Came back home from work Friday night and discovered something had hit the side of my Focus. Looked far worse than it turned out to be at first: seems to have been a big tyre so probably lorry/truck etc squeezing past when they should have waited as there was like a film of rubber which I managed to rub off.

However, underneath the paintwork is badly scuffed and scratched along the driver side wheel arch, and I have a long scratch on the driver's door. Bit of a dent as well in the wheel arch but nothing massive. I thought I'd try Autoglym paint restorer so bought some of that on Saturday, washed the car, dried it off, gave the paint restorer a go, and it did improve a bit but there's still a lot of scuffing/scratches left (finished it all off with a coat of the high gloss after I couldn't get any more improvement).

Any ideas on what to do with this? Am I looking at a massively expensive respray job? Picture as attachment for an idea of how bad it is.

Hi, Don't use one of those scratch repair pens you see advertised everywhere , absolute rubbish.

The best results i have had is with a good quality scratch repair paste.

This is the one i have used with some very good results.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_804709_langId_-1_categoryId_255240

It probably won't get rid of them all but will make it look a lot better .

since you can see the primer scratch remover wont make any difference they will still be there a touch up pen will be best at least it will seal the metal with winter approaching

Thanks for the replies. Not looking especially good then if it's down to the primer :(

If I take it to a local independent garage (Ford approved) do you have any kind of idea what price I'd be likely looking at for a paint job on this? Has anyone used ChipsAway before (I know it's franchise so depends on where you are and who you get as to how good it is, but any insight welcomed)?

Had my door resprayed and a dent removed for £360 at a Ford approved repairers. Try autorestore they are really good.

maybe very fine grit wet n dry, then some megs 80 on a buffer, then polish n wax/sealant.....

I have previously removed similar scratches to these with nothing more than T Cut and a lot of elbow grease! you will surprised what can be achieved...

a black kids crayon rubbed into the deep ones with a good polish over the top will hide most of what doesnt come out