ScratchX with Rotary

[Gen2]

After reading in another forum someone used ScratchX with PC and having good result, today I met up with another MOL member and we decided to try ScratchX with a rotary.

Initially we are quite worried whether is it OK to use ScratchX with rotary but after trying out a small portion on the hood, we are very impressed with the result. We used a polishing pad with a speed of 1200 - 1500 rpm, worked until the product almost dry and than wipe down with Final Inspection. Even if the product dry on the paint but with a spray of FI, everything came off easily, much easier than #83.

From the look of the finished work, the paint looks deeper and wetter, the reflection also looks clearer and shaper. Both of us actually felt that the result seems better than #80. We are curious to know where does ScratchX stands as compare to #80 and #83 ? Does it has any special ingredient which #80 and #83 do not have ?

[Tim Lingor]

Hey,

Meguiar's ScratchX is designed to be used by hand only. As such, the way the product breaks down is related to its hand application. It is possible that if used by machine, the product may break down far too quickly leading to surface marring. If people chose to use a product in a manner not recommended by Meguiar's, the product's peformance may not be what was intended. Further, products like #80 have special lubricants intended to make it compatible with machine use. Without the lubricants, it is possible to scour or burn the finish especially if a rotary buffer is used.


Tim

[Gen2]

Hi Tim,

I understand that ScratchX is design for hand application and that's why we are a bit concern before we used the rotary. But from our 'experiment', the entire hood looks good, no marring or any kind of defect, in fact the paint looks ready for the LSP without even the need for #80.

We are only sharing our experience but not encouraging the other to do the same and for those who are tempted to try, try at your own risk .

The project was done on the other MOL member's car and hopefully he can take some photos to post on this topic. Our LSP is #21 and I must say #21 is an excellent product, easy on easy off, great depth, feel very sleek and create a wet look on the car .

[rusty bumper]

Mike Phillips buffed out a car with ScratchX (It was posted at ShowCarGarage, but the site has been down for sometime now).

I remember him having to turn the PC's speed down quite a bit, in order to keep the ScratchX from gumming up.

How you guys managed to use it with a rotary is beyond me.

[VanityDetailing]

My mind veered off on a WAY different tangent when I saw this thread...

[Yauc]

We started off reading a thread that mentioned using DA to apply scratchX. We tried that, tried this and eventually ended applying using rotary. As what 2hotford shared, we were aware of scratchX being applicable only by hand.

But to our suprise....

[Mike Phillips]

Just to chime in...

Meguiar's doesn't recommend using ScratchX by machine as it contains a polymer that tends to become gummy on the surface when heated. This can make it more difficult to remove and we don't want people experiencing difficulty removing our products as this may cause them to instill scratches in the process of trying to remove the product thus working backwards in the paint polishing process. Besides that, there are products in the Professional Line specifically formulated for application with a rotary buffer to remove below surface defects.

You can however do as you like as it is your car, your time and your choice. We just don't want to start an avalanche of people using ScratchX with a rotary.


It's early Sunday morning here in the U.S., so have a nice day!



p.s.

Before I knew that ScratchX was for hand application only due to the gumming issue, I too tried this product with a rotary and a dual action polisher sometimes with good results sometimes with difficulty in removal. I think sometimes it results will be related to paint type and condition.

[Gen2]

Hi Mike, thank for sharing some information here. Again we have to emphasize here that we are not encouraging anyone to use ScratchX with a rotey or a DA machine. The main purpose here is to share some of our new 'discovery' that looks to be quite impressive.

Two questions for you, Mike,

1) How aggressive is ScratchX as compare to #80 and #83 ?

2) Do you think using #80 with a rotary can yield the same result as ScratchX with a rotary ?

[RamAirV1]

I'm not Mike, but until he can answer, I will give my opinion. I think #80 with a rotary will give better results than Scratch X. The diminishing abrasives in #80 will not break down quite as fast to you have more time to work with it. Also the #80 has more polishing oils in it than the Scratch X.

RamAirV1

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by Gen2
Hi Mike, thank for sharing some information here. Again we have to emphasize here that we are not encouraging anyone to use ScratchX with a rotary or a DA machine. The main purpose here is to share some of our new 'discovery' that looks to be quite impressive.

Two questions for you, Mike,

1) How aggressive is ScratchX as compare to #80 and #83 ?

Depends on how you apply it and your applicator material. All things being equal, if you apply using a rotary buffer...

M83 most aggressive
M80 next most aggressive
ScratchX least aggressive

2) Do you think using #80 with a rotary can yield the same result as ScratchX with a rotary ?

Yes. Application, removal and results should all be better.

[Gen2]

So it looks like we have come to a conclusion for our little experiment, #80 should do a better job than ScratchX with a rotary. Anyway it is not so economical to use ScratchX with a rotary to do a whole car, so will be switching back to #80 for the coming polishing session. Thanks guys.

Btw we face problem uploading pics to our gallery but we can see other members manage to upload theirs. Is there some problem with the gallery section ?

[zey]

Last night I worked on my dad's car roof, which was never polished by rotary machine for 3 years, just paint cleaning and waxing all these while. Since the paint is in quite good condition, so I decided to use #80 instead of #83. It took me quite long to breakdown the #80 with an area of 2'X2'. This makes me feel safe to actually use it with rotary. The result turned out to be great - glossy and wet - without sacrificing much of the clearcoat.

*The reason why I work with rotary was because it was late night, I don't want to wake up my neighbours with my DA.