Car wash scratched my car, how to fix these scratches?

daniellee789

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Kind of hard to see the scratches, but there are a whole bunch of little scratches going all different directions. Car wash says they "reviewed" camera footage and they're 100% percent confident they didn't do it. I know those automatic car washes are a bad idea, but I've never had problems with scratches in the past. I decided to try a new place out, and they first scrubbed down the car with brushes before entering the tunnel, which was odd and concerning for me, because no other car wash I've been to has never done that before. They aren't noticable unless you're super close, but I would still like to fix them. Any ideas?

Honda Civic 10th gen Car wash scratched my car, how to fix these scratches? IMG_20200222_180357
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Wow. 2 automatic car wash horror stories on the same day. I hope people learn from your misfortune. Try something mild at first like Scratch X, if that doesn’t work you’ll have to try compounding it. If you’re uncomfortable with doing it yourself you’ll have to find a reputable detailer to do it.
 
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daniellee789

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Wow. 2 automatic car wash horror stories on the same day. I hope people learn from your misfortune. Try something mild at first like Scratch X, if that doesn’t work you’ll have to try compounding it. If you’re uncomfortable with doing it yourself you’ll have to find a reputable detailer to do it.
Thanks for the suggestions. I really don't think it was the automatic car wash itself though, I'm pretty sure it was the brushes they used before the tunnel. Idk, it's just so weird the scratches would be just in that one spot. And I don't know how else I would've gotten them based on the direction of the scratches being all different and such
 

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Wash the car yourself.

Polish out the scratches with a decent polish and buffer.
 


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daniellee789

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Touchless car wash.
Anything else enter at your own risk.
They don't have any of those near where I live. I've used other automatic ones with no trouble or damage at all, this new one I tried did something different where they used those big brushes to scrub the car before going to the tunnel
 
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daniellee789

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Wash the car yourself.

Polish out the scratches with a decent polish and buffer.
I don't have time to wash the car myself, I would if I did. I bought a kit on Amazon just now so I'm gonna see if it'll work, the reviews were good and the scratches on my car don't seem deep at all so I'm hoping it'll work.
 

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I don't have time to wash the car myself, I would if I did. I bought a kit on Amazon just now so I'm gonna see if it'll work, the reviews were good and the scratches on my car don't seem deep at all so I'm hoping it'll work.
Then best to just live with the scratches, since you will likely get more in the future. Constantly polishing your paint isn't good.

Either that or splurge on whole-car PPF.
 
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daniellee789

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Then best to just live with the scratches, since you will likely get more in the future. Constantly polishing your paint isn't good.

Either that or splurge on whole-cPPF.
What do you mean constantly polishing your paint isn't good?
 

c1vic

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What do you mean constantly polishing your paint isn't good?
every time you polish, you take off a little bit of clear coat.

if you want to know if those scratches can be polished out, spray some water to make it wet. if you cant see the scratch when it's wet, it means you can polish it out.
 


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daniellee789

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every time you polish, you take off a little bit of clear coat.

if you want to know if those scratches can be polished out, spray some water to make it wet. if you cant see the scratch when it's wet, it means you can polish it out.
Thanks for the explanation. Yeah they're hard to see when wet. I think I found a little touch free automatic wash near me so I'll try that one out haha
 

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I now take all of my cars to a reputable detailer that hand washes before polishing and waxing. I will never trust my cars to be handled by a machine again. Swirl marks on my old Infiniti took some serious buffing to get back to a nice shine.
 

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Once the clear coat is gone, the paint is exposed and no turning back. If the scratches are minor, wax might be able to cover them up.
 
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daniellee789

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I now take all of my cars to a reputable detailer that hand washes before polishing and waxing. I will never trust my cars to be handled by a machine again. Swirl marks on my old Infiniti took some serious buffing to get back to a nice shine.
Oof I don't have that kind of money lol. I did find a little touch less wash near my house. It looks really small though, so I'll have to see how it works out
 
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daniellee789

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Once the clear coat is gone, the paint is exposed and no turning back. If the scratches are minor, wax might be able to cover them up.
Thank you for the explanation! Would repairing the scratches once damage the clear coat?
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