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Please help me get my Protege looking new again.

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    Please help me get my Protege looking new again.

    My Protege is a '99 that has been through 2 minor collisions (my fault) as well as a lot of heavy duty hauling of sound equipment. It has also encountered quite a bit of door abuse from the parking lot of my high school. Basically, I want to get it looking like new again.

    It has quite a few scratches around the trunk due to constant hauling and bumping of heavy equipment for my band, and I was wondering if anyone has any advice as to taking care of these scratches. It's like a bunch of long, light hairs all over the top of the trunk. I used Nu-Finish polish on the entire car about a week ago, and that seemed to make them a lot more minor.

    HOWEVER, ever since I polished the car (this was my first time doing anything to its exterior), it seems like deep scratches and imperfections have been coming out of nowhere on my rear bumper. Before, I couldn't really see any damage other than a little paint chipping on the corner from a fender bender. Now, all along the middle of the bumper, there are a few white marks (the polish was white) that won't seem to come out. They seem to be actual damage (someone hit me at school once and drove off), but it was barely visible until I polished the car. Basically, I like how it made most of the car nice and shiney, but it turned the actual blemishes into hell. The paint-chipped spots that were bare metal before (which blended in nicely with my dark blue paint) are now whiter and much more visible.

    I also have quite a nasty ding in my driver door from some jackass opening their door and denting mine. Is there anything I can do to fix this?

    Finally, once I do my best to fix these problems, I want to give the car a final, safe waxing job to make it look like it just came home from the dealer. I just hope it doesn't cause problems like the polishing did. The guy at AutoZone told me the Nu-Finish was the easiest stuff to use, but either he was lying or I suck at it. Like I said earlier, I've never done anything concerning wax/polish/etc.

    As far as the interior goes, I want to be able to get the black vinyl (or whatever material it is) around the dashboard looking dark, like it did when it was new. It seems to have faded into a grayish color now. Basically, I want it to look how it looks when it is wet. A big interior vac. job is also long overdue, but I think I can handle that.

    Thanks so much for reading. Any help would be appreciated as hell. Thanks guys.
    Dark Blue '99 Protege LX w/ 3.3 kohm sensor resistor, blue xenon headlights and backup lights, blue Street Glow under front seats in interior, clear corners and mesh grille being shipped at the moment.

    #2
    Dark Blue '99 Protege LX w/ 3.3 kohm sensor resistor, blue xenon headlights and backup lights, blue Street Glow under front seats in interior, clear corners and mesh grille being shipped at the moment.

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      #3
      I don't know if there are inexpensive remedies for that other than body shop work, unless you could use bondo and sand it smooth and find an exact match on paint. I too have some minor dings from assholes slamming their doors on my car! The worse part of it is that it was another worker or student at the same hospital Of course, the car was gone and no note attached to my car. Also, there are hundreds of cars in this lot, so it's not like you have the same car parked next to you all the time!
      2001 ES (Featured at SoundDomain)

      Pioneer/SoundStream/JBL/Coustic/Elemental Designs/Focal/
      KnuKonceptz/Lightning Audio/SoundQuest/Tiff/
      Gel America/Dynamo Deep Cycle Battery/
      Groundkit

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