hey, i just zanio-ed the G, came out great, but i did notice i have swirls...alot. I think they just show more now that the car is nice and shiny, but what is the best products/way to get rid of them?!?

 

Depends on how much work you want to do. If you just want to hide them there are a lot of fillers, like Z5, that will hide them until they break down.

If you want to try to get rid of them by hand get some good applicators and buffing mf towels and a tube of Meg's ScratchX then get ready for a lot of work.

If you want to try to get rid of them with a porter cable there are tons of products that will do it, but you'll need to do some reading and it requires some financial investment (a pc is ~$100, pads are $10-$12 a peice, then the product).

http://autopia-carcare.com/horeswmawasp.html

 

Thanks alot picus112, im def. gonna invest in PC and some products....gotta keep that G swirl free!!

 

Hey 1Blue,

I would love to see some pictures because I have the same issues... I have babied the crap out of my car with Zaino, but for some reason the swirl marks are starting to show and I hate it! Let me know what worked best for you!

thanks,

BADG35

 

I am going to post some before/after pics later this week so check back here, but like i said after i did the zaino the swirls became more noticeable....

 

Swirls become more noticable after Zaino because it's optically perfect. It enhances swirls, which is why you need a good surface to apply it to.

So you're going to get a PC? Nice, they are totally worth it. Here is what I did to get the swirls out of my car. As an fyi my car was bought used and had some moderate swirls, moderate spider webbing, and a few good scratches. Odds are it was in worse shape than your car by the sounds of it. Like you they were all more noticable after Zaino so I went and got a PC and did the following.

1) Wash with dawn using a good sheepskin mitt and two buckets, one for wash one more rise. Also I followed the mitt when washing with the hose and rinsed as I washed. I ran low pressure high volume water on the car to help sheet the water off. I didn't dry.

2) Clay with Z7 spray as lubricant.

3) Wash with Z7, same as above but this time I dried the car really well.

4) Start polishing with PC and poorboys SSR2.5 (medium compound, so medium on the abrasive scale). I basically used the method most sites recommend. Put a small amount of product on the yellow cutting pad, rub it into the surface of the car with the PC off. Start the PC on low speed (3.5-4) and work the product in left to right in overlapping motions. I turned the PC up to 5 then went up and down, overlapping again. Turned the PC to 6 and made final passes, at this point the product was almost totally gone. I wiped off with a good mf towel. I had some hazing at this point so I went over it again with SSR2.5 and this time it left a little haze but no swirls, spiderwebs, or scratches (you might only need to do SSR2, so try something like that first.). I did the whole car then went over the whole can again (same technique) with SSR2, then SSR1. After SSR2 the paint looked awesome, no haze, no swirls, no spiderwebs - so SSR1 was just for effect.

5) Spray with an IPA:water mix (isopropolyene alcohol, rubbing alcohol 50:50 with water), this removed any unbuffed polish. If you leave unbuffed polish on you will get holograms.

6) Start Zaino'ing. I used ZFX+Z2pro, 2 coats. The car looked insanely good. You could follow the polish with any sealant or carnuba, but you have Zaino so you might as well use it.

It sounds like your swirls are pretty light, so go with a light abrasive and maybe an orange pad then if that doesn't worth try a yellow pad, then a tougher abrasive. Poorboys SSR2, Sonus SFX2, Meg's DACP, Optimum Polish, Zaino Fusion, any of those should work.

There is a ton more info over at www.autopia-carcare.com, and their forums are the best ever for paint care.

http://www.autopia-carcare.com/inf-pc7424.html

 

wow great info. picus112.....but lets say i already zanio-ed...now do i have to re-do everything (the dawn wash, zfx??) or can i just use a PC and a swirl remover, then polish???

 

You could. Thing is Zaino is a sealant, so it's meant to seal and protect the surface of your car and could theoretically interfere with the application of the abrasive polish. One of the reasons I was so meticulous is that SSR2.5 is a little finicky on sealed/waxed surfaces. The PC + compound will remove the Zaino so, but I like starting from a fresh surface. If you're short on time odds are if you just go over it with a PC it won't make any difference. I'm just kind of **** , especially since when I did my car the first time I was specifically PC'ing to remove damage to the clearcoat, not just to make it look nice.

In your case I might try just washing, then polishing with some SSR2 or similar - A light to medium abrasive, since it sounds like your swirls aren't that bad. When you've finished an entire panel take it out in the sun and see if you've removed the swirls, and more importantly, if you're seeing holograms or buffer swirls. If so you will likely need to remove the Zaino. If it looks great, awesome. If you haven't quite removed the swirls try a yellow pad and go from there.

Since I removed the swirls my regime has been to z7 to remove lose dirt and dust, polish with pc + SSR1, seal with a coat of z2, so I'm polishing right over the clean layer of Z2. SSR1 isn't an abrasive though, so it isn't really removing the Zaino like SSR 2.5 would.

 

Well, i just finished removing the swirls on my moms car and oh man was that time comsuming. The only good way to get rid of swirls i think is with a porter cable. I washed the car with dawn, clayed, , washed, ssr2.5 with yellow pad, ssr2.5 with green pad and ssr1 with blue pad. After that i rinsed the car again and then put a layer of NXT. There you have it, a competely swirl free car. I still have to post my before and after pics on autopia. THey are really informative over there for car detailing. This was the first car ive attempted to do this too. Its alot of work, but the results are awesome

 

Thanx for all the info. guys...hopefully ill get this done before the meet!

 

gotta get you a buffer (speed buffer but make sure that you know what you are doing) and some Menzernas intensive polish. After going over it with the speed buffer, use an orbital buffer to finish it up to remove any hot spots left by the speed buffer. Then apply a few coats of wax with the buffer.

The key to buffing with the Intensive polish is to buff (w/ the orbital)until the polish almost disappears, otherwise you will replace the swirls with more swirls removing the excess by hand.