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As I mentioned in an earlier thread, my Dad is replacing the engine on a 1990 dull pink (badly oxidized red) Celica. I told him I would detail the paint, and asked him to pay for the products. Well, the engine was about $700 so he doesn't have a whole lot of money to spend on it right now. So when I asked him to give me some money to pick up some ScratchX the other day, he told me he would like to just try some "old-school rubbing compound". 
So I picked up some Turtle Wax Rubbing Compound 
. I tried to reason with him that ScratchX works much better than any rubbing compound since the compound will just put scratches into the paint. When he was a kid he used to detail cars with his Dad, though, so he's used to the rubbing compound and besides it's cheaper. So I thought maybe I could remove the main part of the oxidation with the rubbing compound, then use ScratchX to remove the swirls. Would I just be making more work for myself or might that actually work? The back of the tub of Rubbing Compound says to use with caution since if you use it too much or too hard in one area, it could rub right through the paint (paraphrasing here). I REALLY don't want to use the rubbing compound, but then again I don't really have the money to pay for the tubes of ScratchX that would be needed to do the whole car. I'm doing the car by hand, by the way, and it is single stage paint. Any recommendations as to what I should do would be appreciated.
P.S. I might try the Rubbing Compound on one area of the paint, then try ScratchX on an area right next to it and point out to my Dad how much better the area I ScratchXed looks than the area I used rubbing compound on.
P.P.S. Sorry about the long post.
So I picked up some Turtle Wax Rubbing Compound . I tried to reason with him that ScratchX works much better than any rubbing compound since the compound will just put scratches into the paint. When he was a kid he used to detail cars with his Dad, though, so he's used to the rubbing compound and besides it's cheaper. So I thought maybe I could remove the main part of the oxidation with the rubbing compound, then use ScratchX to remove the swirls. Would I just be making more work for myself or might that actually work? The back of the tub of Rubbing Compound says to use with caution since if you use it too much or too hard in one area, it could rub right through the paint (paraphrasing here). I REALLY don't want to use the rubbing compound, but then again I don't really have the money to pay for the tubes of ScratchX that would be needed to do the whole car. I'm doing the car by hand, by the way, and it is single stage paint. Any recommendations as to what I should do would be appreciated.P.S. I might try the Rubbing Compound on one area of the paint, then try ScratchX on an area right next to it and point out to my Dad how much better the area I ScratchXed looks than the area I used rubbing compound on.
P.P.S. Sorry about the long post.
Also, I tried out my buffer (3200 rpms) with ScratchX on the roof and it worked somewhat. I still will need to go over it with ScratchX by hand to get it looking really nice, but the buffer removed most of the oxidation. My arms are a little sore, though....the buffer shakes my arms a lot. Oh well. So, all that to say, I LOVE SCRATCHX. lol. I haven't clayed the paint, and I was wondering if maybe I could skip claying it since I'm going to have to ScratchX the whole car? Would ScratchX remove the bonded contaminants? Also I can probably skip using paint cleaner since I'm using ScratchX, right? 
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