I have a 2014 Legacy, the winds were rough last night and on my way to work I ran over a tree branch and it bounced up and scratched the side of my car bad. What is the best thing to fix the scratches???? It's blue.

I suggest doing a Google search an reading the reveiws in the products.

Personally I like 3m products

Also the severity of the scratch determens what needs to be done

 

Did the scratch go past the base coat? If so I would suggest having a professional take care of it since to be properly fixed it will need to be feathered out, recoated with matched base coat, blended, and then the entire panle will have to be re clear coated

 

If it just scratched it but the color is still visible a product for scratch removal should work

Edited January 19, 201511 yr by mikaleda

Sometimes branches rubbing across the finish leave residue that looks like scratches, but when you use a paste wax, they are gone.  Hoping that may be all it is. It would be great if you could post a photo of the scratched area. Without seeing the scratches (I may be off base here) I would wash the car, then use a clay bar with a product like Meguire's Fast Finish spray, and finish with a wax. There isn't any risk of damaging the finish with these mild products, unless your clay bar gets contaminated with grit. Theses products are available at any auto parts store. 

My recommendations are similar to the above but I would use a polishing compound instead of claybar.  Do not use a rubbing compound, only a polishing compound.  Then coat with your favorite wax product.  If you don't have a favorite, I highly recommend the new cross link polymer wax by Meguires called Ultimate Wax.  You need to use the polishing compound first, or claybar if you prefer.  The crosslink polymer waxes are very tough and scratch resistant.  Between waxings, wash with Mothers Wash and Wax, it has the most wax in its formula so you may not need to wax more than once a year or even longer.

Edited January 19, 201511 yr by keith3267

I will post a pic on my lunch break. I do not think that they are very deep scratches.

The dealer I bought it from (not Subaru) said if they could buff it out they would do that for free. Does it seem like they could?

That should buff out fine except for the one you have the arrow pointed to.

If you run your finger nail across that one do you feel your nail catch on it?

If your nail catches on it, it is probably too deep to buff out, though a skilled detailer can make that "disappear".

 

I used to detail for a living and would cover up scratches worse than that on a regular basis.

I happily defer to the opinion of Fairtax4me. If you have someone who knows how to detail a car saying they can buff this out for free, go for it. It's very unusual for green wood to scratch through the finish. You may be in for a pleasant surprise to see that this buffs out because the scratches are actually residue from the bark and sap. But as Fairtax said, if your fingernail catches on it, it needs a skilled detailer. I hope you are pleasantly surprised if all of this buffs out!

Edited January 20, 201511 yr by BB's93LegacyL

if they dealer offered for free - let them have a go at it.

 

+1 if the finger nail catches it - probably won't come out. 

 

dealers routinely have a guy come to their lot and prep all their vehicles and they usually specialize in prepping paint, etc.  you need to find one of those guys - they're subcontracted by the dealer though so it may be hard to get in touch with them or find out who they are.

If you fingernail catches on it, it could still be due to residue and not a scratch.  If your nail catches on it as you approach it, its residue, if your nail doesn't catch until it is in the middle of the scratch, then it is a scratch.

Thanks - the dealer has it now, we'll see howit turns out this pm!