Thin paint/clear coat

[Jonnymack74]

So yesterday I'm cleaning my ceramic coated Model S. Note a bit of tar on the wing. As I scrape it off with my thumbnail, the edge of my nail scratches my paint as if I've just keyed it with a metal object. How does that even happen? It's not like I'm freddy kruger.. And my nails are short. Attached pic. Paint so mirror like the cam focuses on reflection and not scratch

 

[init6]

I've always said that ceramic coatings provide limited mechanical protection

Are you sure it's a scratch? Could it just be a mark from the tar? Can't really tell from the photo. The tar may well have had something embedded in it if it is a scratch.
If it is a scratch then it'll very likely polish out even by hand. Obviously you'll lose the ceramic at that point, so minimise the area you're working on.

I've found the paint on my model 3 to be fairly hard. Not as hard as BMW paint, but not as soft as some would have you believe. Ultimately any paint can get scratched though.

 

[GRiLLA]

Depending on the depth, leaving the car in the hottest sun can level off small marks in clearcoat or something like scratch x.

True story, one day while finishing my clearing ritual I picked up a microfibre cloth from my workbench intending to use it to wipe off some detailer. What I hadn't noticed was someone had left a 6cm square of coarse sandpaper underneath, so I sanded a massive scar into my pristine boot lid. These were deep, but not through the clearcoat.

To fix it myself I used some progressively fine wet sandpaper then McGuires compound then polish and its all but gone. It's not easy to get polish to cut by hand, I had a pad that attached to my drill that got it done. On a sunny day if I get the angle right I can still see it just, but no one else will know.

So in term of thickness, the clearcoat is thicker than coarse grain sandpaper can penetrate.

 

[Jonnymack74]

I've always said that ceramic coatings provide limited mechanical protection

Are you sure it's a scratch? Could it just be a mark from the tar? Can't really tell from the photo. The tar may well have had something embedded in it if it is a scratch.
If it is a scratch then it'll very likely polish out even by hand. Obviously you'll lose the ceramic at that point, so minimise the area you're working on.

I've found the paint on my model 3 to be fairly hard. Not as hard as BMW paint, but not as soft as some would have you believe. Ultimately any paint can get scratched though.

No not the tar.. My nail caught the paint next to the tar and scratched it. I'll have to give polishing it a go