re: Scratch Removal

[quinn@hns.com]

Alexander van Gerbig wrote:

>    Talked to local good autobody, detailer, all purpose painting shop.
>They had some bad news, scratches are actually cracking paint and can not be
>fixed with buffing.  Quoted me $4000-5000 dollars for a good paint job.

Back in 1990 I bought a new 90Q20v that turned out to have a 'crazed' paint
finish or one side of the car - only really noticable when the light struck it a
certain way (it was a black car - I've sworn off them since).  After trips back
to the dealer and requisite visit from the Audi rep, they decided the paint shop
could either repaint it, or try "sanding" it down with VERY fine flourpaper
(i.e. 1000-1200 grit).  I was very wary about repaint - especially the
visibility of same around the rubber mouldings & trim etc., so I agreed to 'try'
the sanding effort first.

It actually came out well - though they must've had to remove the top layer of
clearcoat (at least).  The crazing was gone and I lived with the (probably)
thinner paint coat until the roof got caved in by a wooden beam falling off and
overpass (another story) and the subsequent repaint for that.  As I had
suspected, the repaint was worse than the original problem had been.

This "flourpaper sanding" procedure may be a mechanism you might like to
explore,

-Mark Quinn