I've got 2 minor scratches in the middle of my hood.

I say minor cause they're not down to the metal.

What's the best way to make it look like new again.

Buffing out a scratch is just as you said, buffing it out, and thinning out the paint layer until you have gotten back to a smooth top layer.

Deeper scratces require more work. What you need to do is either have a rotary buffer, or take it to a professional. If you do happen to have a rotary buffer and you are skilled with it, you can use a polish or scratch remover to buff out the scratches. Try to get the least abrasive first, and see if that works. If you go to abrasive you can leave swirl marks all over your car, and you can screw up your finish more than fix it. It takes lots of skill, and it takes knowing what is going to be required to remove the scratch. If they are as you say very small and shallow, then you might be able to remove them with some M3 Scratch X, or some Rubbing comound applied by hand. But the bigger and deeper the scratch the more work is going to be required to remove it.

If it is super deep you can do something called wet sanding, but I do not think you will be dealing with that in this case.

Thanks. I dont have a rotary buffer.

But the number of time I could have used one.

I've tried a couple of drifferent products by hand, even the dreaded G-27 or whatever it's called.

May be time to call the pros.

might want to try calling 800.347.5700 Meguiar's help line.

Buffers are also for sale on www.teammeguiars.com

Hope that helps...

I got a fairly deep circle of scratches out of my hood with some mothers or meguiars cleaning wax... I did it by hand for about an hour... now you would have to know to look and look at an angle to find it