T-cut...

owains

owains

owains

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Joined
16 Jan 2004
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231
I've got a load of really small scratches all over my car, which I was hoping I could improve using a bit of T-cut. I've heard good things about this product, but I'm a bit confused as to how it actually works. From what I can tell, it's basically an abrasive liquid that scrapes the top layer of paint. Now I thought all cars had a sort of protective lacquer over the paintwork. So, does T-cut actually strip this layer off? Or am I just confused?
 
It is slightly abrasive so will remove a small layer (one of many that make up the coat). You need to put a wax over it to protect it again.
 
It's just a relatively strong polish. It was invented in the days when everyone wanted to polish their cars by hand so that's why it is quite strong.
 
There is upon thousands of layers though iirc. So T-Cut with a polishing pad will not do any damage. There is better products for the same price as T-Cut, megs stage 1 for example.
 
Yup, it's a cutting compound, albeit a rubbish one, so you can damage paint with it if you overdo it (that's basically how it works in fact). Meguiar stage 1 is a cleaner not a cutter if I remember rightly?

Farecla stuff is what I'd use, which grade would depend on the scratch.
 
T-Cut works fine so long as you are careful.

Removed a load of small light scratches off the front of the mini a few weeks ago.
 
:p

I went a bit nuts with a scratch on my boot lid of my Focus and the area I did looked more dull than the others when under sunlight and viewed at an angle.

Ain't touched the stuff since..
 
Thanks for the replies guys. Must say I'm still a little confused as to how this stuff works. I mean, I thought the whole idea was to attack the paintwork itself. So, if it doesn't actually get through the top clear coat, how can it do this? Or does it just sort of blend-in scratches, i.e. where there's no clear coat anymore?

Cheers!
 
T cut contains abrasives, very old tech abrasives which don't deminish, i.e. no matter how much they are rubbed they stay the same. New polishes work so that as they are worked in the abrasives break down to be finer and finer, resulting in a good finish. T-cut will need to be followed by a decent finishing polish to get an ok finish.

It also contains ammonia, which is fail
 
Tom|Nbk said:
:p

I went a bit nuts with a scratch on my boot lid of my Focus and the area I did looked more dull than the others when under sunlight and viewed at an angle.

Ain't touched the stuff since..
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it will do, it's an aggressive compound, follow it with a finer compound/polish to remove the scratch marks.
 
So I guess T-cut is actually pretty aggressive stuff, and I'm gonna need some regular polish and wax to produce a decent finish. Phew, it'll be a lot of effort to do the whole car! Perhaps I'll wait until the weather improves slightly.
 
I've never found T-Cut to be particularly aggressive for what is essentially a cutting compound. For me it's only real drawback is that I find it quite difficult to remove on some paint finishes without causing smearing.
 
Dogbreath said:
I've never found T-Cut to be particularly aggressive for what is essentially a cutting compound. For me it's only real drawback is that I find it quite difficult to remove on some paint finishes without causing smearing.
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What he said, couldnt get the stuff off for toffee!
 
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