So, it happened. You were driving to the grocery store, or parking at a street kerb or left your car at the shopping centre car park. And, before you knew it, there was a scratch through the gleaming, shiny paint on your vehicle.
It happens more often than you’d think – but that doesn’t make the damage any less unsightly or annoying when it does.
If your car has been damaged and is in need of a car scratch repair, you’ll probably have a lot of questions: “where did this come from?”, ‘how do I fix it?” and even more likely, “When I do, will the repair last?” After all, if you’re getting scratches removed from your car, you want them to stay gone!
What kind of damage do I have?
Before we can talk about the likely result of your car scratch repair, it’s important to run through the types of scratches you can have on your car as this will ultimately impact the type of repair you need.
While your car’s paint might look like a singular colour wrapped around your vehicle, there are actually three layers that comprise it.
- The primer coat: This is applied to the metal surface of the car to protect it.
- The colour or base coat: The colour pigment that gives your car it’s distinctive colour.
- The clear coat: A clear, pigment-free layer designed to protect paint from the elements and give your car its shine.
The severity of your scratch depends on how deep through these layers it goes.
Clear coat scratches:
The most common type of scratch – and easiest one to fix – is a clear coat scratch. While not all cars have a clear coat, most modern vehicles will have it applied in the production process.
Clear coat scratches are almost the best type of scratch you can get: they are superficial in nature, easy to fix and rarely cause any further damage. Most of the time, you’ll find you have a clear coat scratch because of usual wear and tear: touching your car’s exterior with your hand; placing coffee cups on the roof while you fumble for your keys; or leaving swirl marks when you wash your car.
Most clear coat scratches can be repaired with a good polish or scratch remover product.
Paint scratches:
As the name suggests, this refers to scratches which have gone through the clear coat layer and damaged the paint of the car. Most of the time, a paint scratch occurs through road accidents, hitting a wall or pylon with car doors or rock chips hitting your car when you drive on gravel roads.
While it may not look too bad, the problems with paint scratches happen later – because the metal of your car has less protection, there is a risk it may rust over time. While they don’t need to be fixed immediately, these scratches should be repaired in a timely fashion.
Given the damage has reached the paint layer, most of the time these scratches require a repaint – a process that is almost always best left to the professionals. Depending on the severity of the scratch, this can include a process of sanding back the damage, respraying the paint coat, respraying the clear coat and polishing the final repair.
Primer or deep paint scratches:
A scratch that has gone through to the final layer of paint and reached the primer is called a primer scratch. The easiest way to tell whether you have a primer scratch is visual – you can usually see the metal or plastic of your car’s body through the scratch.
It’s little wonder that these tend to be the hardest of all scratches to repair and take the most work to get rid of – and it’s important that you do. Given that the car’s body work is often exposed in these scratches it leaves your car vulnerable to rust which can cause further damage.
Your best best if you have a primer scratch to call a professional. You’ll not only want the repair to look its best but to ensure your car is protected from further damage.
How long will it last?
It depends on the type of scratch and the quality of your repair as to how long it will last.
Clear coat scratches are inevitable through the daily buzz of life – you’ll find you remove them only to get a new one later on. However, by keeping up your maintenance, you’ll find they are removed easily and require no further action.
For paint and primer scratches, it can be harder to gauge. Home jobs will depend on the deft hand of the repairer.
However, quality paint repairs done by a professional should address the damage to the extent provided by your initial consultation. Providing you follow the advice of your repairer – by avoiding driving while the repair is still hardening etc – and keep up the regular maintenance of your car, the damage should no longer give you grief.
If you have a car scratch you need repaired – don’t wait any longer. Contact Bumpertek today for a free consultation and quote on your car.