Even the most cautious driver sometimes has to deal with scratches in their car’s bodywork. All sorts of things can cause car scratches, from tree branches to errant grocery carts to careless kids. If you find a scratch one day, don’t panic; your vehicle’s resale value hasn’t dropped just yet. Here are some ways to repair a scratch and for a quicker, neater, surer solution you can always visit your local Kia dealer and have them fix it for you.
What Should You Do If Your Kia Gets Scratched?
Broadly speaking, there are three types of scratches to a car’s bodywork: clear coat, base coat, and primer scratches. How you deal with a scratch will depend on which type it is.
Clear Coat Car Scratches
The shallowest of scratches only marks the top clear coat layer. If the scratch is so shallow that your fingernail doesn’t catch in it when you draw it across, then you probably just have a clear coat scratch.
You should be able to remove a simple clear coat with some polishing or buffing with a clean microfiber towel. If you have more than one clear coat scratch or smudge or mark, you could use it as an opportunity to take your car in for detailing at your local dealership. This will have your entire car cleaned inside and out, including professional polishing that will remove any and all clear coat scratches.
Base Coat Scratches
When you can see that the paint has been scratched away (your fingernail catches in the scratch), then you have a deeper base-coat scratch. These are a little harder to fix.
You may be able to remove a base-coat scratch by gently sanding the area with very fine sandpaper and then repairing the clear coat with an aerosol spray from your local auto parts store. But if this doesn’t work, or if you don’t want to risk causing more scratches with the sandpaper, have a professional at your local dealership do it for you.
Deep Primer Scratches
The deepest of scratches dig down into the primer under the clear coat and base coat paint layer, sometimes all the way down to the metalwork. You may be able to repair a deep primer scratch with a scratch repair kit from your local auto parts store before reapplying a new layer of paint.
But fixing deep primer scratches is delicate work that can cause more damage or visual harm if not done correctly. Primer scratches are usually best left in the hands of a professional.
Have Your Kia Dealer Repair the Scratch for You
The difference between at-home scratch repair and professional scratch repair is often visually very clear once the job is finished. With many years or decades of experience with similar jobs, a pro at your nearest dealership can usually make scratches disappear entirely, restoring your Kia’s bodywork to its pristine condition. This is very hard for most ordinary drivers to accomplish alone.
Have your scratch repaired today at Crain Kia of Fort Smith. We’re a full-service local dealership with a number-one goal to provide all our customers with extraordinary customer care.
Image via pixabay.com by Hans
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