Swirl city

[first one]

I just bought a PC2474xl and all the goodies that go with it from Adam's to fix the swirl marks I have all over my car. I'm almost done with the polishing and it's looking fantastic. Stripped the car with all-purpose cleaner and shampoo, clayed, swirl and haze remover, fine machine polish, brilliant glaze and Americana wax - all from Adam's.

My question is, how did I get so many swirls. I use clean never dropped adam's car wash pad, two bucket with grit guard, lots of lubricating shampoo(never scrub just light passes) leaf blower and waffle towel. I am very careful about everything, but I do wash often.

One clue I found was lots of swirls on either side of my license plate. Not necessarily more than the rest of the car it just seems to be a strange place for them. I have waxed on top of wax several times without stripping or claying which you do apply lots of pressure when waxing on or waxing off. Could someone verify if this might be the cause of my swirls.

I'm just about to catch the detail bug, I just need I little help.

[camaro2ssblack]

Couple things:

1) Are you using a foam gun? IMO it is almost a must for a black car.
2) Are you using 2 wash pads, one for the upper half and one for lower?
3) What are you doing between washes for dust, etc?

As far as the waxing, as long as your car is spotless and your applicator is completely dirt free, you should be good on that part.

Black is a Bytch! It will never stay perfect, even after just a few washes.

The reason for the swirls on the back of the car is because of the dust vortex that constantly covers that area after you drive. The most dirty parts of the car will typically be the place where swirls tend to appear after washing, especially if doing it the least bit incorrectly.

[first one]

I thought if I suds up enough I could avoid the foam gun; I'll have to re-think that. And no, only one wash pad, but I go top down and rinse and hose off any contaminates. That could very well be a factor, I think I'll order another couple pads. As for between washes, I've used a California duster with care and lightly and have washed it once or twice. That could also be a contributing factor.
Also I have had the car since sept 2, 2009 and it's never been clayed or polished. I'm sure some of you guys are laughing or cringing at that.

[Junkman2008]

Swirls come from one place: anytime you physically touch the paint. That's why you want to avoid touching the paint as often as possible and when you do, touch it correctly. If you are the only one one touching your paint, then you're the one damaging it.

One thing about your process. Glaze is used to hide imperfections in your paint. Eventually, it will wash off. If you didn't actually remove ALL the damage and you hide what remains with glaze, it is going to show back up after enough washes.

[XQIZT]

Another very real possibility is that the dealer "installed" those swirls for you before you ever took ownership of the car and hid them with their own special "detailing" products. Once you washed whatever filler product away...BLAM-O...it looks like swirl city.

Now that you've got a PC and the knowledge of how to properly wash/detail, you should never have to worry too much again.

[first one]

Touch less car washes always and yes I'm the only one touching it so I'm to blame. I'm debating your point to remove all the damage before the glaze, junk man. My thought is, and don't beat me with a stick for saying this, that shouldn't you compromise repairing the damage with saving clear coat for later polishings? I'm getting "most" of the swirls out and saving valuable clear coat? With all the damage I'm seeing, it won't be but a few months and I'll have enough swirls again, even if I do everything right, that I'll want to polish again. Taking off more clear and the cycle goes on.

[first one]

Originally Posted by XQIZT

Another very real possibility is that the dealer "installed" those swirls for you before you ever took ownership of the car and hid them with their own special "detailing" products. Once you washed whatever filler product away...BLAM-O...it looks like swirl city.

Now that you've got a PC and the knowledge of how to properly wash/detail, you should never have to worry too much again.

Now I like that!

[XQIZT]

Originally Posted by first one

Now I like that!

And fear not about "removing" too much clear coat. With a PC and proper technique, you're talking about MICRONS of removal...you could polish 24/7 until the cows came home and not go through all your clear coat. Just be sure that you accept the limits of what polishing can do...basically, if you can catch a scratch or swirl with a fingernail, its too deep to completely remove with a PC.

Polish until you are satisfied, then keep it looking good with proper washing.

[Junkman2008]

Originally Posted by first one

Touch less car washes always and yes I'm the only one touching it so I'm to blame.

Bam! You just told on yourself.

