An Image Is Worth

[Guest]

A thousand words.. yet I wasn't able to get an good image of what I did today.. I've had this old bottle of Meguiar's Scratch-X which I thoughts wasn't any good.. attempting to use this product on the passenger door yesterday without any success.

Washing the Jeep this morning, I noticed of more scratches which I've never seen before. it appears whom even had this jeep before, must have had someone on the hood.. the classic signs of jean tabs scratches or even a duffel bag etc was dragged across the hood.. (front windshield to front grill) right down the center. Perhaps this jeep had seen some low tree limbs as well as mud, which is still caked on in a few areas I'm unable to access.

This seem like a prime opportunity to give the Scratch-X another try.. reading the directions and taking one of my micro fiber rags.. I worked the scratch-x into all areas of the hood nearly reworking the whole hood itself. I was called away.. but returned soon after.. the Scratch-X was a pale white colors but was thin enough for me to rub off with another micro fiber rag/cloth.

Working in a circular pattern, I was able to removed the dried on and even caked on (in areas) Scratch-X product.. Mind you my hands are not as they once were.. Nerve damage has left them nearly useless.. But at least if I took my time and held the rag or cloth as tight as I could, I was able to remove all of the polish.

The shine was remarkable.. and you could barely see the scratches.. finishing up with the Quick detail spray.. the Jeep's hood has never looked better.. Now this has got me wanting to do more.. But my hands and arms just can't take the pressure or pain associated with this type of cleaning, polishing and detailing anymore.

So here is my question: Is there a "mit" or "glove" that I could place on my hand instead of clinching my fist while holding the cloth to removed the dried on polish or wax?.. I'm just not ready to attempt anything with a power tool.. and I'd much rather us my hands.. even as weak as they are.

I feel if there was a polishing glove or mit I could slip over my hand and that wont come off unless I wanted it to.. that I could use to apply and removed these products from our Jeep when detailing?..

[ChevyNick]

A quick Google search has lead me to multiple results. Try typing in car polishing mitt. Lots of them surprisingly. The only flaw I see with these is this could be a little more expensive. You'd probably want to buy a couple of them to use with separate products.

[BlueZero]

Re: An Image Is Worth

I was just having problems this weekend with my hands too. I think I have early carpal tunnel from sitting at a computer all day everyday.

I was browsing my Griot's Garage catalog and found a few products that might work. Only problem is they won't work with all the yellow foam applicators I already have. However a bit extra in cost for the ones that work with the applicator might be worth it saving stress on my hands.

3" pad holder

6" pad holder

3" palm grip

I hope that helps. Let us know if you end up trying any out.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: An Image Is Worth

Well, the first thing to keep in mind is that a paint cleaner like ScratchX (or Ultimate Compound, SwirlX, Ultimate Polish, etc) should not be allowed to dry in the first place. Since they only do their job when being physically worked against the paint, letting them dry serves no purpose and just makes them hard to remove. A properly applied wax is, in contrast, very easy to wipe off once it's dry, so that shouldn't be a problem for you.

But getting back to the use of a paint cleaner to remove below surface defects - while removing these products while still wet is much, much easier than trying to remove them after they've dried, you still need to work them pretty vigorously against the paint in order to get the mechanical action of the abrasives against the paint. That can actually be done by holding a foam applicator under your fingers and applying pressure that way, as shown in the picture below, rather than actually having to grip a towel.