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why is the correct answer (c) "modern "brushless" car washes usually do not produce visible scratches on cars with older finishes", when the only thing we can realistically derive from the text is "modern "brushless" car washes leave fewer scratches"? How did the writer get from "mitters are easier on most cars' finishes.. new clear coat finishes are more easily scratched" to "usually do not produce visible scratches"?

I put down (a) as the correct answer. It's pretty weak, too, I know. I picked the wrong one out of two answer choices both of which I felt were "less wrong" than the other answer choices.

Anyway, I got -3 on LR's combined, -1 on LG yesterday.. I'll do the PT57 RC tomorrow. If I get it perfect, I'll end up with 177. Heh. I haven't had a perfect RC section in weeks.

I'm not sure which answer you chose, so here's a full run-down:

In the stimulus we learn that mitters are replacing brushes and that these mitters are softer. This is important because new cars have a finish that is more easily scratched.

(C) is strongly supported, first because all the other answers are not! However, there is ample support for (C) in that if the older finishes were less easily scratched, and the mitters don't scratch the new, more vulnerable finishes, than it stands to reason that the older, more durable finishes are not affected by the mitters. The addition of "visible" to this answer choice is not important, but if anything, it strengthens the answer as it allows for invisible scratches to occur and not invalidate the answer choice.

(A) is nearly contradicted by the stimulus - it's quite possible that back in the day of all-brush carwashes, most cars had a more durable finish.
(B) is too strong -- maybe the reason the brushes were switched is because of cost.
(D) is unsupported -- just because brushes are harder on finishes doesn't mean they're more effective. Define effective!
(E) is unsupported -- the stimulus simply says "many"

Does that help?