What is the best product for removing light surface scratches on B pillars on a car door? We have two vehicles that have piano black high gloss pillars and they scratch very very easily. Not really noticeable until you get up close and in certain light even more so, but I would like to remove them. Is there a product that works? Or is PPF preferred? Is that easy to do by yourself?

Link Chemical Guys on Scratch Removal

I find these guys to be very thorough on explaining the process, yes they sell the stuff as well.

I’ll check that out thanks

Pop them off and wrap them.
Piano black sucks

Are they pretty easy to remove and put back so no fit issues would arise from taking them off?

Every vehicle that I have had that has that style of exterior B pillar cover has been easy.

Open the door a screw at the top a screw at the bottom and a couple clips to pop in the middle.

What year make and model do you have?

2026 Acura RDX A-Spec. Just got it and it has a few rub/scratch marks on one pillar in particular not sure how it happened it had 3 miles on odometer when I bought it the other day.

Other than a couple of minor quirks it is a fantastic compact SUV as I hoped it would be and I am stoked to finally have one—-been wanting it for a long time.

I'd like to slap the Mazda engineer that decided that the pillars on my white CX-5 needed to be piano black... I got it in white specifically because I didn't want to deal with the bullshit that comes with owning a black car, and yet here I am having to polish gloss black.

(It doesn't help that the prior owner frequently took it through drive-through touch car washes, so it had copious swirl marks on the black sections even before I got it.)

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
I'd like to slap the Mazda engineer that decided that the pillars on my white CX-5 needed to be piano black... I got it in white specifically because I didn't want to deal with the bullshit that comes with owning a black car, and yet here I am having to polish gloss black.

(It doesn't help that the prior owner frequently took it through drive-through touch car washes, so it had copious swirl marks on the black sections even before I got it.)

I feel your pain right now. So then what polish do you use?

If you just got it and plan to have your windows tinted I would just have my tint guy wrap them while he was doing the windows.

You can also do it many times without removing the pillar as well.

quote:

Originally posted by LincolnSixEcho:

I feel your pain right now. So then what polish do you use?

Rather than doing a full blown paint correction, I took the lazy route and used a little Meguiars Scratch-X by hand to remove the bulk of it, and now just keep it waxed to diminish the look of what remains, and live with it. Not perfect, but good enough for me.

But as stated above, either a wrap or paint correction + PPF would be the best way to truly solve it.

Detailing my truck and motorcycle is one of my hobbies, and I DIY everything from weekly wash to full blown paint correction with machine followed by ceramic coating application. Picked up quite a few tips from pro detailers on YouTube.

As far as polishing, you want to start with least aggressive first and work your way up. The b-pillars are typically not just black and glossy but unfortunately they're a soft paint that scratches easy. Also, most manufacturers have been skimping on clear coat so they're leaving the factory with thinner and thinner layer of clear coat every year. The softness and thinness is the reason for starting with least aggressive first.

I keep 4 polishes/compounds on my detailing shelf, and my least aggressive is Rupes UNO Pure Ultrafine Polish. Rupes is a pro grade formulation and this works very well and leaves behind a high gloss.

Thanks for the options guys, I’m leaning towards wrapping it even if I can buff it out.

Best choice as it will only keep scratching.
Wrapping it may even take less time than you spend buffing it.