woreyah

I've invested in McGuiars dual-action polisher, I've used Mother's Mirror Glaze, McGuiars Professional Swirl Remover, McGuiars Scratch X, waxes from both Mother's and McGuiars with no success in completely removing minor scratches or swirls on my black Max.
Has anyone used a product that completely removed swirls and scatches???

SEmy2K2go

iTrader: (10)

The Maintenance, Detailing forum would be a great location for this question.

thomasd cook

iTrader: (7)

I had bad swirl marks and found that my best way to get them out was by using a 3 step process with Mother's I believe. If waxing by hand try not to use circular motions.

SilverChrome03

I have used the following process with great success on my previous black car. I'm assuming that your car is not very old and the paint is in relatively good shape (other than the swirls).

1. Wash the car with Dawn (dish soap) to remove all old wax etc.....
2. Apply 1 or 2 coats of Meguiars Mirror Glaze # 9 Swirl Remover
3. 1 coat of Meguiars Mirror Glaze #26 High Tech Yellow Wax

Make sure that you follow the instructions on the bottles carefully. Use only clean application tools and change to fresh ones often. You don't want to be creating swirls as you are trying to remove them.

Once you're done, step back and admire that shine

For maintenance....wash you car with Meguiars Gold Class Shampoo at a minimum of once per week. This GC Shampoo is slick stuff and does a great job of gently lifting dirt from your paint. Use only very clean wash tools, water and rinse often.

Hose down the car thoroughly to blow off as much dirt as possible. Start from the roof and work your way down panel by panel. Do the rockers and bottom of the car last. Again rinse your wash mitt often.

Dry off with a good and "clean" shammy and use only high quality 100% cotton terry towels.

Be gentle in your execution of the above, and keep in mind that what you do after you've detailed it (maintenance) is just as important to keep your car looking great.

My black car use to look like it was made of "glass" by doing the above and i never had swirl mark problems and that's even when looking at it in the blazing sun.

Black cars look AMAZING when they are detailed the right way, but it takes a heck of a lot of work to keep them looking good.

Hope this helps you and have fun with yours,

Bob

woosh

3M swirl mark remover and a hand polisher. There is one for light and another for dark colored cars.

SHIFT_woosh

endus

iTrader: (1)

Meg's DACP and the Porter Cable got rid of all the swirl marks on my car. Gotta be a bit heavy handed with it...take advantage of the fact that it won't burn your paint and move SLOW. Buff the polish out completely (at least until it starts to dust. Keep the PC on 6 and use moderate pressure....they WILL go away.

woreyah

Um guys,
I just went to Courtesy Nissan and took a look at some 2K4s. The black and blue Maxes had swirl marks! The saleswoman commented that they come off the assembly line like that! Thanks for the suggestions but I'm not confident that these methods with elliminate what comes from the factory.

endus

iTrader: (1)

Haha, dealers lying to cover up their $hit detailing...that's the best! Even if they did come from the factory that way, that's because of bad cleaning at the factory. New paint does not have swirls in it (at least not until they start rubbing it with a dirty shop rag).

Man, getting rid of swirl marks is not a big deal. You make it sound like it's something more than it is in your post: it's just tiny tiny scratches in the clearcoat. Removing them is as simple as removing enough clearcoat so that the bottom to the scratch is once again level with the rest of the paint. If you don't remove clearcoat, you don't remove swirls, bottom line.

If you haven't been able to get them out with what you've tried, it's because you're either not using the products correctly or you need a more aggressive product.

I had a lot of trouble getting swirls out too for a long time. Want to know why? Because I didn't know what I was doing. I use a Porter Cable Random Orbital buffer and Griot's orange pads and at the time I was using some very light polishes and other things that have fillers in them. Most of the time the swirls just wouldn't come out completely, and when they did seem to come out they would always come back...that's because of the fillers in the polish I was using.

What I learned is that the PC is NOT very agressive, so I had to get more agressive pads (properautocare.com's yellow pads) and more aggressive polish (DACP). Even that only worked pretty well...it didn't get every swirl on the tough areas like the hood. Then I reduced the size of my work area, turned the PC up to 6, and used more pressure. BINGO. The swirls will come back over time because they always do...from washing the car, from ice during the winter, etc...but they're gone for now.

They're nothing mystical about swirl marks...you just have to be willing to be agressive enough to get them out. You can't polish out severe swirling in an hour by hand. You need at LEAST a couple of hours and, honestly, you NEED a machine. I'm sure there are people who can tell you about how they did it by hand, but I can't imagine how...it's too much work. The PC will barely buff out DACP if you really work it...if you used a rotary you could do it in even less time...but the point is you need to WORK that polish.

