Ok, so I have had my car for a week and of course it came with the dealer-made swirl marks...but they only seem to get worse. I have clayed the car, polished and sealed it with Blackfire. However, under flourescent and sun light the swirl marks show up. I am not sure what I am going to have to do. I think I am going to go back to Mothers products. I am also afraid to buy a random orbit buffer cause I am scared that I am going to screw the paint up more. So here is what I was going to do:

Mothers Pre Wax by hand
Mothers Sealer/Glaze by hand
Meguiers NXT Wax by hand
Mothers Carnuba Wax by hand.

Dose anyone think this will get rid of my swirl mark problem??

 

Upi really can't screw anything up with a simple random orbital. I've been using one for 6 years on all my cars, including a black Maxima and now my black G35. When I got my G35, I made the mistake of buying it in the late afternoon on a mostly cloudy day. After few days of ownership, I saw the truth in the paint, it looked as if the previous owner had dried the thing off with sand paper

I went to work on the car:

1) Clay bar
2) Paint cleaner
3) Meg. ScratchX on heavily scratched/swirled surfaces
4) Meg. Polish
5) Meg. No. 26 Carnuba yellow wax

Steps 2-5 were applied by hand and removed with the buffer. It's amazing how much better the car looks. The buffer will remove most of the swirls.

The cleaner removes the old wax and swirls. The polish adds depth and shine. The wax protects.

 

But you are saying that I should be able to remove the majority of my swirl marks by hand?? Oh, and the other reason I don't want to use a buffer is becuase I don't have one.

 

Those swirls are not going to come off easily with scratch x or polish. Scratch x will break down as you work it in but it will never have a small enough grit to completly take out the swirls and polish is going to be very hard to work with evenly across the whole area of the car by hand (or with a porter cable buffer). You should half your losses and pretend the swirls aren't there (a good sealer/glaze will fill them in), just make sure when you travel anything across the surface of your paint to move with the flow of wind over the car. You will always put scratches in whatever you do - it is just that the small eliptical scratches from swirls show up in direct sunlight.

If you really want to take out *all* the swirls (and it will also get rid of the orange peel look that most paint jobs have) you have to wet sand, but I don't know anyone with the ***** to wet sand a new car.

I just got my 6mt two fridays ago and it has some minor swirls but I am going to live with them. If you use a good sealent like Klass All in One sealent glaze it will fill the swirls for a couple of months - long enough to satisfy me and I am fanatical about my paint.

 

i disagree with this. i recondition vehicles as part of my work and you are able to remove swirls with the proper buffer (be it a Porter Cable or rotary) or by hand. No need to wet sand. That takes off WAY too much material and lessens the depth in some cases.

You should definitely try it with Scratch X. It is able to remove minor spider webbing (no really swirls... swirls i consider to be inflicted from rotaries). In most cases that's what most of you guys have... small light marring in the clear coat caused from dust/driving/etc. If you need something more aggressive step it up to a medium polish like Menzerna's Intensive Polish or even Power Gloss. I use exclusively Menzerna products in my business as I've found it to be the easiest to use (although pricier) but it saves you time in that it leaves a flawless finish that you can go straight to a sealant/wax even on black paint i usually don't need to go to a second step polish.

In polishing, all you really want to do is remove the sharp edges of the micro-marring... burnishing the paint, so that it doesn't catch the lighting as well. Just smooth them over. And that's what these polishes will do. Good luck.

 

On Meguiers Scratch-X: I use Scratch X myself and although it is good in some applications, it breaks down so fast that I find it ineffective after 10 seconds of use. I like to use 3m Perfect it II and then use Scratch X around the edges where I used it to "level" the area that I'm working on. I find no better use for Scratch X. Bottom line, I think that a product that changes as you use it is too unpredictable for delicate work on car paint. I mean, do you rub with the same pressure the whole time or come on hard at the end to make up for the loss of effectiveness? Or do you just use tons of product (that's what Meguires wants everyone to do) and end up working old product onto paint you can't see?

