Buff it with polishing compound and then wax it

I also heard Novus 2 works but I personally haven't tried it.

If using Novis use a very small amount as it can cause more damage

You might want to pm pinchroma. Since he does powder coating I would think he would be able to answer the question. Either point him at the post or summarize his answer so the information is made public.

Not all powder has clearcoat. Not sure on that stock armor. I use a 3M product I buy at the local auto paint supply house. You should be able to find a decent polishing compound at an auto parts store that will work.

You shouldn't use compound on powder. Nothing with a granulation in it. Powder is not paint... Even a powder clear is still not something you can "compound out". Buff out yes with a wax and an orbital buffer but do NOT use a high setting or any type of cleaning wax. Use a finishing wax. It will take a while but you will be able to get the scratches out.

Remember, Powder is melted PLASTIC (Resin) and metallic charged fillers. It is NOT paint. You can't treat it as such

Thanks for jumping in pinchroma.

I had a few light scratches like those in the pic and used a piece of oak to rub them out.
Took awhile but the heat and friction polished them out.

Using a surface rub with a flat surface could work. Basically you are just flattening the valleys of the scratches.

Another old trick if you are EXTREMELY careful is a piece of aluminum flashing and a hair dryer. Using a perfect piece of aluminum flashing (raw) with no coating or coloring, bend it into a cylinder about an inch in diameter and about a foot long (use a dowel if you can) and wrap the bottom 4 or 5" or so in a decent amount of duct tape for a handle.. heat the metal end of the tool real well with a hair dryer (not a heat gun.. you don't want it glowing) and GENTLY but QUICKLY rub it over the surface while hot. Do this multiple times and you will see the surface smooth out. Make sure the surface is clean otherwise you are going to end up baking crap into the finish

I have been wanting to ask the same question. I'll try buffing it out and see how that goes. Thanks for the advice!

P.S. Is there a particular finishing wax you recommend for this purpose?

Pinchroma - If you could do a couple of youtube videos, I'm sure it'd be very appreciated! The aluminum trick almost sounds like flame polishing, which I take it, wont work with powdercoating?

You can't flame polish directly on the surface. You will scorch it and it will be plainly visible. I'll see if I can so a video.

Pinchroma, since powder coat is plastic, will Novus work to get the shine back? After all, that is what Novus is, a plastic polishing system....

Depends. Novus 1 can be used but the lack of shine isn't really dirt it's micro scratches. Dirt would pretty much wipe off with a shot of novus 1. You need novus 1, a microfiber cloth, and a ton of elbow grease to get it really shoney again but I don't know how bad your bar is.

Can you sand powdercoat with ultra-fine sandpaper (3000 or 5000) and then rub it out?

5000 wet sand with something super slick but that's not recommended on dark colors. But again that's only for micro scratches. Anything you can get a finger nail in needs to be heated flat. Then maybe polished out.

Wax itself doesn't do anything. It's pressure to smooth ridges. Remember it's not paint it's resin. Waxing does to really help. You need to smooth valleys.

Old thread, but wondered if anyone has had any recent success in buffing out light scratches in powder coat, and the methods/products used?

Necro-bumping this thread up. I have a couple light scuffs/scratches on lockdown bars that I would love to clean up. I have tried wax and elbow grease, with very little success. Not sure how aggressive to get as they aren't terrible and I don't want to make them worse. Could likely just leave well enough alone, but figured it wouldn't hurt to bring this thread back to life and see if anyone has had success.

Another bump. Did anyone have any success removing light scratches in powdercoat?