My uncle owns a blue SLK. He has some very deep scratches in it. It like someone took an Xacto knife and made a tic tac toe drawing on it.

What is the best way to get rid of these scratches? They are very thin but appear to be quite deep. Any suggestions other than repainting?

Thanks in advance.

Ouch! If the scratches are significantly through the clearcoat a repaint may be the only option.

If the scratches go through the paint into the primer or metal then there isn't much you can do. If they are in the clear coat or just into the color coat you can still hide them to a greater or lesser degree. Work as small an area around the scratches with varying strengths of polishes until you start seeing satisfactory results. I would recommend starting with Meguiar's #9 and if a couple apply/remove cycles of that don't begin to touch it call Meguiar's help line for a recommendation for a next step. (medium or fine cut would be my guess as to what they'd say) Once you have them worked out you use progressively more mild steps on the area until you are waxing. Example: let's say medium cut does it for you, then use fine cut, then use #9, then use #7 polish (removes no paint but really shines things up), then wax with #26 or Gold Class. I would give this approach a try before repainting but if its already through the paint and into the primer or metal there isn't anything you can really do short of repainting. You may want to go to your dealership and see if they have a specialist who can airbrush and "re-touch" the area. Only when those avenues have failed would I repaint.

Hope this helps...Lee