i had a simliar thing happen to me, had a hire car whilst I was waiting for my VRS. Took the car to a £5 hand car wash.Then the guy who was drying the car used some type of plastic wiper, unknown at the time a stone was under it. Dam thing made a nice 2 inch scratch down the bonnet of a black car

Only saving grace was my company covered the costs for repair.

Moral of the story for me was, never take the skoda to any car wash.

Edited 27 August, 201015 yr by amity498

For minor scratches I start with Autoglym Silicone Resin polish and if the scratch remains, then I move onto the Autoglym Paint Restorer. With the latter pulish it briefly starting with firm paralel strokes and then get lighter with the polishing pressure. Wipe off the polish regularly to [prvent it becoming dry and being more abarsive. Finsih with the silicone resin again and Autoglym Extra Gloss.

The other one I use is the Meguirs three step system. Start with the Step 1; deep crystal paint cleaner, Step 2; deep crystal polish anf finally Step 3, Carnuba Wax. If you are still left with visible scratches the Meguirs Ultimate Compound.

Although it is true that if you use any cutting compound or polish with a very fine abrasive, you take some laquer off, the laquer is very hard and I've found only scratches I can feel that make a clicking noise if I run a finger nail across sometimes need a cutting compound. To cause damage to paint work as a result of this, you have to be polishing for a long time or repeating the above process for a number of years. Only now does my Mk1 Capri show signs of 36 years of polishing and a wardrobe full of concours trophies, it is only now taht the the front edge of the bonnet showing a faint sign of primer. I'm sure modern Skoda paint is a lot thicker than the paint used on my Diamond White Capri!

How many people own their cars for over three years?