Hi Guys,
Since the day I got my G, i've seen swirls in the paint, and I would love to get them out. I would rather not go the Zaino route. What have you guys used on black cars that works well and gets the swirls out? My car looks good from a small distance but once you get close to it under the sun, the swirls are noticable.

What kind of wax should I get?

Thanks.

 

You're going to hate me for asking, but why no Zaino? People seem pretty uniformly pleased with it.

In the past I've used this:

http://www.autogeek.net/mo8616.html

...and it worked pretty well, but it wasn't on a G, so I can't vouch for it on G paint. I use Zaino now so that's all I can really comment on re: the G.

 

As mentioned before in this forum, NO wax (I don't care what brand --- Zaino, Meguiar's, Mother's, Pinnacle, and so on) will get rid of swirls.

Waxes and polishes will fill them and make it look good, but won't get rid of them. If you want to get rid of them, you need to use products designed to get rid of them. This usually involves a buffer or dual action polisher.

Educate yourself... Look on www.Autopia.org or www.meguiarsonline.com

Both sites have TONS of info on maintaining your paint.

 

One guy said that klasse all-in-one (polish & wax) worked real great on his black G after trying just about everything. Others swear by Zaino.
I'm still confused on which to get, but I do need to get a good wash/wax to detail my car. I've been getting lots of water marks on it, and it won't rub off. NOt even on the windshields.

 

yes klasse AIO has mild polishing action that can remove really light marring. depending on what pad you're using. zaino i don't use anymore because i've found products that work just as well and take alot less time. the Menzerna product line i'm a big fan of. Using the Final Polish 2 (FP2) i was able to remove alot of micromarring/spiderwebbing from the black finish on a 99 honda accord. It doesn't have any fillers in it. They have a stronger polish Intensive Polish that you would follow with FP2. I've only started using the FMJ (full metal jacket) and klasse AIO but each coat only took about 30-45 min and no cure time unlike Zaino where you wait 30min between coats. And it's really easy on/easy off. I'll be redoing my detail on the accord soon as well as a 99 ford ranger (red) and possibly a 03 civic si. man... why am i doing all this? i guess i'm just a sucker haha.

 

If you really do care about your car, then I dont see why you want to avoid Zaino. Thats plain dumb. Thats like me saying I want to lose 10lbs in 1 week but I want to keep eating crap.

 

[QUOTE=shoebox4]One guy said that klasse all-in-one (polish & wax) worked real great on his black G after trying just about everything. Others swear by Zaino.QUOTE]
I've had great success with the Klasse twins (AIO and SG) on my TWB sedan; however, these products will not remove swirls. In fact, they will actually highlight them.

Before using the twins, you will need to use a polish that will remove the swirls, not hide (read: fill) them. This is important, because AIO's cleaning properties will strip away any filler left behind by a polish. I've had good luck using 3M Perfect-It III Machine Glaze (http://www.handsontools.com/store/sh...roduct_id=3825) before applying the twins.

It's a little expensive, but it works great. Good luck, and checkout autopia (http://autopia.org/forum/index.php?), as someone stated earlier.

 

Player i'm in the same position as you...i have a black G and since delivery i've had the exclusive dealer installed "swirl" package..I've used Scratch X (by hand) and Meguiars gold Class wax and gotten ok results but sure enough they're still there after a couple washes....I've decided to consider Zaino b/c it's relatively cheap buying two of it's products for about $25-$30 and can do it by hand...Whereas i can buy a Porter Cable for about $100 polishing and waxing pads $30-$40 and then Glaze $14 and then use current Gold Class wax $10.....I'm sure you can do the math....now with saying all that i think we know which is cheaper....Now from what i've read on the boards wax also lasts dependent on weather....For example i'm in Texas so it's HOT! i waxed my car with 2 coats about a month ago and a week later i heard the familiar squeek the car makes when i was drying indicating it's time to wax again...I agree with the comment on filling up the swirls.....i would look into how much you're willing to spend to "fill" in the swirls

Sorry for the long post

 

The wax or final product you use is very important. Regular waxes just won't hold up in the hot temperatures so you should use a synthetic. The Menzerna FMJ and also the Blackfire products work well in high temperatures.

 

I'll tell you this.......I resisted trying Zaino for the past 20 years cause I didn't think it was worth it.

I now am a Zaino convert!

