Why am I getting micro swirls when wiping off wax with a brand new Micro Fiber cloth

[55Designs]

very frustrating and I only notice this with my shop door open on a sunny day with sun hitting lets say my hood or trunk, under the lights in the shop the car looks flawless

As soon as I wax it with Mothers hand wax or anything else i wipe the haze with a new cloth and it creates these micro scratches. I have tried using detail spray on the cloth first but it doesn't help much. its like the microfiber is not as soft as it appears maybe.

i am using cloths from Griots Garage and Chemical Guys.

Car is black, has anyone got tips or experienced this before? My painter advises to use cotton cloths from Griots instead, he is gonna bring one by this week to try out.

[MMC]

Did you wash them first?

[ron10]

you may try washing your microfiber.you should not be getting scratches,if the car is clean.one thing for sure,you will get a few swirl marks when you polish and wax your car.if i had a black car,i would probably always use an electric polisher.

[55Designs]

yeah we washed them when new just to be safe its frustrating because we are using the Flex rotary and the finish looks amazing but once i touch up the surface to get all the residue off it ruins the job with or without detailing spray.

Black cars are so hard to keep looking perfect.

i just ordered some Elite and Micro Max towels from Chemical guys, these seem much better than the ones we already have on hand. My only guess is the ones we use are not soft enough or these clearcoats are as delicate as a babies ass.

[DangerZL1]

One trick I learned years ago from the Zaino site is to not polish, wash, or dry by hand in a circular motion. I've owned black cars for years, and the trick to minimizing th visability of the swirl marks is to polish and dry in the direction of each panel. This would be up and down on the sides of the car and front to rear on the top panels. It worked the first time for me. Nothing worse than detailing your car, being really proud of your hard work, and then seeing the swirls in the sunlight.

[Adam's Polishes]

Originally Posted by DangerouSS

One trick I learned years ago from the Zaino site is to not polish, wash, or dry by hand in a circular motion.

When cleaning this applies as you don't want to rub grit into the finish, but in processes where you're removing residues or applying non abrasive products its completely irrelevant.

If it scratches going in circles, it'll scratch going in a straight line too.

This might be a stupid question to the OP, but are you absolutely certain its damage to the paint and not drag marks thru the wax you're using? Some products are pretty soft after the initial cure time and take a little while to setup to their full hardness... taking a towel to them, even a paint safe microfiber, can leave 'trails' thru the product.

I've experienced this when applying our Americana paste wax in really hot weather. The wax stays semi-soft and even touching it with a towel leaves marks until the panel cools and the wax fully hardens.

[kiteman]

you could be rubbing too hard, or you could be using bad MF towels. get a blank cd and rub the cd with the MF towel in the same manner you would rub the paint on your car. if it scratches, your MF towels are of poor quality or you are rubbing too hard. it should scratch since you are also scratching your car. repeat with a different product or towel on another blank cd until you see no scratching, then you may repeat this way on your car.

also, do not under any circumstances use cotton towels on your black paint.

FYI i only use the best MF towels, but they aren't cheap: www.pakshak.com

[blufin]

If you're not flipping/turning or changing out the towel frequently enough, the dried product on the towel can scratch.