So this is the story. I was parking in my garage late at night and apparently, I forgot to pull up my e-brake so in the morning when my mom went to work, my car had slid backwards and she didn't realize it so she open the garage door and it scraped up my whole bumper. It's not the big scratch right down the middle that I'm worried about. There is some sort of a haze (or more like lots of tiny scratches where I probably used a wrong towel) where I tried to remove the scratch with the chemicals shown below. I was wondering how would you go about removing the haze or the billions of little scratches on the bumper? Would a clay bar, wax, or scratch X do the trick? Thanks for your help.






The bottom chemical is the one where I try to buff of the scratch and the top chemical is the one where I try to wax it. Obviously it didn't work. These are not my chemicals first of all. They were my friend who recommended it to me.
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The rubbing compound is the right idea, but way too abrasive - you need a finer polishing compound to get the gloss. Rubbing compound will just agressively remove paint, whereas polishing compound, while removing paint, has a much finer grit and can polish the paint so it looks good when waxed.

Be VERY careful what cloth you use. An old (but very clean) white cotton T-shirt is a good start for polishing...

Don't use the rubbing compound anymore unless you want to repaint...

Maybe someone will pop in with some comments on ScratchX.

Good luck!
Tom

 

What you have there are commonly refered to as "cobwebs" or "swirl marks." That rubbing compound that you used is probably the cause of the problem. Those are going to be close to impossible to remove by hand. You could get some Scratch X, but it's going to take several passes to remove those swirl marks. Also, Scratch X is filled with oils and will most likely fill the swirl marks, not remove them.

You need to get an aggressive polish, like this:
http://autogeek.net/pbsr.html

And a dual action orbital polisher and some pads:
http://autogeek.net/poca746varap.html

I know this seems expensive and probably crazy to most people, but it's really the only way to get good results.

By the way, don't listen to your friend's detailing tips anymore.

 

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Since the haze/scratches I found out are swirl marks, would a simple product, say by Turtle Wax, could remove those swirls mark by hand? I know it's difficult, but I rather buy a new rear bumper than buy the polishing machine. I have Scratch X at home by the way. I'll try using that. Although it only may be filling in the swirl marks, but as long as it goes away and I can get that shine back, it's good.

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Just stick with the Scratch X. Buying a new bumper and having it painted will cost you $1000 plus. You would have the polisher forever, and I'm sure your bumper is not the only place on your car with swirl marks.

 

Use only the scratch X on the small scratches cause by the rubbing compound. First I would take it to a bodyshop and have them touch up the clearcoat, wetsand with 2000 grit paper and buff the repair with a rotory buffer. If done right that scratch can be made almost invisable to the untrained eye.
OH, scratch X BUFFS the scratches, NOT fills them with anything. Where did that guy hear that.? They made a product at one time that filled the scratch with some stuff but it washed off everytime you wash the car. Ha Ha.