Repairing Their Own Car Scratches

Repairing your own scratches is easy, but if you want your paint to have a professional finish you will need a few pointers if this is your first time. This can help you get the right shine, prevent you from making things worse, and cut down on the time that it takes for you to get the technique right.

1) Wet Sanding Without Trying to Polish First

wet sanding an automobile

We always recommend trying to polish out light scratches first with the polishing formula. This is the easiest way to remove scratches and for the lightest scratches this is all that is necessary. If this doesn’t remove the scratches, you can use the wet sanding method.

2) Wet Sanding Without a Block

freehand wet sanding a car scratch

Even if you are an even-handed artist we still recommend using a sanding block rather than trying to hold the sandpaper in your hand. You need to apply an even amount of pressure across all of the sandpaper’s contact area in order to get a uniform finish. If you just hold the sandpaper in your hand you will have a tough time getting the paint to have an even shine throughout the area that you have worked on.

3) Using a Regular Artist's Brush for Touch-up

You should be using an automotive touch-up brush to do your detailing if you go this route. An artist’s brush (even a very fine point one) has a larger tip than an automotive brush and it will pick up more paint as a result of this. We include the proper brush in our touch-up paint kits so you don’t have to worry about this.

4) Not Cleaning the Scratched Area First

The first step in the scratch repair process is to clean the area. You don’t need to wash your whole car, just the area that you’ll be working on. This should remove dirt and grit from the clear coat and allow you to do a proper scratch repair. A few small specs of dirt can go a long way so cleaning the area is an important first step.

5) Applying Touch-up Paint in the Sunlight

Try to work indoors or in the shade. The sun will cause the paint to dry quickly and it can make it tougher to work with.

6) Too Much Paint Leveling Solvent

This won’t result in disaster but you will need to start your work over again. The solvent is used to remove excess paint after you have filled a scratched area. Use too much solvent and you will be back to filling in the scratch with touch-up paint.

7) Removing Bugs with a Harsh Sponge or a Scotchbrite Sponge

You can see the aftermath of this in the video below.



… swirls and a ruined paint job are the results of this. This damage can easily be fixed with our scratch repair kit but you are better off not creating the swirls to begin with. You should first try using a warm bucket of soap and water with a microfiber cloth.

View Our Car Scratch repair Kits Here

Back to blog