I had always seen this stuff at Pep Boys and never thought much of it.
I wanted to get my car looking better by getting all the scratches off it. I went to a couple paint shops and the cheapest price they quoted me was $2000 to respray the whole car the same color. I said no thanks. My paint is almost flawless except for the scratch marks.
I decided I was going to try and fix the car on my own. Well......I had heard of rubbing compound this and that....and that it was good stuff and could get rid of most scratches as long as they weren't too deep. I bought the above mentioned stuff and all I have to say is that it's the best investment I've ever made. $11 very well spent. I'd say it got rid of about 85% of all the scratches that were on the car. Even the small ones that were there before I had bought the car a couple years back are now completely gone. I was completely surprised at how well works. Anyone pissed at a couple of scratches on the car.........you need to try this.....it's good stuff and it works. It removes fine scratches....nothing deep.....it can't fix holes.
Cliff Notes: Excellent product.....did exactly what it was supposed to do and my car now looks a heck of alot cleaner than just yesterday. I was completely surprised at how effective it is at doing it's job. I had a ton of small scratches I had to live with and now.....I DON'T.
Hope this helps anyone.....I know it helped me and saved me a couple thousand dollars.....so I used that money and bought some Koni Yellows. Look for a detailed review on those soon!
Oh...BTW......it's also very easy to use. It's kinda like wax....except you have to rub a little harder.
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96 Prelude Si
Last edited by PRelude787; 05-11-2005 at 03:24 PM.
I am thinkin about tryin this. Did you use it on every part of ur car? or just certain panels? if u rub too hard, wont the rubbing compound mess up the paint?
I just used this on the scratches. And yeah....the rubbing compound is pretty strong. You don't want to rub on the same spot too hard for too long because it could strip away the paint. That why I just used a microfiber towel and was careful not rub too hard for long. You'll know how much is too much once you start using it. It doesn't take too much to get it to work though.
...You'll know how much is too much once you start using it. ...
... but wouldn't that be a sort-of hindsight tip? I'm actually very interesting in this, I'd never thought anything applied by hand could remove the fine scratches and swirl marks I'm eager to remove on my car. In relation to using, say, Scratch-X, how much pressure are you applying and for how long per area?
^^I'm actually applying a good amount of pressure.....as much as I can with just my thumb or 3 or 4 fingers on the rag. I only do this however for about 2 to 3 seconds at a time....until some of the scratch is removed. Then I clean it off and see how much more I need. Then I'll do the same again.......I used a good amount of strength and rubbed.....it only took a few seconds however til the scratch would be gone.
I didn't strip any of the paint off at all and looks good as new. I'd suggest waxing the car after you're done cuz it seems to strip the wax off though. As soon as I finished I waxed the car and it looked as if there was never anything (scratches) there.
rubbing compound, being a compound is a relatively heavy cut. although you didn't strip off any paint, you removed some clear coat, and that is why the scratch is gone. I personally start off with 3m Swirl Mark Remover first (although it says it's for swirls, it is just a mild polish which can be used for anything), and then if that doesn't work I'll follow on with RC, then back to SMR as a final polish.
edit: btw, did you get the fine-cut or medium-cut?
Last edited by DudewithaLude; 04-24-2005 at 05:16 PM.
rubbing compound, being a compound is a relatively heavy cut. although you didn't strip off any paint, you removed some clear coat, and that is why the scratch is gone.
That's absolutely corret...you just stripped layers of your clear coat off. The paint of your car doesn't get scratched, it's the clear coat that does.
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TwizT aka Trevor
JRSC * Tuned by DL Motorsports * Built by AutoExpress Crew
just be sure when u guy it you get the "clear-coat safe" version. This way, you won't take off part of your clear coat. And yeah, the stuff does wonders for gettin off that stubborn cone juice from the last autocross.
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1999 Premium White Pearl Type SH
i also use this product and many other 3M stuff. i have almost everything they make for cars, and that rubbing compound works 300 times better if you follow with a polish to remove and othe swirl marks the compund leaves behind (2 thumbs up for a great product)
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01 prelude SOLD
03 350Z SOLD
07 Nissan Titan
i also use this product and many other 3M stuff. i have almost everything they make for cars, and that rubbing compound works 300 times better if you follow with a polish to remove and othe swirl marks the compund leaves behind (2 thumbs up for a great product)
I have used this product and it works pretty well!
But their swirl remover is just terrible. It's so hard to remove unless it is wet... am I doing it wrong?
if your using the polish for dark colored cars you only need to use very little. lets just say for the top half of the front fender i will use a pencil size bead and i use a machine. this stuff is made to come off with the same pad you use to put it on and then i will always follow with a cloth over it to remove what the machine didnt because im to chicken to burn the paint, but yea that stuff is a b1th to remove, just dont let it dry
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01 prelude SOLD
03 350Z SOLD
07 Nissan Titan
I had some deep scratch marks where thumb sized portions of the paint had been damaged by a bike rack from the previous owner. You could run your fingers over it and feel the damage and you could see the marks from a distance very easily. I was going to get it repainted when a friend of mine laughed and said he could fix it. He came back with the exact same 3M rubbing compound and detailed all the spots on my car, I was amazed at how all the little annoying marks disapppeared! As for the trunk, he gave up- but I didn't. I kept rubbing on it for atleast 5 minutes with hard pressure and finally they all disappeared. I knew it could damage the paint, but I figured the paint was already damaged so I really didn't care. However, it never damaged anything. The clearcoat is still intact and the trunk looks beautiful.
The 3M compound inspired me so much that I decided to claybar the car and use an electric buffer to apply the cleaner wax afterwards. My car looks like it just came off the showroom, it is absolutely gorgeous. I can't believe how those two products can restore the beauty of a paintjob even at 100k miles. I am sure that if I was trying to sell the car I would have just added $1,000 to its value because when you see diamond white pearl looking this good you'll pay anything to have it
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