Brand new white car. Scratched all over!

I just got a new VW in "Candy white." I've never owned a white car before and I am now questioning my decision as the car looks the same whether it's been through a rain-storm or washed, clayed, waxed, polished and sealed. :doh:

Anyway, the problem is that the car looks absolutely disgusting in sunlight. I can find scratches left by the dealer everywhere. Every panel has scratches that are fairly deep. On the hood I also found one long scratch that I could not buff out using a DA polisher and even the minor scratches seem to not buff out at all (It could be because I used a non-cutting pad with Ultimate Compound on a DA polisher).

I am a total noob to this and I don't usually have time to spend hours in the garage trying new things. I can probably try to remove the scratches in 2 weeks but may not have time to try anything different for a while. So, the question is: Is it worth trying to remove them or should I just leave it as is?

I keep reading white paint is hard and usually a single stage paint which means I don't have a lot of paint thickness to work with. I am afraid of complaining to the dealer as I'd have to trust the same guys to messed it up to fix the issue although they have a group of detailers in their Audi dealership that are apparently really good at what they do.

 

Try a cutting pad..... and maybe a different compound, alot of guys have great luck with megs Microfiber and D300 or even other compounds.

as it being worth it, that is up to you. If it bothers you that much then Its worth it.

 

Your car is definately clear coated, not single stage paint. And if all you ever use is a d/a, not a rotary, you shouldnt really have to worry about the thickness.

D300 corrective compound is a great choice for a white car.. however, it will not remove all the scratches from VW clearcoat. I've tried many times with different techniques, and while there is always an improvement, my results are never close to "perfect".. meaning there is still a good amount of imperfections left. And before everyone get's all defensive about the D300, I am still refering to VW/AUDI paint here (the majority of cars that I work on). IF the car is newer, you may have better luck ~ 2006 on cars are a little easier to work with.

Don't bother taking it back to the dealer, it will most likely come back looking worse. I used to work for a group of dealers, I know how they operate....
The quick and easy fix for your problem: pick up some D300 with the Meguiar's microfiber cutting pad and spend a saturday slowly working on each panel of the car, polish, then seal. From that point on, just take good care of it and use proper wash techniques.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, I was leaning towards the D300 myself.

What I meant for "is it worth it?" was whether or not white paint really is that much harder to buff out or not.

 

Sorry your new car has scratches like those.

White paint should not be any harder to buff out than any other color - except if its from some German marques that use a harder clearcoat, in an effort to prevent scratches , etc..

So, your VW paint is probably harder than some paints and this is also contributing to it not correcting as well.

Good luck with this !
Dan F

 

Whether white is harder or not (In my pro career all german white is rock hard) you have your work cut out for you. Put aside at least 20 hours as a newbie to correct that paint.

I just did a BMW M coupe in white that was a 2000. Full of scratches, and took 13 hours. That was with M101 - D300 was going too slow.

As a side note, how is it that you 1 - let the dealer prep the car, 2 - didn't inspect the paint at time of delivery?

In any case, we are here to help, so let us know if you need guidance.

 

Also consider this, is this a DD, will the car being "perfect" stay "perfect" are you disciplined enough to wash and maintain it properly?


This is me, and I have taken cars to 100% and see them trashed two weeks later in a parking lot at the hospital. that is the most heart sinking feeling.......

anyway, maybe post up some pics of the hood.

 

I traded in a dark metallic gray car that was 1.5 years old, 25k miles and the paint looked pristine. One thing I am noticing is how little effect any extra care has on white paint though. If I could at least remove the scratches around the windows so I don't have to stare at them every time I get in the car I'm happy. It's a new car, it should look as such. Fighting scars I can handle, but neglect to a brand new paint by the dealer/shipping company I find irritating.

 

Any non metallic color will get marred in a heartbeat. Still it is your job to inspect the paint prior to delivery. If for nothing else, imperfections, such as scratches. You buy a house, you get a pro to get it inspected right? Cars being the second largest purchases, should receive similar inspections. Just saying, not trying to sound mean.

 

I had a 2011 Jetta Candy White color.
Volkswagen is single stage paint.
I used Poorboy's Pro Polish 2 with a coarse green pad 5.5 with a Griot's DA..
Touch up color is VW 02041 Candy White LB9A by Dupli-Color

 

Do you mean your Jetta was SS paint?

 

Correct, super hard white, Toyota is Single stage too I have a 2012 Camry 040 paint code super white. Single stage white is very hard.

 

I agree completely. This is the 3rd car I buy from these guys, the other 2 had been perfect so I let my guard down. Secondly, being new I did not think they'd have screwed this up like this, they do have a touchless car wash so I did not inspect as closely as I should. Third, a white car hides imperfections really well. I can see why so many people buy cars in white. Add that I took delivery at dusk, I did not see anything wrong with it.

I tried taking pictures, it's futile. I basically get an all white blurry image, trying to use manual focus on a non-dslr in a case like this doesn't help much. In the garage the car doesn't look too bad and as Kilo6_one said, it's a DD so it'll end up getting beat up anyway.

I am tempted to let the dealer fix the issue on their own. 20 hours of work buffing an entire car with a back as jacked as mine sounds like torture. Although under Sunlight it looked pretty bad, under closer inspection in the garage the scratches did not look too horrible. What I mean is, they have no depth as much as I can tell by lightly running my fingers over them (Long story short: dealer has 2 locations, VW and Audi. VW techs are not supposed to be trusted with anything, Audi may be better quality and has a real detailer shop. They're the ones who detailed the other cars I've purchased from them).

Thanks for the PN for the touch up paint and confirming my suspicion this was a single stage paint.

 

@BrShootr


I know how you feel, ive been there before........ remember we are talking cosmetics.

I have anxiety of stuff like this, and one day I just realized I have more to worry about in life then scratches on a car that I drive every day and that my kids ride around in. my suggestion, minimize it and as said before its a DD......... just enjoy your new car.

Remember, nobody will see it when you are cruising down the freeway.

 

Kind of what I'm telling myself too. I think getting a car in white will end up being a blessing. I will give the dealer a chance (unless I feel like they may make it worse) and just fix a section at a time throughout next spring and call it good. I'll report back with results.

 

you can spend 20 hours and a bunch of money correcting the paint, and next thing you know something happens........

 

Mistake number 2.

when was the last time you heard of a dealership that knew how to correct paint? They will just further damage the paint.

 

I agree with Tdekany, Id leave the dealer out of it, they will in most cases make it worse............

Unless the dealer allows you to use your own detailer, but any detailer worth his salt will charge far more then the dealer will want to reimburse you for it.


Either do it yourself, or hire a professional or leave it alone.

 

That's a good point, maintaining and correcting are two very different things.

I think I'll just correct it a section at a time when doing regular wash/wax. If I keep using mild abrasives with a cutting pad I think over time I'll not only fix the crap the dealer put in it but it'll be good maintenance for any new stuff that shows up with use. At least now I have a plan (and a better idea of what to use), which is what I was looking for.

 

I have the same car, 2011. I did a full detail 1.5 months ago and the paint is now lit up with light marring. It was hard to notice until I had it under direct sunlight. I could have induced these marks on my most recent ONR wash... anyway, I'm curious to know what will work on this paint as well. I was going to tackle it this weekend, but I'm not ready to put in 20 hours on my DD if it's going to get ruined.

There has to be something that will protect my car from getting messed up if I use it as my DD ungaraged... I was thinking of using OC 2.0 on it.