About 17 million cars or light trucks are purchased in the United States every year. While most people that buy cars do so because they’ve fallen in love with a vehicle, for most, that love affair ends soon thereafter.
Among the many reasons why people find themselves becoming more annoyed by the sight of their cars is body damage—particularly scratches.
That truth has made “how to remove scratches from your car” a hot question online and in the real world and is the reason why we’ve decided to write this post!
If you’re curious to know how you can remove or reduce the visibility of a scratch your vehicle has incurred, keep reading. Below, our team breaks down all of the web’s best scratch removal hacks and solutions.
1. Tape It Up
While this won’t get rid of your car’s scratch, it can noticeably reduce its appearance. We find that taping scratches works best with small scratches in low-visibility areas. We also find that those that take the most caution when cutting their tape will like their outcome the most.
To tape a scratch, buy duct tape or electrical tape that matches your vehicle’s color. Then, cut a strip of tape as thin as possible that can cover the entirety of your car’s blemish.
Once you put the tape on and smooth it out, hopefully, you should have a hard time seeing it and the scratch that was bothering you.
2. Grab Candle Wax
Candle wax is certainly an unconventional method of how to get scratches out of your car, but it’s one that we’ve seen work.
Similar to tape, you’re going to want to find a candle with a color that matches your car’s paint as closely as possible. With your candle in hand, melt the wax and scoop it up with a tool. This eliminates the prospect of you getting burned.
Finally, spread the wax in a thin layer over your scratch, blowing on it throughout. Once your wax hardens, carefully chip away any runoff.
3. Try a Decal
Throwing a decal over scratches on your car may not be a solution for everyone. If you have the right kind of car that lends itself to racing stripes or other forms of art, though, drafting sticker designs to aid your car scratch removal efforts is a fool-proof solution. It’ll give you the coverage you need without raising too many eyebrows.
The process of using decals to cover scratches is simple. Find a design you like, make sure it’s large enough to cover the entirety of your car’s blemish, and carefully stick it onto your vehicle per your decal’s instructions.
Decals are typically removable, so if you find yourself wanting to switch out your art later, you may be able to do so.
4. Use Toothpaste
Some toothpaste has polishing properties that can actually help reduce the appearance of scratches. We find that the type of toothpaste that does this best will have “whitening” capabilities.
Wash your car, dry it, and pick up a great whitening toothpaste. Then, smooth a generous amount of paste over your car’s scratch. After letting it sit for five minutes, take a dry microfiber cloth and swirl the paste into your car’s surface in circular motions until the paste appears to be gone.
Hopefully, you’ll notice reduced scratch visibility by the time you’re done!
5. Throw Some Nail Polish on It
If you love painting your nails and have a collection of colors sitting in your bathroom, you may very well find that you have a nail polish shade that matches the color of your car’s body. Do you know where we’re going with this?
Head out to your car and use similarly shaded nail polish to cover up your scratch. As you do this, take care to apply a light amount, so the texture of your polish isn’t too apparent on the body of your car.
For those of you that have white or black car colors, this trick should make your car paint scratch 100% invisible, particularly if it’s small.
6. Spray on WD-40
Here’s another hack some people swear by when it comes to reducing scratch appearance.
Take WD-40, spray it over your scratch generously, and let it sit until it dries. After two or three coats of WD-40, you may find that your scratch’s appearance has reduced.
Based on reports we’ve received, this scratch removal hack is very temporary, so lean on it to make it through a day rather than as a solution you’ll use in perpetuity.
7. Invest in a Professional Touch-Up
If all of these DIY-hacks have you rolling your eyes, skip them, head over to a tinting/auto body pro shop like exoticwindowtint.com, and get your paint touched up. Specialists have professional-grade car paints they can apply in a way where when your car is done, your scratch will literally have disappeared.
Sure, professional help will cost you more than nail polish. If you’re looking to get your job done right, though, there’s no better way to go about it.
You Now Know How to Remove Scratches From Your Car
Knowing how to remove scratches from your car is a skill that can save you countless hours of rumination and frustration. We hope the tips we’ve given you aid in your stress reduction and help you continue your love affair with your vehicle for years to come.
If you’d like additional guidance on anything related to cars, our team is here to accommodate! Keep reading to discover more vehicle-centric content on our blog.
