Help Fixing Scratched/Cracked Car Paint

UnreadableHulk

Just moved into a new apartment and have a terribly small parking space. I have a Chevy HHR and while it fits it's incredibly tight. Last night I didn't make the turn and bumped into/scraped a painted metal pole on the side of the space. There's a slight depression in the front bumper now and most of the pole's paint that scraped off could be wiped off with a wet sponge.

However, the bumper on the HHR has some barely visible spiderweb-like cracks on it. The bumper looks like it's painted with the same coat as the rest of the car. Some of the (white) paint from the pole got inside the cracks and makes them more visible than they'd normally be.

I'm wondering if there's some sort of over the counter coating or wax I could buy to help seal it up. It doesn't look bad now but I'm worried about not treating it and the situation getting worse.

tl;dr - I cracked my bumper slightly. Looking for an over the counter coating I could buy to fix/keep it from getting worse.

Djeet

Not knowing how badly damaged the paint is, I'd start by washing the area down with a degreasing soap (like dawn) to get it as clean as I can. Then I'd use a claybar to remove any surface contaminants. {This is about as far as you can go without actually removing clearcoat/paint.} Then I'd look at how bad it is, if it's not too bad I'd apply a few coats of carnauba paste wax to see how it looks (that can often largely fill up clearcoat damage).

If instead you want to try to clean/fix the paint more then there are various compounds (from polishing to rubbing) that will abrade down the clear coat, but if you're too aggressive with it (or even with a claybar) you can scour down through the clearcoat and into the paint. http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/how-to/maintenance/4216365 - some info on scratches and their repair including going even further: wet sanding.

UnreadableHulk

Thanks for the advice!

On closer inspection it looks like the HHR bumper might just be plastic and not metal with a coat over it. Here's a picture of the damage:



All I really want to do is get that white out of the crack and then seal it all up so the cracks don't get bigger or warp.

wmelon

I can guarantee you that it's plastic. Nowadays that's pretty much a cover.

Djeet

Can't view your pic (my system is localized for Japanese right now for some editing, so not sure if that's why), but plastic or metal (it's plastic, cause all bumper covers* are plastic) it's still a painted surface. Meaning the plastic was originally black or gray and it was primed, painted and cleared like a metal component. So the method to fix paintwork is the same.

If the dent is in the plastic bits then you may be able to push it out (with your hand or a block) possibly with the application of heat (though here you're likely to damage the paint more), but you have to be able to get behind the dent to do that.

I'd still start with cleaning it up really well to assess the damage. Could be that all you need is degreasing soap and a claybar to help remove the paint from the thing you struck and you might be left with clear/paint damage you can hide with wax. For a lot of minor damage it ain't worth it to me to abrade the clear/paint, so I'll clean and claybar and use a paint stick/pen ($20-30 from the dealer, maybe a body shop can mix you up something cheaper) to fill in noticeable damage and then give it a few coats of carnauba.

*Unless it's a pickup you're almost certainly dealing with a plastic bumper cover, not a bumper. If you removed the bumper cover you'd see the bumper, which is ugly and will likely be metal and styrafoam.