Are car scratch removers up to… scratch?

When we asked Which? members about the products they wanted us to test, scratch removers kept coming up. And, unless you’ve used them before, it’s hard to know how well they’ll perform.

Calling them simply “scratch removers” suggests that there’s no mark too long, too deep or too severe that these sub-£10 DIY products can’t remedy. However, read the descriptions on the label and you’ll soon start to figure out the limitations of these bargain quick fixes.

We put scratch removers to the test

If (like mine does) your car looks like Edward Scissorhands has been grappling with the door handles and the paintwork’s been cleaned with a mixture of gravel and hot Bovril, these DIY scratch removers may have appealed to you. They certainly have to me in the past.

However, every time I’ve used them, I have felt grossly let down. I’m not expecting them to work wonders and completely refurbish my car’s paintwork, but I at least want small marks removed.

So we decided to find out how effective they really are, by sending a selection of leading high street scratch removers to our test lab to discover their actual limitations. You can read the full results in our report, but in general we found that your tenner will only cure the lightest of bodywork scars.

Are scratch removers worth it?

So are they really worth buying? To a certain extent, yes. I decided to get a quote from a body repair shop for respraying my car bonnet, and I was told it would cost me £300. A £10 note for a DIY scratch remover suddenly sounds a lot more tempting now, doesn’t it?

So I’ve not given up on them totally, which means I’ll still have to roll up my sleeves and put in some elbow grease to try and restore the appearance of my car’s paintwork. But how about you guys? Have any of you used scratch removers before? What’s your verdict on the results?