I don't mean to sound harsh here, I'm just trying to impress upon you that there is a LOT of bad info out there about paint, the dealer is the absolute last person I would ever ask about anything related to detailing, and that getting your car to be swirl free is entirely possible with the right products. KEEPING the car swirl free is more difficult, especially for a daily driver and ESPECIALLY for one that's kept outside like mine is. It's not one hour every six months...but it's not 7 hours every weekend either. You need the right tools and the right process and some practice...and you need to think about how your washing technique might be introducing more swirls.

If you don't believe that you can get the swirls out, I've got a 98 Max that will show you different. Wish I had the reflection pic from last weekend...will try to post it later...

Bman

Well I think endus covered things pretty darn well!

I also noticed the products you've tried (swirl remover, Scratch-X) may not be strong enough to do the job - especially if you're doing this by hand (unless you're really spazzing out on the paint ).

Since you're obsessed about swirl removal, do yourself a big favour and make sure that all your supplies (TOWELS, applicators, etc) are safe to use, and that your washing/drying techniques are okay too. You want to keep those swirls gone. Good luck!

woreyah

I know the dealer is probably not the best detailer. They had a red 350Z on the lot and on a sunny day today you could see how they just butchered the paint. It was terrible.

But I read you loud and clear endus, no offense taken. I'll keep tryin' and do some research.

Dave Holmes

woreyah,
Check out the forums at www.autopia.org, www.detailcity.com, and www.showcargarage.com. All, along with this forum, have more info than you would probably want on detailing.

endus is right about Meg's DACP (aka #83). It is an absolutely amazing product, but it needs to be WORKED. Used properly (with a PC and a cutting pad), it WILL remove swirls, not just hide them. It will also remove oxidation and water spots. My '97 SE is living proof. Like endus said, the trick is to work the product until dry (powdery), using moderate pressure, high PC speed (5-6), and slow movement. Work a small area at a time (~2'x2"). Also, only use enough product on the pad to work the area you are focusing on. Too much product is a waste, is hard to buff off, and won't allow the diminishing abrasives to break down properly. Too little, and you won't get the job done. I use about a 1/2 inch stripe on the pad at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock. You'll learn the right amount after the first panel. Also, really bad areas may need going over more than once.

If you want, you can follow the DACP with Meg's #9 (or comparable SMR/polish). Personally, on my arctic pearl white, I used DACP (#83) to get rid of my main swirls, oxidation, and water spots. Now my routine is #9 SMR (polish and minor washing induced swirls), #3 Machine Glaze (for the ultimate "wet" look), Gold Class Wax and topped with #26 Hi Tech Yellow wax. This routine gives me an amazing deep, reflective, shimmering "pop" even on white. Other people will have different preferences, but find what you like based on your needs/desires.
For Meguiars Mirror Glaze line (#3, #9, #26, #83, etc...), you can use the dealer locator on www.meguiars.com. You can also get a free paint Rx on that site that takes in to account your desired results along with your local environmental concerns.

Like Bman said, only use quality toweling (be it microfiber or 100% made in America cotton terry, both of which I use). Perfect your washing/drying technique so you don't add paint defects. Check out the "learn" icon on autopia.org.

Good luck, and enjoy your PC! Be warned though, once you see the results you can get with the PC and proper products/pads, it may become addictive.

Dave

woreyah

Thanks for the info guys,

DoGGy

what excatly do u guys mean by swirl marks? little circle things on the car that look like cracks?

Bman

Yep. They look like hundreds of tiny, tiny scratches that you can only see when you bounce a bright light source (sun, street lamps, etc) off of them. The more "intense" the individual lines are, the deeper the swirls and the more work they'll be to remove.

Usually caused by improper washing/drying techniques/materials, touching the car when dirty, or even just "normal" accidental wear and tear.

PrinzII

iTrader: (2)

Can we say ?

That is a case of a dealer/salesperson not knowing his a$$ from a hole in the ground. Another thing is that car salespeople will try different tactics to push their paint protection packages. Bear in mind, most of those packages cost 10 to 40 times the cost of Klasse AIO and SG combined. In addition, if the cars came that way from teh factory, why would they take the trouble to protect the paint by wrapping the areas that are prone to chipping in plastic?

Point blank, the person who detailed the cars for that dealership used something that was too aggressive and induced swirls on the finish. Nine times out of ten, they will either use a very aggressive polish, pad, have someone inexperienced with a rotary, or a combination of all of these. In addition, some dealerships use machines that have the rotating brushes (known swirl inducers) or the detailer doesn't thoroughly clean the washing medium before going to the next car. That's why I stated in the New Car Prep thread to NEVER let the dealer detail your new car.

But back to the issue at hand. Everyone is on point with their advice.