I want to compound the paint on my truck. There are some areas where it definitely needs it. For one thing, the previous owner removed all decals and striping. Where the stripe ran along the side of my truck shows where it used to be. There are scrape marks all down the side of my truck from the sraper used to get the stripes off. There are also swirl marks all over the truckfrom where some noob with an electric buffer tried to speed wax and wound up screwing up all my paint. There are also thousands of fine scratches on some spots (not sure what caused them). I'll see if I can post some pictures.

These are the scratches on part of the drivers side door along the windshield.


These are the scrapes from the removal of the striping.


Looks absolutely miserable right? I still can't believe what the previous owner did to the paint onthis truck.

So, anyone have any tips on what I can do about this mess? Compounding especially? I really don't want to have to take it to get repainted.

Edit: *Sigh*, I'm really retarded when it comes to sizing pictures. Sorry. :-/

 

are the scratches deep? and what areas are faded?

 

Hard to tell if the scratches are deep or not, since there are soooooo many of them. Most of them look superficial.As far as which areas look bad: My whole drivers side door looks terrible, the hood is pretty beat up from road debris and rocks, the front right quarter panel is scratched along the top, andthe entire drivers side of the truck has swirls. I think I'm facing a big problem here.

Also, I can't for the life of me figure out if this thing has a clear coat on it. If not, these scratches could be deeper than I think.

 

hit it good with turtle wax scratch and swirl remover. I use it after every car wash on my hood where my little bro put the recycle bin one day, and then to get it off he rotated the bin and slid it to the side of the hood...just thinkin about it makes me cringe[:@].

The scratches go away!!!

And it probably has clear on it..if it doesn't, that was one talented painter to get a reflection like that out of just some gloss black.

 

Well whatever he case may be, I spent a total of seven hours the other day compounding the truck. I started off by having the truck clean and washed, and then began hand rubbing with Turtle Wax Rubbing Compound. After that, I took it off and saw that my paint was now much duller, which mean tthe compound had done some cutting. Next was Turtle Wax Polishing Compound. When I rubbed it on and took it off, I found that it did absolutely nothing at all. My paint looked horrible. Only a HARD wax job covered the flaws enough to where it looks presentable.

I think I have to face it. I have quite a number of small dents and dings, all about the size of quarters and pennies. The paint is 14 years old, black, and scratched all over. I have to either try and find a company who can professionally compound it with an electric buffer (which I refuse to go near), or have the truck completely repainted.

After busting hump compounding all day like that I just don't see any alternatives. I need a summer job. Soon.[&o]