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What should you do about a scratch in your McHenry car’s finish?

That new car finish on your car isn’t so new anymore, is it. Oh, from a distance, it looks good enough. But, if you get close, you’ll find the spot where a truck on Route 31 in McHenry kicked up a stone that nicked the hood. You’ll see the scratch on the fender where a run-away shopping cart in the Meijer’s parking lot slammed into your car. You might even notice where you scratched the paint on the door yourself when you dropped a can of cream corn trying to close the door with your arms full of groceries.

Scratches will happen to your car; there’s no way to avoid them. But, alas, C’est la vie (such is life), into each car’s life, a few scratches must fall. You grudgingly accept them. You try to shrug them off. But, they still bother you.

You’re perfect car isn’t perfect anymore – not the way you brought it home from one of the auto dealerships in McHenry.

It’s a positive trait when you can allow a nick here, a scratch there and a little dent elsewhere to roll off your back. You’re not going to let those little things get you down. Not so quick.

Those dents can do more than get you down; they will take your car’s resale value down.

Look at it this way: that’s not just a paintjob on your car. It’s also a protective shell that is preserving your vehicle from the elements, such as the snow, ice, road salt and rain that are common in the McHenry area. A scratch is a breech in your car’s line of defense. You’d like to make your car’s paintjob look nice and new again. More importantly, however, is restoring the defensive shield your car’s paintjob represents.

When the paint is scratched, the first question is, “How deep is the scratch?” The depth of a scratch refers to the most inner layer that the scratch pierced:


  • The clear coat: This scratch is often hardly noticeable. It’s also the least likely as the clear coat is bonded securely to the paint below.
  • The base coat: This is the layer where the color of your car is found. If the scratch isn’t through the base coat, the scratch may also not be terribly noticeable. 
  • The primer coat: The primer coat is generally gray and, unless your car is painted a similar gray, a scratch this deep is usually pretty darn noticeable.
  • The metal panel: This is the actual body part of your car. If your scratch goes through this you’ll have a hole in your car.


Once you car is scratched, oxidation will begin to eat at your car’s finish around the scratch. Rust is the next chemical reaction that can transpire as a result of a scratch to your car’s finish.

For the lesser scratches, there are a number of products available to perform quick repairs. Before you use one of these, however, you should check online for comments about their quality. For deeper scratches, you may try to fix them yourself. Your best bet is to look up an online video before you take sandpaper to paint. Keep in mind, you could take a small scratch and turn it into a major blemish, if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Finally, you may want to take it to a body shop here in McHenry where a professional can fix the scratch on your car the right way.





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Location: McHenry, IL, USA

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