Sanding scratches out of plastic?

[Texarkana]

Hey all, I got a new car a month ago and today as I was leaving a fast food joint I tried to rush out of the parking lot and ended up with the bottom of the front bumper scraping the asphalt. The bumper is a composite plastic material, and it got some nasty scratches on it. The scratches were under the vehicle and not visible to the naked eye but I still want them smoothed out. I was wondering if there is anyway to pull a DIY sanding and smoothing job or if I need to take it to the local dealerships body shop. Thanks in advance.

Topic

[OnThe7ThDayFord]

2000 grit sand paper and water. If you do it by hand it will take sometime.
I like to use my eltric sander and a bottle of window cleaner.

Problem is any sanding is gona remove paint. What color is the car?
If its black you could sand the area most facing the ground and then get some of that rinoliner in a can (Spry can) and repaint it using that. If anyone ever notices tell them its to protect the underside better.
Check out my pic the black you see if rinoliner in a can., Its been like that for a year and theres not one flack.

hope this helps.

[OnThe7ThDayFord]

BTW if its any other color you could sand just the marks and use touch up paint. but even that will be noticeable if someone get close enf. (like hand length)

[twiggy]

I really would just leave it alone. I guarantee there will be more scratches down there over the next few years. If it’s under the car your not going to see it.

[skim3544]

Yes, it would be wise to sand it down and least touch up. Because air gets in between and over time it will separate the clear coat from the paint.
I would sand it down using 1000 grid sand paper first, then wet sand using 1500, then 2000 grid. Then using paint touch or clear nail polish, paint over the damaged area.

[EricTheCarGuy]

Quoted From twiggy02919:

I really would just leave it alone. I guarantee there will be more scratches down there over the next few years. If it’s under the car your not going to see it.

I could not agree more but to be honest it really depends on how bad they are and how far you want to go to fix it, a body shop person would probably remove the bumper and repaint the entire thing for a lasting repair anything else might just end up being a ‘band aid’.

[college man]

can you post a picture of the damage? C8-)

[Texarkana]

I’ll get a few pictures tomorrow.

[Texarkana]

I’ll update with pics next week. My grandmother just passed away so I’m going to be busy.

[twiggy]

I’m sorry to hear about your Grandmother. Grandparents are very special and I remember how hard it was to lose mine.

[Texarkana]

Hey, back again. I tried taking pictures its dark out and about to storm, but i did get a good look at it. The scratches are nasty, no doubt they go through the clear coat and possibly the base coat. I’ll grab a flashlight and snap some pics tomorrow.

[EricTheCarGuy]

Sorry to hear about your grandmother. To me it sounds like it might be a lost cause if the scratches are deep enough then you would need to sand them down, fill them and repaint to fix them.

[Texarkana]

Thanks Eric, If I do end up fixing it I’m gonna use the water and sandpaper method, bondo and touch up paint.

[Texarkana]

Well, the scratches don’t look nearly in bad in the photo as they did in person.
http://imageshack.us/f/823/imag0008c.jpg/

[EricTheCarGuy]

Most of that looks like it’s in the paint, you might try polishing compound first to see how much will come out but to be honest this is likely to happen again therefore you may be wasting your time, you can fix and modify your car all you like but the roads you drive it on can be full of all kinds of challenges.

Good luck.

[college man]

These scratches are into the color. the only way to fix it is to sand out the scratches.fill the scratches.prime, paint and reclear.
I’m with Eric not worth the time money or effort for something that can happen again. But its up to you.C8-)

[Author]

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