As for saving the clear coat, I like how you're thinking but check this out. If you fix the paint completely and then never do the things that create damage in the first place, you won't have to keep fixing it over and over again. The most that you'll have to do is very light touchup's with a very light polish. As XQIZT pointed out, it would take you forever to go through your clear coat if you followed that routine.

Now for the problem that is creating your damage. Watch these videos on touchless car washes.

[OBSSEST]

I too am perplexed by the return of swirls after a couple of months.

I polished 1/2 the car this week because I was starting to see minor swirls in the sunlight. When I put the halogen light on it, it was ugly.

Althought it's flawless now, it's frustrating that I can't do something more to minimize them further. Like the original poster, I use 2 buckets, guards, and I rinse and spray the washpad with EACH pass so that it's 100% clean each time it touches the paint.

I am inclined to think that most of my damage comes from drying. I currently use an Adams Great white towel with detail spray. I also use the electric blower but the car does look much better when dried using detail spray.

On the other hand, my chrome wheels have a few minor swirls and the ONLY thing that ever touches them is the wash mitt. They are 100% dried with the blower.

Next time, I'll go with silver.

[Junkman2008]

Originally Posted by OBSSEST

I too am perplexed by the return of swirls after a couple of months. I am inclined to think that most of my damage comes from drying.

... and you would have a point. Not to mention that you haven't said anything about how you remove dust from your car. If I followed you around for a few days, I could pinpoint every time you touched your car wrong.

In my videos, I say this a thousand times. The less you touch the paint, the better it is for the paint. If you don't touch the paint, it can't get damaged. Driving the car DOES NOT create swirls. Swirls come from some type of GRINDING dirt into the paint. Be that when you wash the car, remove dust from the car or dry the car. For those of you who wash your car outdoors in your driveway where wind and cars going down the street continually whip up dust, your cars will never stay swirl free.

Since you have to touch the paint at some point, you MUST ensure that you touch it the best way possible. I would NEVER dry my car by hand using a towel. I would either use the Master Blaster or at least an electric leaf blower, just as I did in my 2-bucket wash videos. My dust removal thread is here.

[FL1CK]

Originally Posted by XQIZT

Another very real possibility is that the dealer "installed" those swirls for you before you ever took ownership of the car and hid them with their own special "detailing" products. Once you washed whatever filler product away...BLAM-O...it looks like swirl city.

Now that you've got a PC and the knowledge of how to properly wash/detail, you should never have to worry too much again.

I think my dealer charged me for the swirls option...

[mrob130]

Originally Posted by XQIZT

Another very real possibility is that the dealer "installed" those swirls for you before you ever took ownership of the car and hid them with their own special "detailing" products. Once you washed whatever filler product away...BLAM-O...it looks like swirl city.

Now that you've got a PC and the knowledge of how to properly wash/detail, you should never have to worry too much again.

I think that may be what happened to my car. I looked at it in the sun today and there are serious swirls on the trunk and red stripe on the trunk. This is the first time I've seen them. I bought it this past January and have only hand washed it, no carwashes.

I use the 2 bucket wash, and I only blot it dry. I use QD on it but not on the stripes. And I NEVER wash in a circular motion (swirls are in a large circular pattern on the trunk), so I really don't think it was me. I was pretty pissed when I saw it.

Now I either need to find a good detailer in the Dayton area or buy the whole detailing kit myself. I've never used a PC before but I'm sure I could learn and become addicted.

[Junkman2008]

Originally Posted by mrob130

... And I NEVER wash in a circular motion (swirls are in a large circular pattern on the trunk), so I really don't think it was me.

That's the misconception that a lot of people have. Swirls are not circular scratches, the are straight lines that go at every angle there is. Look at this picture:



Those swirls appear to go in a circle, but let's look at them up close:



Notice that every scratch in that paint is a straight line. Washing in circles doesn't necessarily create circular scratches unless a big enough piece of dirt gets caught in your wash medium.

Originally Posted by mrob130

Now I either need to find a good detailer in the Dayton area or buy the whole detailing kit myself. I've never used a PC before but I'm sure I could learn and become addicted.

I would put money on it.