Deep scratches in clear coat. 2009 Flying Cloud

[Lucky Tom]

When the clear coat gets a good scratch in it, do you polish over it with a wax or polish or reapply a touch-up type of clear coat?

[lsbrodsky]

I treat it like a car and use clear coat touch up, then a bit of light rubbing compound to blend it in.
Larry

[dkottum]

Apply the clear coat or you will soon have filiform corrosion all along the scratch if it is exposing unprotected aluminum. Use the finest bead of clear coat possible, even masking tape on the sides of the scratch to minimize the "scar".

[sunnygirl]

Has anyone tried the product "Glare Knockout" sold on the Airstream.com store? Seems it is recommended for removing scratches.

Thanks.

Susan

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by sunnygirl

Has anyone tried the product "Glare Knockout" sold on the Airstream.com store? Seems it is recommended for removing scratches.

Thanks.

Susan

It's for surface scratches, translation---all scratches are 'surface' scratches and this does nothing to remove anything but polishing 'swirls' or brush marks from washing, oxidation, water marks & berd poop.

If you can feel it with your fingernail it will need to be addressed with compound, wet sandpaper, clearcoat or a combination of methods recommended by those more adept than I.

Bob

[sunnygirl]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

It's for surface scratches, translation---all scratches are 'surface' scratches and this does nothing to remove anything but polishing 'swirls' or brush marks from washing, oxidation, water marks & berd poop.

If you can feel it with your fingernail it will need to be addressed with compound, wet sandpaper, clearcoat or a combination of methods recommended by those more adept than I.

Bob

Bob,

Thanks for the information. Most of our scratches can't be felt with your fingernail.

Susan

[Road Geezer]

I posted this question a week ago in a different forum and haven't gotten any replies. Seems like there's some good advice in this thread but I'd appreciate finding out specifically what products anyone used to fix their scratches before I go much further with my repair. My scratches are about 6 ft long and 1/4 to 1/2 wide.

"We just got back from a 10.5k trip across country. Somewhere along the way I picked up a couple long rub marks on the exterior aluminum siding. Whatever rubbed against the side didn't crease the aluminum, nor did it penetrate the plastic coating. It was almost as if a bicycle handle grip created the marks.

I've removed the residue from whatever rubbed my side, but I'm left with shallow scratches in the plastic coating, kinda like would be made by an abrasive stick. I tried Maguire's touch up car polish (non abrasive) and it helped a little, but did nothing to remove the scratches. I then tried wet sanding a small area with a 12,000--yes, 12,000, not 1,200--grit furniture finishing pad and I can tell that with enough rubbing I will eventually polish out the scratches. I just don't know if I'll cut thru the plastic, so I'm looking for any advice on alternatives before I expend all the elbow grease I'll have to with wet sanding."


Thanks for your help,
Paul

[Road Geezer]

So I tried a couple different approaches to hiding the scratches on our sides. Even 12,000 grit wet sanding left slightly clouded areas on the unblemished areas next to the scratches.

So I went to O'Reilly's auto store and found some clear coat repair liquid that seems to have worked pretty good. It goes on like touch up paint with a small brush. It completely filled the scratches so that they're almost invisible from many different angles in direct sunlight. There is a very small ridge where the coating sits on top of the surface; so while not perfect, it's a huge improvement over looking at the scratches. I don't know how well this stuff will stand up to sunlight and weather; stay tuned.

Here's a pic of the product I bought at O'Reilly's.

Paul

[62BAMBI]

I have a deep gouge in my side pannel, curled the aluminum as it traveled along the side. Not through the skin but almost. Any ideas as to how to repair, short of a new pannel?

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by 62BAMBI

I have a deep gouge in my side pannel, curled the aluminum as it traveled along the side. Not through the skin but almost. Any ideas as to how to repair, short of a new pannel?

Posting a photo will help answering your question.

Andy

[ghaynes755]

The Airstream store also sells clearcoat.

[wdh]

I got hit by a gate as I was pulling out. Any ideas on how to fix these scratches?