[Tomo1313]

Hi all, this is the first post I've made so bear with me. About 6 months ago I noticed very strange scratches on the bonnet of my beloved R50 and I can't seem to figure out what's caused them. The scratches first appeared very suddenly and very evenly but only on the bonnet. As soon as it reaches the scuttle panel below the windscreen it's perfect, as well as the wing panels. Cat claws and bird feet are the only things I can think of but I've parked it in the same place the whole time they started occurring. I've also tried using some Meguiars ultimate compound to see what difference that'd make but it only made the parts between the scratches shinier... Admittedly I polished it by hand so I expected nothing amazing but it made no difference. I'll put the photos below (I've included a couple of photos of the rest of the car for reference).. any help at all as to what it could be or a fix would be appreciated as I reckon it needs a respray in the long run.

Cheers

 

[ExclusiveWorkshops]

just probably been painted before and needs stripping right back to be done again

 

[JTownPBX]

When I wash my car. It is a fact that I use the scrub brush. I don't use back and forth motions so much. I just dob it then when soap comes out of the brush(at the car wash); I swirl it around.
One thing is right the scratches look very unnatural to regular driving in my own opinion.

 

[SurreyPete]

Either you clean the car with a very harsh brush or my money is on the bonnet having been resprayed at some point in the past, the scratches you can see look too uniform to me to be coincidental, there’s a cross hatching going on, they look like the kind of marks you would get when a panel has been keyed with a scotchbrite ready for painting, it’s had a respray, very badly by the looks of it, it was probably blown over to sell on.

 

[Tomo1313]

Thanks for your responses, looks as if it has been poorly resprayed in the past. Bit of a bummer as I’m usually quite careful with washing and with the paint in general. At least it can be a sacrificial stone chip panel until I have the time and money for a respray.

 

[SurreyPete]

I would keep your eye out for a bonnet from a breaking Mini, I've seen quite a few silver ones so seems a popular colour