So I washed, clay barred, washed and did one coat of liquid glass (buffed off with microfiber cloth) on my Camry (dark green) and RX-8 (black) yesterday.

First I want to say Clay Barring is frickin' awesome on older cars. It didn't seem to do much to my 8 (it's only a few months old) but on the Camry it worked wonders. Honestly I didn't do a super thorough job on it but the effects were still amazing. The Camry felt all gritty and after the well clay barred parts were so smooth. I have to say the well clay barred parts because apparently I didn't clay bar some parts well enuf.

The Liquid Glass... I can't quite tell how good it is since my Camry has all sorts of scratches and dings and my RX-8 is pretty darn shiny naturally. But the 8 does feel incredible after the Liquid Glass. And I think it's shinier. I mean even without any wax or polish, my 8 is very mirror like. I'm pretty sure it's more mirror like now though. I plan on adding another 2 layers (one a week or so). The four hour wait between is kind of painful.

But anyways while I was applying the Liquid Glass, I noticed my car had a few scratches. One was pretty long (thin but long). Is there any way to cover those up? I don't want to use touch up paint. I'm not too good with it and I don't want to ruin the smoothness of the car. I'm not even sure how I got them. Sigh.

 

I was able to get some small scratches out of my 8 with Meguier's Scratch-X. It depends on how deep the scratch is. Unfortunately, I have some that are too deep for the Scratch-X so I think I will have to do the touch up paint routine. There is an excellent how-to for this at www.bettercarcare.com.

 

Thanks. I'll give that a shot at some point in the future.

 

What color is your 8? I have ti gray and am wondering how Liquid Glass would look on mine. Someone else here raved about LG in an older thread. I'm almost out of NXT. Maybe I should give that stuff a shot. Do you know anything about its durability?

About your scratches, I've tried Scratch-X without much success, for some reason. It's not a wipe-on/wipe-off product; you have to rub it in until it's all gone. If you've got a lot of scratches, a PC is the best way to get them out; otherwise, Scratch-X or a rubbing compound by hand are your alternatives.

 

I have Brilliant Black. It looks good on mine, but like I said even with out any wax and just a wash, the car is VERY shiny. It's just a bit shinier now (it can't get much shiner, not a fault of the liquid glass). It'll probably get even MORE shiny when I apply more coats (which I plan to do but there's a 4 hour wait supposedly between coats). Some of the pictures here I've seen of Liquid Glass on darker cars make them look very good. here's a velocity red that's been liquid glassed. i should take pics of mine but i didn't have time.

According to the manufacturers of Liquid Glass, you should reapply once every 6-12 months if you have "extreme weather conditions". This is what appeals to me. I figure I'll throw on a few layers of LG then just do normal washing for the next year. From what I've been reading though... for shine tops is Zaino and NXT. A small step down is Liquid Glass. It's not too cheap tho (18 bucks for a can) and being the smart guy I am I ran over my bottle. I managed to pour most of it into little squeeze bottles though

I'm going to have to look up Scratch-X. What's PC? I'm not familiar with that. And I'm just really curious where those damn scratches came from. ARGH!

 

Thanks for the info/links on Liquid Glass. I've seen a can (looks very vintage) at Pep Boys but wasn't sure how good it was until recently and now through your posts. If it's THAT durable, though, it may be worth looking into as a winter treatment. Hm...

PC= Porter Cable (i.e., this one). These gadgets work better at removing scratches because the way Scratch-X and other swirl mark removers (SMRs) work is that they are abrasives that wear away the sharp edges of the scratch, making it more unnoticeable and even with the paint surface. It's easier with a PC b/c it moves that much faster and longer than doing it by hand, though it's certainly still possible to do it without a machine.

 

Perhaps consider Zaino Z5....haven't used it myself as my 8 is relatively new and I clayed and polished with a few coats immediately after getting the car. Here's the Z5 marketing blurb:

The only way to remove, heavy swirl marks and scratches from a clear-coated surface is to have the car professionally machine buffed with an abrasive compound. This should be the last resort, as factory clear coat is very thin and you can break thru it very easily. Also, most polishes and waxes contain abrasives; they remove some swirl marks but create new swirls. Kind of catch-22. Z-5 is the first non-abrasive polish that will eliminate swirl marks, fine scratches and 'spider webbing', without hurting the integrity of the clear coat. It does this in stages, anywhere between 1 to 3 applications. This in itself is a major technological breakthrough. With each application of Z-5 polish, you will see the swirl marks and fine scratches gradually lessen, until the marks are no longer visible. Although this procedure may seem time consuming, the results are well worth it. This is the only way a swirl mark problem should be addressed and corrected. NOTE: For any future swirls or scratches you may get, just reapply Z-5 to the affected area or the whole car if you prefer. Z-5 can be used right over Z-2. They are completely compatible and interchangeable. For the highest optical paint enhancement always follow up Z-5 with a coat of Z-2. One eight ounce bottle of Z-5 Polish will yield approximately eight to ten coats on a mid-size car.

 

I recently removed my stock spolier and it left some huge marks
looks like the stock adheshive almost pulled the paint
I have tried to wax and use sctach removers but no help

got any ides

 

u removed it? what u got planned? please do tell..

 

Mike, hopefully you didn't rip away any of the clearcoat, but you may want to look into getting it professionaly wet sanded.

 

i got this

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-exterior-appearance-body-kits-27/mintblue-spoiler-47292/

 

the paint shop I went to said they might be able to sand it but they weren't sure