Meguiars Scratch X advise

benneh · 4 Jun 2006 at 14:40

Back story:

A month or so ago a friend asked if he could use my car in a short film, i said why not. He stuck a few stickers on my car, i took them off afterwards, there was sticky stuff. Yesterday i removed the last of this with the wrong side of a scouring pad (the kind you use to wash up- like this ) Needless to say it left swirls and scuff marks, nothing that can be felt with a fingernail, just easily seen as the paint is dulled and lighlty scratched.

So, infront of me i have a tube of Meguiars Scratch X, but before i go and make things worse, how am i best to use it?.

converse_uprise · 4 Jun 2006 at 14:42

Rub in using a dry cloth in small circular motions. I wouldn't take my advice though, wait until someone else confirms/rubbishes this.

schnipps · 4 Jun 2006 at 14:43

benneh said:
Back story:

A month or so ago a friend asked if he could use my car in a short film, i said why not. He stuck a few stickers on my car, i took them off afterwards, there was sticky stuff. Yesterday i removed the last of this with the wrong side of a scouring pad (the kind you use to wash up- like this ) Needless to say it left swirls and scuff marks, nothing that can be felt with a fingernail, just easily seen as the paint is dulled and lighlty scratched.

So, infront of me i have a tube of Meguiars Scratch X, but before i go and make things worse, how am i best to use it?.

Good grief, you used WHAT to clean it off

, scratch X is just a more abbrassive from of T-Cut, same as tcut safe scratch remover, Just apply it in circular motion and buff off side to side. Im not sure if that will get it out though.

cdcopyman · 4 Jun 2006 at 14:43

it wont make it worse , as it has a filler compund to it , just use a microfibre/terry cloth and put some elbow grease into it

benneh · 4 Jun 2006 at 14:45

I know

, silly thing to do really, i was tired and bored and the sun was beating down (bad combo).
I was just a bit concerned because a while ago i had a black BMW and used t cut polish over most of the car, stepped back afterwards to see hundrends of swirly marks

.

How big should these small rubbing circles be?.

eidolon · 4 Jun 2006 at 15:11

Scratch X is quite mild so don't worry about making it worse, a scouring pad is about 100x worse than even T-cut.

I don't even think it'll do much to be honest, if you've really scratched the paint you're gonna need a Porter Cable or similar machine type polish to get rid of them (unless you can polish at 6000rpm!)

You could try Poorboys SSR 2.5 as that *can* be applied by hand although it's much better when used by machine.

For an idea on which grades are what try this page

wsurfa · 4 Jun 2006 at 18:15

Worth giving it a go - worked well on the swirl marks on a mates black Leon. Use a decent polish then wax afterwards to see if you can sort it by hand.

MarkST · 4 Jun 2006 at 19:46

You have probably attempted the swirl removal by now, but check out this link at Meguiars Online

Mark.

benneh · 4 Jun 2006 at 20:47

Well, i'm pleased to say that it all went well, got roughly 95% of the scratches/scuffs out but gained 3 massive blisters on the end of my fingers (still, i deserve it for taking a scouring pad near my car).

Here's some before and afters:

Passenger front door before:

Passenger front door after (including streaks/runs after i first washed it down):

Centre bonnet before (scary):

Centre bonnet afterwards:

All in all i'm a very happy chappy. I really can't believe just how good this stuff is. If you're willing to gain a few blisters then it really does work.
It took 4 applications in 4 inch circular motions to get the door scuffs out, 3 applications for the bonnet.

Nimzicki · 4 Jun 2006 at 20:56

What makes me laugh is...its not just one bit...you did that to your car THREE times? After the first one did you not think something was a bit wrong?

benneh · 4 Jun 2006 at 20:58

Then i gave it another wash over with Meguiars NTX car wash, dried it off with a soft towel (not ideal), went over it with a Meguiars quick clay. Another wash with NTX, then a polish with Meguiars deep crystal polish, then finally a giong over with Turtle wax extreme polishing wax (wheels cleaned beforehand with Turtlewax alloy wheel cleaner and pressure washer at the local garage).
Got no before pics of the car but it really was dull and dirty, now she shines like never before:

Excuse the GTR badge, it was a joke for the Manchester MM day, but it always gets laughs so it stayed.

(Edit, oh and some chrome polish in the chrome bits).

benneh · 4 Jun 2006 at 20:59

Nimzicki said:
What makes me laugh is...its not just one bit...you did that to your car THREE times? After the first one did you not think something was a bit wrong?

Lol, i know i know. At least i wont be doing it again

. I kind of did them all quickly because i was tired of the sticky stuff,, then they dried off and it all came to light as it were.