How to Fix Dents or Scratches on Your Car

Mechanic Examining Scratch

If you find yourself here, you’re probably wondering how to fix scratches on your car. You may instead be wondering how to fix a dent in a car. Either way, we’re here to help you get your car’s paint and body looking good! Keep reading to learn tips from the pros on DIY scratch & dent removal and how you could wind up saving yourself money on repairs while significantly improving your car’s appearance. Alternatively, if you read on and decide DIY repairs aren’t for you, all you need to do is contact our INFINITI service center in Clarendon Hills!

How to Clean Floor Mats Service Department Schedule Service

Learn How to Fix Scratches on a Car Yourself

Removing scratches from your car may be easier than you think! Here are some top methods for how to fix scratches on your vehicle:

  • Candle Wax – Have an important meeting you have to get to, but no time to fix scratches in your car to make it look more presentable? You can use candle wax as a temporary fix. This fix will, over time, however, wear off.
  • Super Glue – Like candle wax, this helps seal the scratch temporarily and blends with the vehicle to mask damage.
  • Paint Polish or Rubbing Compound – When correcting a car’s paint, you always want to use the least aggressive solution first, kind of like when you cut hair. If you underdo it, you can always do more. If you overdo it, it can’t be undone. That said, we recommend using a light polish with a less abrasive foam pad first and working your way up to higher-grit polishes or compounds if you see that scratches still remain in your paint.
  • Sandpaper – After cleaning and preferably, claying the area with a clay bar and quick detailer, and following unsuccessful attempts at polishing or compounding scratches out, it may be time to wet-sand. Practice this method first if possible, and only use it as a last resort as overdoing it could inflict damage on your paint and can only be solved by a repaint. If you’d like to give it a go anyway, we recommend exercising extreme caution, very light pressure and rubbing your paint over with 2000-grit wet sandpaper that’s been soaked in water. Always keep the surface wet, and follow up with finer and finer grain sandpaper. Once it’s at a point where the scratch is almost invisible, apply a rubbing compound, followed by a wax or paint sealant.
  • Touch-Up Paint – For deeper scratches, it’s best to clean the area first, and then apply touch-up paint. If in need of touch-up paint, contact our parts center.

Learn How to Fix a Dent in a Car Yourself

Car dents can seriously ruin their curb appeal and even reduce their trade-in value or residual value. That said if you’d like to learn how to fix a small dent in a car, or even a larger dent, here are some helpful tips:

  • Plunger – Whether it’s the (cleaned & disinfected) plunger from your bathroom, or better yet, a new plunger, or a dedicated car dent plunger (the best idea), using a plunger may help you pop larger dents with several attempts at leveling the dent with the rest of the body.
  • Hammer or Mallet – Using one of these on the opposite side of the dent can help knock the spot back into place. This process works better with a hammer for fixing small dents and a mallet for fixing medium to large dents. This is somewhat more involved, and will often require removing the black plastic cladding beneath the wheel well, for example, if the dent is on a fender. Be sure to do your research before trying this at home. Also, make sure to protect the side you are hammering with a towel or something equivalent to make sure the cure doesn’t create a worse issue than the original dent!
  • Dent Puller – Using a dedicated dent puller is the best solution for fixing a dent, but it also requires a fair bit of knowledge and drilling a hole in the dent, lacing the wire through it, and pulling the dent back to surface level. You’ll then need to fill the hole, sand it down, and paint. This step is best reserved only for people with an intermediate to expert level of DIY auto bodywork. All others should leave dent pulling to the pros.
Pointing at Car Dent

Schedule Larger Scratch & Dent Repairs at INFINITI of Clarendon Hills

If you’re dealing with scratches or dents you don’t think you’ll be able to fix yourself, first, don’t despair. Know that sometimes, scratch & dent removal is a process best left to the pros. Second, take heart, because here at the INFINITI of Clarendon Hills service center, we’ve been providing Downers Grove and Westmont INFINITI drivers with professional dent & scratch removal services at our service center for many years! We’re happy to do the same for you if you contact us. We can even offer you service financing so you can get professional quality repairs for a price that’s easier on your wallet!

Auto Service Coupons in Clarendon Hills

Tires

Buy Three Tires and Get One for Just $1

SEE ADVISOR FOR DETAILS AND COUPONS CANNOT BE COMBINED WITH ONE ANOTHER.
EXPIRES: 04/30/2023

Vehicle Battery

$25.00 OFF Vehicle Battery with Install

SEE ADVISOR FOR DETAILS AND COUPONS CANNOT BE COMBINED WITH ONE ANOTHER.
EXPIRES: 04/30/2023

Wiper Blades

$29.95 Wiper Blade Replacement

SEE ADVISOR FOR DETAILS AND COUPONS CANNOT BE COMBINED WITH ONE ANOTHER.
EXPIRES: 04/30/2023

Filters

20% OFF All Air, Oil, & In Cabin Filters

SEE ADVISOR FOR DETAILS AND COUPONS CANNOT BE COMBINED WITH ONE ANOTHER. Coupon for parts only.
EXPIRES: 04/30/2023

Floor Mats

15% All-Weather Floor Mats

SEE ADVISOR FOR DETAILS AND COUPONS CANNOT BE COMBINED WITH ONE ANOTHER.

EXPIRES: 04/30/2023
INFINITI of Clarendon Hills 41.8097011, -87.9626544.