Can this damage be buffed/polished out?

Hello!

New to the forums and referred over from the BMW E90post folks. I'm currently looking at a few 335i's in the area and came across one I'm very interested in. Unfortunately, it has some very odd paint damage along the passenger side roof where it looks like someone took a steel wool pad to the paint along the edge. It doesn't look particularly deep (except in a few areas), but it's concerning to me whether it would need a repaint to correct.

Just from my limited experience it looks like the clearcoat has been roughed up and swirled. I've attached some shots I took of the damage, which spans from the front of the roof to about 2/3 back. Thanks so much for your help, and I look forward to learning more about detailing once I make a decision on a car!

 

Pending depth I think you should be OK. I think alot of us have seen the ol' scotchbrite/steelwool "buff out" damage before and really I think many times ends up being more an eye-sore than a posing depth issue.

 

Hey Mike,

Thanks for the quick reply! In any case, I think I'll be getting a full detail if I end up purchasing the car anyways. Do you (or anyone) have a recommendation for someone near Philly?

 

I think a full detail will give you a nice clean slate to start off with is a good idea because who knows how the finish was cared for.

Oakes Detail comes to mind. They would probably even inspect the car for you prior to purchase and measure any areas for you that are of concern. I think they are on here, but tell them I sent you.

home - - oakesdetail.com

 

it'll prob need to be wetsanded, but it should correct out.

 

Thank you Mike! We can certainly perform a PPi on the car for you, and that damage is certainly the result of something overly abrasive such as scotch brite or steel wool unfortunately. As I stated in your email, sanding/polishing should be the resolution, but can not guarantee that without seeing it in person myself.

 

Definitely appears to be Scotchbrite / steel wool damage. Too bad stupidity isn't painful. You are going to have to be damn careful near the edges. For the compounding stage I would suggest taping off the edges as the combo you will need to clean that up will more than likely burn through along the edge. I see they also used the scotchbrite over the tab that hides where the luggage rack attaches. I may be wrong, but I believe those may be plastic so be careful. I also wouldn't touch that without a PTG.

 

Looks like Grandpa was trying to help clean the car without his glasses and thought he picked up a washcloth or something.
Doesn't look from the pictures to be so hard to remove, but as has already been said, you need to have an experienced Detailer with a paint thickness gauge on site to look at this, feel it, with his fingers, and measure the paint across the entire area that was damaged.
It's not jet black so the paint is reasonably hard, and that is also good.
Good luck with this !
Dan F

 

That will almost certainly be fixed with some wetsanding and compound/polishing.

 

I live in philly. Where are you located?