i went out and bought some scratch-x to try on a few scratches on my truck and it seemed to work pretty good, but when i came home from work tonight and looked at it, it caught a street light and it looks like it scratched it more! or someone rubbed very fine sandpaper on it. i did put on a coat of nxt like 2 weeks ago, so is it just the wax residue or something, and will a coat of wax fix it?
Thanks yall,
Alex

 

It sounds like you didn't work it until the abrasives were fully broken down. It takes some elbow grease when using Scratch-X. Also be sure your applicator is either new or completely clean. I would highly recommend using a foam pad, not a microfiber or terrry covered pad.

Did you use a clean microfiber for wipe off? Was it hard to wipe off? If it was hard to wipe off you need to work the product longer. It should wipe off easily.

Tic

 

thanks, i used a microfiber applicator, and a clean microfiber towel to wife off, and i was pushing pretty hard, almost to where the body panel was bending in and out. for about a minute or two. do i have to work it longer? thanks i might go get some foam applicators.
thanks
Alex

 

after i apply scrath x on my truck i use a spray on wax called ICE im not sure who makes it but its available at autozone. it seems to seal the scratch x in for a longer period of time and it makes the surface super smooth. you should give it a shot

 

ok so it was finally nice enough and i had enough time to get out and work on my truck again. i tried the scratch x again this time with a foam applicator and i bought some brand new mfs. it was lookin good, then i put a coat of nxt 2.0 on, and it was lookin real good, then i turned the truck around in the sunlight and there were the marks! swirly marks all over the fender, i just did one fender to test it. what is goin on!?
thanks alex

 

It should be worked in with a fair amount of pressure (sounds like you used a lot) until it turns clear and oily.

 

so did i use too much pressure?

 

I wouldn't say that, but you don't need to use as much pressure as you were. Firm pressure will do just fine. Usually those swirls appear from it not being worked in long enough.

 

X2. The "swirl" marks from Scratch-X in the clearcoat will go away with the right followup paste wax application. I followed up with Meguiar's paste wax on my previous '02 s'crew's paint job and the paint was perfect at any angle. In my case, I had scratches from an off-road trip. Almost all of 'em disappeared. The few deep ones that went into the paint were left, but were less noticeable (to the extent that the Scratch-X could fix). If you have scratches through the clearcoat to the paint underneath, you're stuck. I don't know if you have any other options to fix those besides some type of additional paint work and/or fresh clearcoat application.

Someone with paint/bodyshop experience chime in here about what options are between metallic paint jobs and non-metallic to get the deep scratches out. I "think" compound on non-metallic paint can fix things, but it's risky. I also "think" a metallic paint job is harder to fix deep scratches w/o repainting because any compounding/buffing into the actual metallic base coat leaves an uneven color after the clearcoat goes on over the basecoat. Again, I'm not a bodyshop tech. But I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night!

 

yeah after i did the scratch x on another spot with the same results i followed up with the meguires cleaner wax(step 1), i skipped the polish (step 2) cuz i didnt have it, and then with the deep crystal caranuba wax, still there? and the nxt on top of it didnt work neither. do i need to buy paste, cuz all of those work liquid?
and it got the scratches i was workin on out, for the most part, but it basically replaced? them with these tiny swirls? idk maybe?
thanks alex

 

How big of an area are you working on at a time? Should be a 2'x2' or less.

Give these a read:
How to Remove Swirls By Hand
How to Remove a Defect by hand with Scratch-X

 

Whew! No offense, but I just spent an eternity trying to figure out what you were saying... grammar...

Anyway, S-X is a diminishing abrasive product; as such, it goes without saying (but I will just in case) that the abrasives in it start off big to remove the big stuff, but since this causes marring, the abrasives wear down smaller and smaller so as to be removing all the marring induced. Thus when the product is clear and oily, you know the product is fully broken down and ready to be removed. I suspect you are either pushign down too hard or not having enough patience (or both)

Also, you do NOT need to have pastes to solve the problem. Paste wax is different only in consistency; therefore, it is only different in terms of personal preference.

As for the NXT, this should alway go BEFORE a carnauba wax. Also note that since NXT has light detergents, if you were to apply a polish before it, it would remove them (same for any previous layers of wax). It DOES have light fillers in it to hide what may be left over in terms of marring/swirls, but dont expect it to be some magical snake oil.

I had more to say, but I had to leave for awhile and just came back...lost train of thought... sorry

 

wow! i just read that and it sounds like i had 8 beers too many haha. sorry bout that.
and thanks for the info.
alex

 

... and also, let's not forget that you can overwork just about any product out there too.

Scratch-X is a pretty good abrasive product that is designed for consumer end use. That said, it's not a miracle in a tube nor should one expect to accomplish the world with it.

You are exposing one of the limitations of the product.

Sight unseen, it sounds to me as though you may be working it TOO hard and, even potentially too long.

Using S-X is pretty simple but it does take some getting used to...

Start light, work in semi-circles and oblong circles on the area that you're wanting to address. Using increasing pressure, work in an opposite direction versus that of the scratch (assuming that it's a straight-line). Using a tad more pressure, go back to the circles and such. At this point, the diminishing abrasives are starting to break down and are likely close to completion of breaking down (mind you, you're doing this over a period of about a minute to a minute and a half on an area that is about 6" long). Now that you're at the pinnacle of downward force, start backing off.

By pressing down with huge force, you're inducing some scratching... by backing off and working backward out of it, you'll remove most of the fine scratching that you induced by going after your problem.

Now... you're done with removal after trying this procedure a few times on the same spot until you got it to where you want it (or, within the limitations of the product - remember, there's no miracle tube-o-product to remove all scratches!). The cleaner wax thought is a pretty good one to deal with the leftover micro-marring and light scratching that may have been induced with the SX.

Use a similar tactic with the cleaner wax but, you're not going to want to use as much downward force to remove the problem (you'll adversely tweak it, in fact by removing some of the fillers that will have worked into their respective scratches). Again, you may have to repeat... and repeat again.

A cleaner wax, as most know, is a product that will deal with very light problems (swirls, light oxidation, etc) and leave a protection layer behind as well. By using the cleaner wax to 'finalize' the problem area(s), you'll typically manage to get it to the point that you're pleased with it...

Jumping all the way back to the beginning, it should be said that the use of a machine (Flex, G100, G110, PC7424, etc) can greatly reduce the time spent going after this type of problem... While I understand that many are reluctant to jump on board with a G100 or similar, it really is a great way to go to deal with minor problems on nearly all painted finishes.

-RP-