What the heck is X-Kote?

**Black_Sunshine** · 07-12-2013, 09:23 AM

Hi guys, I`ve moved to a different carreer now so I haven`t been on the forums for some time. I thought I`d come back here and see what people would have to say about this.

I bought a vehicle from a dealership this week that was scratched up pretty badly. I always go for these because they are cheaper and I can easily fix the problem for nothing. I still have nearly all of my detailing gear collecting dust in storage, and I`m still buying new products lol.

The manager said that he could get me wholesale pricing on an X-Kote application somewhere across the city. He explained to me that it would be around $500 and they apply a new clearcoat over the factory clear which makes the scratches dissappear. He showed me a car that had been x-koted, and it looked flawless. According to their website it is a "hand applied polyurethane clearcoat".

So why have I never heard of this? Is it legit? Apparently it`s good enough for this land rover dealership. Does anyone here have any experience with this product? Doesn`t the concept make sense? I kind of like the idea of increasing the thickness of my clearcoat rather than decreasing it :noidea:.

**IHA Mark** · 07-12-2013, 05:04 PM

Just correct the paint and apply Opti-Coat. It will thicken the clear coat. X-Kote is one of the dozens of overpriced dealer sold glorified paint sealants. Don`t know anything about its "filling" ability, however.

**Jpostal** · 07-12-2013, 10:32 PM

Originally Posted by IHA Mark

Just correct the paint and apply Opti-Coat. It will thicken the clear coat. X-Kote is one of the dozens of overpriced dealer sold glorified paint sealants. Don`t know anything about its "filling" ability, however.

Have you seen/used x-kote? It is not a paint sealant or a coating. It actually is a really amazing product for the right application (it took me a long time to admit this). I own a small car dealership (and a detail shop) and I use x-kote on vehicles with hammered paint every once in a while and its pretty incredible. If the vehicle is prepped properly, and the person applying it is competent, the paint really will look almost as good as new. X-kote (or one of its competitors similar products) is a self-leveling hand applied "clear coat" and it really does fill scratches/swirls/small imperfections.

The downside of x-kote is that if you ever get a deeper scratch or scuff that you want to polish out you will be in for a nasty surprise when you start compounding it. Light polishing is fine but when you sand or compound on it you will burn through the x-kote and it will look almost like clear coat failure...hard to explain. Once you burn through a spot the only solution is to remove the x-kote from the entire panel which is A LOT of work!

I will try find a few pics of cars I have had done. The difference is incredible and a car can be done within half a day. $500 is not the wholesale cost BTW. Where are you located...I`m assuming western Canada?? If so PM me and I will hook you up if you want to do it.

**IHA Mark** · 07-14-2013, 08:53 AM

I would love to see some pics Jpostal! How is the durability on it?

Sorry but after working for a dealership, and dealing with the supposed "coatings" offered by dealerships for many years, I`m always super suspicious. 99% of dealer offerings seem to be nothing but a way to overcharge for mediocre snake oil.

**Jpostal** · 07-14-2013, 10:18 AM

Originally Posted by IHA Mark

I would love to see some pics Jpostal! How is the durability on it?

Sorry but after working for a dealership, and dealing with the supposed "coatings" offered by dealerships for many years, I`m always super suspicious. 99% of dealer offerings seem to be nothing but a way to overcharge for mediocre snake oil.

I was just as suspicious as you but I did some research on it and decided to have a vehicle x-coated. To the untrained eye it looked great, but to me being a detailer you could tell there was something different about the paint. As I mentioned before x-coat is a permanent layer and to remove take a lot of work either compounding or wet sanding. I am in no way affiliated with them either as an installer or a company rep so I don`t know the ins and outs of the product other than it is a two part product that you mix in exact amounts at time of use and it smells really strong like paint.

I did find some pics but I dont have time to upload right now. PM me your email address and I will fire them off to you if you want.

**Jpostal** · 07-27-2013, 03:52 PM

I bought a van for my dealership this week and the front bumper was sand blaseted really bad so I thought I would see how well x-kote covers up the millions of micro chips and stuff. I have only personally applied it twice and there is a learning curve but thought I would share the before and after pics so people get a bit of a better idea of what it is and what it can do. There was definitely a noticeable improvement but far from perfect. Inside under halogens the difference was minimal but when pulled out into the sun it actually looks pretty good...classic "looks good from far, but far from good" kind of deal. Took about 20 min to prep and apply product to front bumper and product cost was maybe $10.

Before

After - Inside under halogens.

After - Outside in direct sun

**Black_Sunshine** · 10-09-2013, 04:00 PM

Reviving this dead thread, I haven`t been back on autopia since I posted this. Thanks for the info Jpostal. I researched it myself and this product caught my attention as being different than the normal dealership offerings.

The fact that it does not do well with compounds is a deal breaker for me. The vehicle in question is a 4x4 that I`m building for off roading expeditions to various locations up and down the west coast. It will definitely require some compounding from time to time. Mainly I need it to be easy to clean, so I`ll stick to my original plan of Opti Coat. Might revisit this xkote idea around selling time though.

I`m in Edmonton by the way.

**salty** · 10-10-2013, 12:21 AM

X-Kote can be layered onto it`s self 3 or 4 times. It melts into the original and applied coats. Chemical adhesion. Though would be a great expense if you had to pay full price each time.

Generally it is about the thickness of thin paper, though that can be adjusted either way a little, by application.

**salty** · 10-10-2013, 12:28 AM

Before and after. An old photo of mine, not much new ones on new phone and computer. The car was quickly compounded with PC for some shine and topped with Z2.