Rolling the paper up like this will help prevent removing too much of the factory clear and cut down on rubbing and polishing time. | 
Sand very carefully, and check your progress regularly. We sanded the scratch level very quickly | 
Next, the sand scratches needed to be removed, and to do that we enlisted the help of Mothers. Mothers has a three-part system, to polish and protect paint, which worked out great for what we were doing. Step One involved the Pre-Wax Cleaner. This will effectively cut the scratches left by the paper and leave a few small scratches of its own. This step took the most rubbing of them all, so eat your Wheaties. |
Step Two is the Sealer and Glaze; this will remove the scratches left by the Pre-Wax Cleaner and prepare the paint for wax. | 
The last step in the scratch fix is to apply a nice coat of wax to protect the area. | 
Once the wax dried to a haze, we used another clean microfiber we got from Stylin'. These towels are great for removing wax and have become a must when you are talking detailing. |
So, here are the results. If you look really closely, you can still see a little evidence there was a scratch there, but it is nowhere near as bad as before. Once we stood up and took a step back, the scratch disappeared and was hard to find from then on, so it was all worth it. | 
Now for the new taillights, we chose a black set of Euro-style that are in the Elegante series by TYC. These taillights feature DOT-approved red reflector lenses that are housed inside a durable, impact-resistant outer lens. These taillights let you retain the use of your clear, factory bulbs. Vents and heat shields prevent the lenses from melting, while specially designed gaskets prevent water leakage. | |
The Final Word
There you have it, a weekend's worth of work to fix what some ass-hat did in a few seconds. Things could have been a lot worse, so we will consider ourselves lucky. But nonetheless, what we wouldn't give to find the person who did this. All bad feelings aside, with these products and a little patience, you can fix most scratches on your truck without the expensive trip to the body shop.