The stuff is amazing! I just tried the newest product, the PC Fusion Swirl remover.....and I was astounded.

I bought my car used with 5K miles on it and was paying for the sins of the previous owner. Big time swirls and light scratches.

It worked miracles on my black car when topped with the Z2 polish.


I'll prob never use anything else.

 

I don't know what could be easier than Zaino. You don't need a machine to apply it, wipes right off and does not leave any residue on your trim. When my black sedan starts showing swirls a coat of Z5 and a couple coats of Z2 and they disappear. Yes they come back but the alternative is to polish them out then start the process of swirling all over again. Because of the results from Zaino it will be a long time before I resort to a polish.

I use a synthetic for its protection properties. Zaino shine is a bonus as is ease of application. I've used Blackfire which is not easier than Zaino nor does it produce as good a shine. A professional detailer I've used likes 3M products. There are many products that fit the bill when used regularly.

I can go a couple months or more and have protection from an afternoon of applying a few coats of Zaino. For me, the time invested up front pays off with less care down the road.

 

About every year I go through the routine of removing the swirls that the dealer puts in from those "free" car washes.

I'll try to illustrate with some pics. I recommend getting a dual action polisher from your local auto parts supply. Then get two foam bonnets from http://diycleaning.com/bonnet.html, a white one and yellow one.

Using the yellow bonnet (light cut), you can use some 3M rubbing compound (the stuff you find at Walmart). This gets rid of most of those light scratches.

Then switch to the white bonnet and finish if off with 3M #39009 Perfect-it Swirl Remover for dark color cars to get rid of the swirls that the rubbing compound sometime leaves behind. You can get that at http://www.autosupermart.com/store/shop/3m39009.html. The 3M Perfect-it is key to success.

Below are some pics where I try to illustrate before and after. I took it at an angle where you can see the swirl in the paint. I washed (you can see the dried water stains from where I opened the trunk), then did the routine outlined above. I then took a picture at the same angle trying to show the swirl, but as you can see there is none.

At this point you can use whatever polish or wax you want to protect the finish. Personally, I use Zaino.

 

I'm not going to enter into a debate about Zaino because I'm not very familiar with it. There are two different sets of products that I use that help fix this can help reduce swirls and scratches.
Poorboy's World SSR 2.5 and 1.0 does a great job of reducing the appearance of swirls and scratches and brightens the paint amazingly.
Menzerna has a similar combination of products that do the just about the same thing. Menzerna's Intensive Polish and Final Polish II have a strong following and great results.

One of the best products on the market that hides swirls and scratches is Menzerna's Finishing Touch Glaze (FTG). This product really gives the appearance of no swirls without the use of rotary buffer and multiple coats of polish. It's a great follow up step to coat(s) of polish as well that can really distinguish a car.

If you want to see some of the dramatic results of the poorboy's 2.5 and 1 look at the before and after pictures I took of this Mercedes. I think she was using a diamond tiped snow brush or something like that. It's the last two pictures on this link Detailed Image clients

 

I've been very happy with my Zymol.

 

Thought I'd kick in on this.. I'm new to the forum because I just bought an 05 G35 to replace my BMW 3 series. German cars have soft(er) clear coats and are more prone to swirl marks and spider webbing. Point being, that after owning a black BMW for 6 years, I've tried about everything to get rid of swirl marks. Here are 2 Pennies:

Filling them:
If your swirls are real shallow, you can fill them with Zaino or any other wax filler. This will be a temporary fix, and they will eventually re-appear. I once spent an entire Saturday layering a filler product over swirl marks on my hood. It looked great for about 5 days before all of the wax melted away in the DC sun.

Buffing them out:
As opposed to filing, you can polish them out with a buffer and a cutting product. I would suggest 3M Swirl Mark Remover or Meguires and The Porter Cable 7336 Random Orbitol Buffer.

Cut and Buff:
If they are deep enough that you can feel them when you run our fingers across the paint, you may have to wetsand them out and then buff out the paint. Personally, I wouldn't attempt this because you can sand right through the clear coat and leave the paint with no UV protection. If they are this bad, I would take it to a professional.


Check out this guys test of Zaino Fusion on a scratched up hood - http://forums.roadfly.com/forums/det...6795142-1.html

Also, here is a great write-up on the Proter Cable Buffer: http://forums.roadfly.com/forums/det...1430487&page=1

BTW, ZAINO ROCKS!!!!