swirl marks

WZ JUNK · February 11, 2007, 08:48:05 PM

We had the roadster at an indoor show this weekend. The lighting at the show brought out swirl marks in the paint. These were not noticeable in my shop before hand but they really come out with the lights at the show. After we got home this evening I tried different products that I have here but nothing seemed to take them out. Does anyone know of a product that works better than others to remove these very small scratches?

John

Dave · February 11, 2007, 08:56:36 PM

its been years since i got excited bout swirl marks.. if you have a paint store local contact them as they will have sumpin to get rid of em.. I only use maquires polish and liquid carnuba wax and i havent had any..
dave

tom36 · February 11, 2007, 09:36:13 PM

You can go to autobodystore.com and do a search.They get into discusions about this regularly. The long and short of it as I understand it is that many rubbing compounds have oils that fill in the swirls but dry out or wash off and then swirls are there again. Here is a link to their site showing a swirl removal proceedure, http://www.autobodystore.com/swirl_removal.htm
Tom...

Carnut · February 11, 2007, 10:31:22 PM

Humm, probably shouldn't be answering this one, but I've never power polished a paint job, kinda don't believe in them for a car show shine.

For the past 40yrs or so, all I've ever used is Mequiars Mirror Glaze Show Car Glaze #7 on my rides. Always hand applied and rubbed.

Have never used wax on any of my show cars, just Mirror Glaze them before each show and that's been on mostly black cars.

Heck, it sure keeps the original Henry Ford Factory Black paint on my 40 Ford looking good, course it does cut the paint a bit and my 40 is showing some of that ole patina stuff.

I know this don't exactly answer the question, but I've never had swirl marks to worry about.

Then there's this friend who has a polished Cessna 195 that says all he ever uses is corn starch to polish it with and it's a reflection hazard.

Oh, if that was the Joplin show this weekend, then hopefully I have some pics of your car coming my way. Sposed to have a photog there this weekend.

WZ JUNK · February 12, 2007, 06:39:11 AM

Quote from: "tom36"You can go to autobodystore.com and do a search.They get into discusions about this regularly. The long and short of it as I understand it is that many rubbing compounds have oils that fill in the swirls but dry out or wash off and then swirls are there again. Here is a link to their site showing a swirl removal proceedure, http://www.autobodystore.com/swirl_removal.htm
Tom...

Very good article. Thanks. That is basically what I am going to do today.

John

BFS57 · February 12, 2007, 09:36:15 AM

Hello;
The best thing I found to take out swirl marks as well as spiderweb (caused by using dirty towls) is 3-M Finesse It! (By Hand!)
My 2 cents!

Bruce

WZ JUNK · February 12, 2007, 12:42:48 PM

I have tried a variety of product and polishing machines that I have here in the shop. The best combination so far is a foam pad with Meguirs #1 to get the deep scratches followed by 3M Finesse with a foam pad on a DA. As a side note I found that a terry towel actually put swirls back into the finish. I bought some soft polishing cloths at the Dollar Store and these do not swirl mark.

Thanks again.

John

BFS57 · February 12, 2007, 02:44:08 PM

Hello, Again;
You need to have some microfibre towls and when you are finished with a new one, either throw it away, or use it for something else other than waxing or finishing a car paint job!!!
Costco sells these in a giant bundle for around $10.
Don't use terry cloth, it may feel soft but it's like using a scuff pad to wipe your paint!!

Bruce

Dave · February 12, 2007, 05:01:42 PM

Quote from: "WZ JUNK"I have tried a variety of product and polishing machines that I have here in the shop. The best combination so far is a foam pad with Meguirs #1 to get the deep scratches followed by 3M Finesse with a foam pad on a DA. As a side note I found that a terry towel actually put swirls back into the finish. I bought some soft polishing cloths at the Dollar Store and these do not swirl mark.

Thanks again.

John

My coupe was done with meguirs polish after wet sanding and dry sanding with sumpin like 4000 grit on a da??? I didnt look at the number of the polish when i was in the garage earlier but ill look tomorrow. I used the same stuff when i did the purple 34. Remember i didnt do the 32.. Both of them were followed up by meguirs liquid carnuba and a wool pad on the 34 and a foam pad on the 32. The year we finished it it went straight to here to finish the interior then the painter came by the weekend before autorama and did a little touchup and polished the whole car again and off we went. I didnt notice anything at detroit and got a bunch of compliments on the paint.
Dave

jakesbackyard · February 14, 2007, 03:28:30 PM

Check this out from 3M. We use the entire system in our Auto Body classes with great results.

Go to the video on "full panel". About half way through they get into the buffing/polishing part. The whole system works well. 3M also makes a white foam pad for the compounding process if wool scares you.

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/3MAutomotive/Aftermarket/Solutions/Paint_Dept/Paint-Finish-Clean-Deliver/

WZ JUNK · February 14, 2007, 06:54:03 PM

I have tried a lot of stuff and the finish is better.

Here is what I think has happened. I had the car painted while I was at Bonneville. The shop does good work but they do a lot of insurance stuff and they are fast. I think they painted the roadster one day and then sanded and buffed the next. I think the clear was soft and east to sand and buff but it was also easy to deep scratch when they buffed. Now the paint is hard and it is difficult to get those deeper scratches out. I think I can sand it and then rebuff and polish to fix it. I doubt that I go to the trouble. When the car is outside or even in my shop you have to look real close and get the reflection on something curved to see the very fine scratches. I only noticed the swirls last weekend when it was at a show under some very unusual lights.

John