If you have ever had your car vandalized, this section is for you.

Since the hatred towards BMW owners is rather huge where I live, I have a great deal of experience with scratches. At times I get to work on new scratches as often as once a week!

Early November 2003, yet another vandal visited my beloved BMW. A handful of dirt, stones and leaves was picked up and rubbed across the hood. Something like 5 seconds of destruction, but very effective.

And in close-up:

Even though it's rather hard to take pictures of scratches, I do believe you can see the paint is completely gone inside the deepest scratches. So what to do?

First of all, you need to remove all the dirt from deep down the scratch(es). Some kind of thinner is a good solution, but be careful you don't hurt the good paint. Next you need a touch-up paint stick like this one:

Apply a good layer of paint on top of the scratch and don't worry about getting some on the good paint. It is unavoidable. Now is a good time to scream, because you have the memory of the scratch, the thinner and an ugly layer of paint all over the place! But fear not, soon you will work wonders on this thing...

Find a sharp piece of plastic, or even a dull screwdriver and after the paint has been on for a minute or two, start scraping it off very carefully. The idea is that you will remove most of the paint on top of the good original lack, but won't reach inside the scratch to remove the much needed paint you put down there.

When most of the paint is gone, it will still look like crap, so it's time to find you preferred brand of abrasive polish and a soft piece of cloth. You may wanna try wrapping the cloth around a piece of wood for speed...

Now you start rubbing, rubbing and when you are done, rub some more. After a few minutes the remainder of the touch-up paint is gone and you start seeing the result. Just keep at it... When all signs of the scratch is gone, buff to a shine and finish with the best wax in your collection.

This particular scratch took 90 minutes and would you believe me if I told you, that this is the same part of the same car?

Amazing what an amateur can do, isn't it? At a total of less than 1 US dollar spent, I think this looks rather good. I hope you will be as happy with the result on your car, as I am with mine.