My dearly beloved has driven the car into a gate post and caused very minor damage to the rear wheel arch. I have decided to fix it myself and the question is - how do I remove the layer of polish and wax on the surface before I start the repair? The divorce proceedings are under way, she can have the cat and I will keep the car.

For small areas you can use paint preparation wipes even from Halfords. They look like baby wipes. I find Autoglym tar remover will strip wax off quickly too.

Strong washing up liquid will do it as well , or screenwash

I would leave it to the professionals, try chips away or someone like that.

Show some pics to let us see the damage? Has it gone to bare metal? I scraped a gate at the girlfriends and had black paint over my ds wheel arch! I weren't impressed and just did 4 passes with some mez polish with my da polisher and now it's good as new. Ryan