Scratch-X your whole Car?

[DannyBoy]

I have had an associate tell me, that after clay barring his car,
He then Scratch-Xed the entire car...
Then applied NXT 2.0.
I saw the car before he did it... it was rough (2006 TopBanana Daytona). I saw it a couple days after he was done... looked great.
I just clayed my car for the first time...
Wondering if using Scratch-X on the whole unit prior to NXT 2.0 is advisable?
Thanks Guys...

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Scratch-X your whole Car?

Sure!

You can use ScratchX for a spot fixes or over the entire car. It's a paint cleaner for paint so use it as much as you like.

You can also use repeated applications to really bad spots or just lightly apply it for "light cleaning"

[DannyBoy]

Re: Scratch-X your whole Car?

Mike... thanks for the quick response...
Guess what I'm doing tonight....

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: Scratch-X your whole Car?

Just about 2 years ago. Before I had a G100, I did the wifes Sebring. It took a couple of weeks, ( I am disabled.) I would do a section one day and take the next day off. Then Do another section. You get the idea. The wife was very happy with the results. So was I. Good luck. Before to post some pics of the before and afters.

[Markus Kleis]

Re: Scratch-X your whole Car?

I did it back before I was really into detailing (2003), and I did my entire Ranger with ScratchX. It made some serious difference, and really helped to increase gloss and clarity in the paint. After that, and a coat of regular NXT (new at that time) the only way to see any defects was in direct sun, and it was only the deepest RIDS/swirls at that point. Moderate light showed nothing.

It is a lot of work, but it can be done!

[gjohn28]

Re: Scratch-X your whole Car?

I've never used ScratchX over an entire car. However, I've used it on an entire panel/section of the car and finished it off with an LSP. It finishes really well. I think it is often overlooked how well it finishes as a paint cleaner.

If you have the DA compatible version of ScratchX you can save yourself a little time using a DA. If you have the original version, you can still do the entire car, but it may take a little longer by hand.

[eyezack87]

Re: Scratch-X your whole Car?

I used it before on my car after my sister's washed it with a brillo pad (yes...I know...). Took 2 hours to get half the trunk perfect so I broke down and bought a PC. Never looked back

[ronniejay]

Re: Scratch-X your whole Car?

How many tubes of the new Scratch-x, using a pc, would it take for a '96 4runner?

[Markus Kleis]

Re: Scratch-X your whole Car?

How many tubes of the new Scratch-x, using a pc, would it take for a '96 4runner?

You should easily be able to do it with one.

[benhui86]

Re: Scratch-X your whole Car?

I scratchX my entire nissan frontier before.... I had a few blisters and blooody fingers... it wasnt so bad....

anyways it took care of all the swirls so it was worth it hahahaha

[Optimum Auto Salon]

Re: Scratch-X your whole Car?

How long is it taking you guys to do a whole car by hand???? I could imagine it takes a good amount of time.

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Scratch-X your whole Car?

One thing for sure, applying any paint cleaner thoroughly to an entire car tends give you a sense of self-satisfaction that only you can appreciate best after the job is all over.

[zeque]

Re: Scratch-X your whole Car?

I need a help with scratch X, I've to use a lot of product for each section or just a few drops? thanks

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Scratch-X your whole Car?

How long is it taking you guys to do a whole car by hand???? I could imagine it takes a good amount of time.

Depends on the size of the car and the condition of the paint and what you're trying to do.

If you're just using the paint cleaner lightly to insure the surface is smooth and clean you can apply it and remove it fairly quickly.

If the paint is a swirled-out, neglected mess and you're goal is a show car finish then it's going to take longer because you're going to need to really work the product over the paint, not just apply it and spread it around. If the swirls and scratches are deep and you want them all the way out, or at least most of the way out then it's going to take repeated applications to each section and you're going to need to keep the sections small, as in 16" squarish or smaller.

Your hand and arm cannot effectively work large sections by hand with modern clear coats, you just can't work the product effectively enough to remove any substantial amount of paint and removing below surface defects means removing paint over the entire surface.

That's why there's been such a huge increase in people moving from working by hand to working by machine over the last two decades; people find out that working by hand is a lot of work and via discussion forums they discover dual action polishers are more effective than traditional orbital buffers but safer than rotary buffers and for about $200.00 or so they can get into machine cleaning and polishing and take a lot of the elbow grease work out of the process.

Buffing out a car by machine is still a lot of work, just not as much work as dong the cleaning step by hand and you bet much better results.

Plus, after the initial investment into the machine and a half dozen or so pads you now have the equipment to tackle this same car again or your other cars and some people go on to start detailing cars as a hobby and recoup their initial investment.

At least that's the trend over the last few years...

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Scratch-X your whole Car?

I need a help with scratch X, I've to use a lot of product for each section or just a few drops? thanks

If you divide your hood up into about 6 - 9 section, you would use anywhere form a teaspoon to a tablespoon of product for each section if you only did each section one time.

Does that make sense?


When cleaning paint, that is when removing defects you want to use an ample amount, not too little, not too much but enough to lubricate the surface and supply plenty of chemical cleaners and diminishing abrasives, (in the case of ScratchX 1.0), to get the job done.


When you first start out with a clean dry applicator pad your pad will absorb some of the ScratchX, then as you continue to add more product to the pad you'll notice it to spread out farther on the surface and there will be more product to work with because it isn't seeping into your pad as much. So when you first start out use a little extra and then cut down a little as you work around the car.

When you go out into the garage and start the process you should get a feel for it after the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th application.