Neighbor's large aggressive dog got out this weekend, went after one of my cats, cat in its terror took a flyking leap onto the top of my 1980 245 (parked in MY driveway), then down onto the hood and away. I heard the noise from a few feet away and saw one of the neighbor's children come after the dog in my yard and catch the dog. I now have many big, long scratches on the roof and hood of my car, not down to bare metal, but they look fairly significant. Neighbor admits that if the dog had not chased the cat it probably would not have happened (in 22 years with cats have not had them scratch the car when they sit on it). Told me to get car checked out. Problem is he is upset (mad) about the whole thing and I have a feeling he may either weasel out, or be on my case in the future for ever for any minor perceived infraction on my part or my animals. I like to get on my neighbors but this may put an end to that! Question is, is it possible to hand buff these scratches out, any suggestions, what products? I did polish out some marks that were almost as bad recently. The paintwork is original, but I have taken very good care of it over the years. I have a feeling that if I take it for an estimate the shop will want to push a very expensive solution.
The moral of this story is, never brag about your car, earlier in the week a complete stranger had asked about the year of my car and said it was immaculate, made my day and I repeated the remark to close friends and family!

I am glad the scratches are not so deep and perhaps can be buffed out. Here is what i could suggest.

1. Get cat declawed.
2 Park car in driveway.
3. Apply rubbing compound to cat's paws.
4. Set cat down in driveway
5. Get neighbor to release dog again.

Hopefully the cat will again jump on the car and without it's claws will slip and slide all over the place and thereby give the paint a good buffing up.

Upon reflection I have thought of a more advanced 7 step plan.

1. Get cat declawed.
2. Get a center roof antenna installed
3 Park car in driveway.
4. Apply rubbing compound to cat's paws.
5. Set cat on car with short leash attached to the antenna.
6. Get neighbor to release dog again.
7. Apply a good quality wax and repeat steps 5 and 6.

Find a good detail shop, if one exists in your area. The right place can do amazing things. My dad used to own a small shop that did everything from $25 wash jobs to $200+ full details (serious detailing down to using q-tips on the crevices and vents in the dash and door panels). He primarily dealt with high end cars like BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Jaguar, etc, and I know it would be unacceptable to return a dark colored car with water spots, let along swirl marks and wax residue around the emblems. Even if the scratches can't be completely removed, you'll still get the car back looking as good as it ever has. If you can't find a place, ask around at the local dealerships to see where they send their cars.

Good luck.
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Volvo 240 Links

The best solution for scratches is touch-up paint, diluted about 3:1 with lacquer thinner, laid in the scratch with a hypodermic syringe. This is what detail guys use at auto dealerships on used cars.

You could try some 3M swirl remover or similar 3M product to get the scratches out and then wax or polish the car as the 3M products contain abrasives and will remove the wax. The problem is that I'm not sure how well paint that old will fair using the 3M products. The only other solution would be to have them buffed out by a body shop, but that's risky because if the person doing the buffing doesn't do it correctly, they could mess up your paintjob leaving swirl marks and fine scratches. I had a dog jump on the fender of my then new '85 240 that left some nice scratches that the dealer was able to buff out nicely, but the paint was still new then. Older Volvos have thick paint layers, so that might work to your advantage if the scratches aren't too deep. General rule of thumb is if you can't catch you fingernail on the scratches, then they can be buffed out usually. If you can catch a fingernail, then a repair and repaint is most likely the only way to remove them.

Try as we might to keep our cars looking good, sooner or later they get scratched or dinged by something or someone. I feel your pain...

Good luck!

DeWayne

Interesting that the old cars have thick paint. I just went out - flashlight in hand - and tried the fingernail test. Tried it with eyes shut also, hopefully the scratches may look worse than they actually are as my nail really did not catch. Thanks for the tip.
Yes, all the dings and scratches on my car have been inflicted by other people's carelessness - but what can you do, even leaving your car in your own driveway does not keep it out of harm's way! The bricks were built to be driven, and driven and driven ...