FrizzleFry: If you have a Porter Cable then yes you can theoretically take all of the swirls out of a car, but if he just got his car he can't have enough swirls to justify that investment in time and money. Not to mention taking a PC to your brand new G for practice makes my bunghole tighten. Also, I'm not saying that your not removing every swirl but I'm sure you're sealing then waxing before you finish and that will act to hide any small surface scratches that are left behind. They will return in a few months. OR he should PM you and have his swirls removed professionally

Bananamo: You are making a mistake with the Mothers Sealer/glaze and the NXT wax. The NXT wax is a cleaner wax so it doesn't layer well with other products (it is still up for debate wether or not it will layer over itself) - it will take off the Mother's Sealer even if you let it set in your garage overnight. I would either put that Mother's carnuba directly over the Mother's Sealer OR you could skip the Sealer and just go straight to the NXT. When you finish those bottles, try some Klasse All in One Paint Cleaner and Klasse All in One Sealer Glaze and some P21s carnuba wax and you will never look back. With a machine or by hand those are bar none the best products. For more information about detailing join autopia.org and search the forums. The lingo for Klasse is "AIO" or "the klasse twins"

 

i totally understand what you're saying don't know about my bunghole tightening... haha. but yeah. definitely not something you want to do. as for menzerna... no fillers in these products. i hate glazes or products with fillers... but definitely as a daily driver, using products with fillers is alot easier. as for scratchX using self reducing polish, it's for safety. and leaves a glossier finish. i've seen some pretty amazing work from scratch X alone... which is why i recommend it. and definitely safer to use than more aggressive products.

yeah if anyone wants a full on detail... fly me out. pay my way. + hourly fee and i am there! haha.

 

Ok, I have given this a lot more though over the day and while watching my Jets get there *** kicked. I am definately not getting a PC and even if I had one, I don't think I would use it for this. The spider-webbing is so slight, that you can't feel it. I am just not sure which way I want to combat this issue. I h ave always used Mothers products with pretty good results, and since I still have them available, I am pretty sure that is what I am going to use. Now I also have Meguiers NXT liquid sealant and I am going to pick up EagleOne's Nano Wax.

So, do you think it is wise to use Mothers PreWax cleaner, then the NanoWax, and then the NXT Sealant?? Not sure what combination to use.

 

It's very hard to damage paint with a PC - I've tried. I think the only way to really do it would be to throw the PC at the car. Anyway, I personally think a PC is the best investment one can make regarding their car. $109 at Lowes and odds are it will last 20 years. Get out early one morning, wash, clay, polish with an appropriately aggressive polish and pad, follow with a less aggressive polish and pad, seal, wax, beautiful. Just check out autopia and read up about how to use the PC first. You'll have those swirls out in no time.

Just as an fyi, I have a black G35 and did a ton of work on it after I bought it, removed most of the swirls and scratches, but since it's a daily driver I do use a glaze with a filler (clearkote rmg), which adds a lot of depth to the black also. It's just not feasible to polish dark cars as often as they need it, so a filler is usually a good way to go in the interim.

Edit - just saw your post. Try ScratchX by hand on the afflicted areas then follow up with a by hand glaze (like rmg), sealant, and wax. Just my 0.02 cents.

 

So you are basically saying that I am going to have to live with some swirl marks over the time that I have this car. That I understand and am totally cool with. Cars were meant to be driven, not rubbed witha diaper. I think I am going to try a few different waxes/cleaners/swirl removers on different parts of the car and see which ones work best. I think that is the only way to truly works best in my situation. Thanks everyone for the help.

 

ill post a link for u later...

 

Ya, a black daily driver is very difficult to keep flaw free. The best you can do is wash it very carefully, preferably with a spray wand, alternatively using the two bucket method, a good mitt (or more than one) and good drying towels, then hand polish or glaze, seal or wax it very carefully. When you notice a light scratch, get it out asap with the ScratchX - the swirls themselves will get worse over time, but if you keep it glazed and are careful it should look good for years. Besides, if you feel like it in a year or two just take it to a pro detailer and they will polish out the swirls for you.

 

Amen for having a 3 year lease....well, that and I will never have another Black car. I am just to fanatical!! HAHA

 

My car has swirls along one side thanks to a dealer wash within a week of purchase. When I bought it, it was pristine; when I brought it back to have some rattles listened to, they washed it and put swirls (visible under sodium lights, at sunset, etc) in the paint along one side. I called, and they brought the car back in and buffed the exterior for me with no questions asked (other than "when's a good time?" ). You might try that?

~ Mike

 

A PC isn't totally necessary unless you're a total fanatic about your paint. I use a standard a $20 random orbital and get plenty of shine and depth. These pictures were taken 2 months after my car's only clay/ScratchX/polish/wax job. I'm no expert photographer, but it's pretty clear by the reflections in the paint, just a little TLC goes a long way on a 3 year old paint job that sees extreme summer heat and salty winters.