How to Compound a Surface Scratch on a Vehicle

Scratches make your vehicle look beaten up or just not taken care of. Scratches from shopping carts in parking lots, trees or bushes near the driveway or kids playing with toys or rocks near your car all can cause surface scratches. The good thing about surface scratches is that they don’t need to be sanded and painted. Surface scratches are only cut into the clear coat and can be smoothed out with buffing compound.

Things You'll Need

• Car soap
• Sponge
• High-speed buffer
• Liquid buffing compound
• Car polish
• Polishing pad

Instructions

1. Wash the entire vehicle with car soap and a soft sponge. Remove the surface dirt and debris so the next steps won’t drag the dirt across the paint and create more scratches. Rinse the vehicle and let it dry completely. Park the vehicle in the shade to let the surface cool.

2. Squirt liquid buffing compound directly on the scratch in the paint. Turn the buffer on and work it down the length of the scratch and then back and forth across the scratch. If you make any circular movements, finish by moving the buffer left and right parallel with the ground. Buff until the scratch is gone.

3. Change the buffing pad to a polishing pad on the buffer. Work car polish over the buffed area just like you did the compound. This helps blend in the newly buffed area. You can polish the entire car for the best blending results and a glossy finish.

Tips & Warnings

• Don’t apply compound or polish to the vehicle’s paint when the surface is warm to the touch or parked in the sun.

• Don’t push the buffer onto the surface with heavy pressure. Use enough pressure to work the clear coat, but do not push so hard that you cut through and reach the base paint.