anyone do this?
I want to attempt to buff some light light scratches out of my car but am scared shitless of making things worse?
tips?

Depends on how deep the scratches are. I've used clay and even wet sanded before on some scratches to get rid of em. Honestly at this point of my life I'll just pay a body shop to do it.

I'm not a pro by ANY means, but I had great luck buffing the wee Brit which had about 10 years of garage scratches and oxidization on the paint. Used a Simoniz buffer I got on sale for $40 and Auto Glym paint polish.

I used to be a detailer, it's really not as tricky as it seems. If you're really worried, you could always get some scrap panels to practice on first?

It only really gets risky if you're using a high-speed buffer which can burn the paint..if you're using an orbital and a polish from an auto zone type of place it should be fairly straightforward.

If they're really light scratches you should even be able to buff them by hand.

Buy some decent compound, have a water spray bottle to mist it, and be careful not to burn you clear coat.

Do you own a variable speed polisher/buffer?

Can you post a picture a scratch? is it a hairline?

it's not so much a scratch as it is swirls in the paint and bugs that have etched themselves into the nose of the car.
now, my mom's Trax has a nasty scratch in passenger side door (the same side I had fixed not that long ago for a scratch/dent parking lot combo)