[MR-02]

Would carpro reload or similar products be able to change reflection enough to hide swirl marks?

[KirkH]

No, but a glaze will fill some swirls and hide some. The negative is that the glaze will only last a couple of weeks.

Chemical Guys Glossworkz glaze is the best I have tried.

[rorymick]

Consider carpro essence. Apparently has resin semi permanent fillers in it as well as all the other polish and silica goodies in it.

[Glen e]

For me, essence really doesn't get out the swirls without many, many passes....It's just too fine a finishing polish. I would probably try something a little bit more substantial like Megguires ultimate compound, and then do the essence… then the cquartz or reload.

[MR-02]

thanks man I'll give that a try when the weather finally warms up up here

[rorymick]

Glen is on the right track I'd say. Not sure why I got on the thought of hiding swirl marks? How about removing them... polishing them out?

I've tried the chemical guys line and Sonax perfect finish. Wouldn't bother with chemical guys stuff when there's some really great polishes out there.

I've never used Carpro essence but come spring I'm strongly considering it for my final polish before CQUK. Or at least see if it plays nicely with my paint. Sonax perfect finish is well... perfect for my soft black paint.

[Joe M 2012 2SS]

Originally Posted by MR-02

Would carpro reload or similar products be able to change reflection enough to hide swirl marks?

Reload is a silica based sealant designed to protect your paint against etching from hard water, bird droppings, bug guts, and the other stuff that gets on your car's paint.

Many different waxes contain fillers which will somewhat hide swirls, but as soon as the wax wears off, the swirls reappear.

Glazes will also fill them, but again, the swirls reappear after it wears off.

The best solution is to remove the swirls, using a compound, and then a finishing polish or AIO product to bring the clear coat to a high gloss.



Now that you have removed the swirls from your paint and polished it to a high gloss, the most important thing now is how you wash the car. Swirls are caused by improper washing and drying. When you wash/dry it, you should always think "wipe gently", never think scrub, or use pressure. Doing this will only put the swirls right back in your paint that you spent hours to remove.

Rinseless washes are fine for a lightly soiled vehicle, but if your car is daily driven, and gets fairly dirty between washes, this is your best procedure to avoid swirling up your paint again.

I compounded and polished my car about 4 years ago. I still once a year use finishing polish to remove very light wash marring that I get, but haven't had to use compound again.

[MR-02]

Hey Joe M thanks for the info....
I'm avoiding a using a machine rotary type tool (I'm assuming thats what your advice is referring to?) because a detailing shop is guilty of putting the swirls there in the first place. I bought the car used, got it detailed, a month after their waxes wore off, swirls appeared! They cut the clear too much! They argue the swirls were already there - I know they were not - long story. I'm trying to find the best way to fix it myself. Can all that info in your advice be done by hand?

[Glen e]

You are confusing a rotary with a (dual action) random orbital ......a random orbital will not hurt your paint, it's virtually impossible with a foam pad to do any damage and it will correct swirls. A rotary should get nowhere near a new car, Unless it's in the shop for bodywork. It's virtually impossible to remove swirls by hand.

Read this to get info on orbitals:

https://www.autogeek.net/dual-action-polisher.html

[SSport16]

Try using Carpro Clearcut, it is a compund that will get scratches and swirls out.

[KirkH]

Originally Posted by MR-02

Hey Joe M thanks for the info....
I'm avoiding a using a machine rotary type tool (I'm assuming thats what your advice is referring to?) because a detailing shop is guilty of putting the swirls there in the first place. I bought the car used, got it detailed, a month after their waxes wore off, swirls appeared! They cut the clear too much! They argue the swirls were already there - I know they were not - long story. I'm trying to find the best way to fix it myself. Can all that info in your advice be done by hand?

Ugh I hate "detailers" who put glaze/waxes on vehicles. They are supposed to REMOVE swirls not hide/create them!

However, I think what you are referring to are "holograms."

These occur when a detailer who is not up on the latest techniques, and is still a using rotary buffer with a compound instead of a dual action polisher, for speed. They skip the required step of dual action polishing with a polishing pad and polish
to remove the holograms.

Saying that the paint defects were already there is not legit. A legit detailer will point those out BEFORE the job and tell you how he is going to fix them.

That being said, a DA polisher, white pad and an All in One polish will likely disappear those holograms. You can check out videos on YouTube by Mike Phillips at Autogeek. He is the master.

[KirkH]

Originally Posted by Glen e

A rotary should get nowhere near a new car, Unless it's in the shop for bodywork.

Unless you are a professional and know what you are doing. Then a rotary is a great tool for fast correction. But you must always follow with a DA and a polish or you will leave holograms.

[Joe M 2012 2SS]

Originally Posted by MR-02

Hey Joe M thanks for the info....
I'm avoiding a using a machine rotary type tool (I'm assuming thats what your advice is referring to?) because a detailing shop is guilty of putting the swirls there in the first place. I bought the car used, got it detailed, a month after their waxes wore off, swirls appeared! They cut the clear too much! They argue the swirls were already there - I know they were not - long story. I'm trying to find the best way to fix it myself. Can all that info in your advice be done by hand?

You evidently didn't watch the video explaining the differences in machine polishers.

This video will also explain why the swirls appeared after the wax wore off.

The only way to remove swirls is by machine polishing, watch the video and then you will understand.

Even more important is the other video on swirl prevention by using proper wash/dry technique. No sense in removing swirls if your going to put them right back in.

Every modern factory GM car has 3 layers of paint on it, primer, base (color), and clear coat.

What you polish is the clear coat only. Most modern cars have about 120-200 microns of total paint on them. The amount of clear coat varies, but is usually from 40-80 microns of paint. Camaro's tend to be on the higher amount, but can vary.

While this isn't very much paint, modern paints are much harder than they used to be. Your swirls are usually 2-3 microns deep in the clear coat. Most cars will have some RIDS (random isolated deeper scratches) which will vary from car to car. Depending on how deep they are, another pass with compound may remove them, or they may need wet sanding to remove.

Unless your car is a "show car" that is only taken to shows and never driven, you just live with a few RIDS, thinning out the clear coat excessively on a daily driven car is a bad idea. Thin paint will fail in direct sunlight eventually.

I suppose you could compound out swirls by hand, but it would take tens if not hundreds of hours to do a car.

My car was swirled very badly when I bought it used. I got 3K off Kelly Blue book because of it. It took me 30 hours of work with a Griots Garage 6" polisher. I used Megs D300 compound and Carpro Reflect finishing polish. I doubt your paint looks as bad as mine did.

Before and after.....since doing this 4 years ago, following the proper wash/dry technique shown in the video, I haven't had to compound again. Only use finishing polish once a year for very light wash marring.

[MR-02]

Thanks Joe M, thats motivating info---I'm stuck waiting on warmer weather...I'll post photos when I get started