Swirly Marks

[mrobins64495]

Hi All,

Just had my Mito cleaned, inevitably it has swirl marks on it.

How do I go about getting rid of them and keeping them off?

Thanks

[zulu ferret]

Straight line polishing, with a mildly abrasive polish.

[twissler]

Originally Posted by zulu ferret

Straight line polishing, with a mildly abrasive polish.

Swirl marks aren't caused by circular motions when cleaning/drying and when polishing by hand it doesn't make any difference if you use straight lines or circular motions.

They are caused by poor washing technique. So, first up youn need to make sure your not going to put any more swirl marks in. Use the two bucket method, 1 with the shampoo in and a second for rinsing the washmitt. Ditch the sponge if you have one and get a good microfibre or lambswool washmitt. Then the second biggest cause of swirls is how yoy dry the car. Drying blades and chamois are no no's. Get a drying towel and pat the car dry.

Now, how to deal with the swirls. There are two ways you can go. One is to remove them using a mild abrasivee polish as Zulu Ferret said or fill them using a filler heavy polish like Autoglym Super Resin Polish.

I'd go for the second option as removing swirls by hand is very very hard work. If you do want to go down this route and remove the swirls rather than fill them then something like Meguiars Swirl X or scratch X is what you need but be warned, it is seriously hard work.

Super Resin Polish is one the highest recommended had polishes out there, and it even gives a little bit of protection as well. It's easy to work with and trust me it will hide pretty much all your swirls. Throw on some Autoglym Extra Gloss Protection on top of it and it will help keep the swirls hidden for much longer.

Hope this helps.

[lpoolck]

^ took the words out of my mouth, second SRP, but doing your best to try to prevent them in first place is best practice, snow foam, two bucket method is safest way to help minimise the swirls.

[GIZTO29]

Like said swirls when looked at closely are actually lots of straight lines in all directions that appear in sort of spider web shapes when the sun shines on the paint work. I dont think its possible to prevent them in all honesty. Even pressure washing a car can cause them as the dirt flies across the paint SRP FTW The stuff can be layered and every coat will improve the finish. Lock it in with AG Extra Gloss Protection for a few months worth of protection. Halfords may have their 3 for 2 deal on. Grab some Aqua Wax aswell.
Phil

[Squadrone Rosso]

My new Brera is swirl central. Me & some pals are going to do a group buy on a Megs DA kit so we should all have pristine cars ready for the summer

[zulu ferret]

AO Mates. I was indoctrinated years past using stuff like 'Porzlak' On Rollers, Bents, Astons Etc; tutored by someone who had forgotten more about refinishing cars paintwork than I could ever learn! A magician with a spray gun,( Binks Bullows Barracuda or DeVille Bliss,) and his final polishing routine had to be observed and then emulated.

Disc polishing even using the DA type can lead to undesirable light refraction. Best results always achieved with harder finishes, not the soft eco friendly ones used now. Still what do I know if anything, and it's mostly oudated as cars have only just been invented with pistons that go up and down, and crankshafts that go round and round Etc; Etc: ?

[10,500RPM]

Originally Posted by zulu ferret

Disc polishing even using the DA type can lead to undesirable light refraction. Best results always achieved with harder finishes, not the soft eco friendly ones used now.

Very true. Modern "finishing polishes" use micro abrasives (they are mainly diminishing but Meguiars are marking old school non-diminishing abrasives cool again becuase they are ultra fine) so a good finish is a lot easier to achieve now than it was ** years ago

Expensive polishing pads make life a lot easier too

[steveisfrowning]

life is much to short

[DIDDY]

3m's hand glaze works as a good filler and requires little effort, finished off with AG's super resin/ EGP

[zulu ferret]

Thermo Acrylics? Poor finish from new? Put the beggar back through the oven and do a ' flow over melt' for a finish like glass? Still scratched though too soft a finish.

[philoldsmobile]

If the car is a dark colour, i'd very highly recommend Auto Glym Ultra Deep shine, its the absolute mutts nuts.

[DIDDY]

Originally Posted by zulu ferret

Thermo Acrylics? Poor finish from new? Put the beggar back through the oven and do a ' flow over melt' for a finish like glass? Still scratched though too soft a finish.

That reminds me of a technique a freind of mine used to use when we worked in a commercial body shop! He called it a "flood off" and would involve him putting so much paint on a panel that it literally dripped off the bottom!!!! Professional.... no, glass finish... yes metered one of his panels once at 600 microns! he would then bake off, remove the drips with a stanley blade and the wet flat/polish when cured........he didnt last long suprisingly

[lpoolck]

Originally Posted by philoldsmobile

If the car is a dark colour, i'd very highly recommend Auto Glym Ultra Deep shine, its the absolute mutts nuts.

This is meant to have more fillers than SRP do you find it fills in the swirls better than SRP?

[GIZTO29]

Thing is im pretty sure UDS is incompatible with EGP which is a problem if you want to seal the fillers in there.

[lpoolck]

Originally Posted by GIZTO29

Thing is im pretty sure UDS is incompatible with EGP which is a problem if you want to seal the fillers in there.

Yeah I did here that too, good point Phil, but you would then think it would offer a good level of durable protection to make up for it? I would have thought anyway.

[twissler]

For me SRP is far better than UDS. UDS does not make a dark clouour look any better, despite what Autoglym say. IMO it's one of the only AG products I would never recommend, I have a nearly full bottle if someone wants to pay for the postage. I used it once on the wifes bonnet and thats it.

[GIZTO29]

Originally Posted by twissler

For me SRP is far better than UDS. UDS does not make a dark clouour look any better, despite what Autoglym say. IMO it's one of the only AG products I would never recommend, I have a nearly full bottle if someone wants to pay for the postage. I used it once on the wifes bonnet and thats it.

I know what youre saying and cant see its place really? Unless its both SRP and EGP mixed. Heres a Q & A from the AG site.

Q. Would you recommed the use of Super Resin Polish with a top coat of Extra Gloss Protection or the use of Ultra Deep Shine on a darkish metallic paint?
A. If you own a dark coloured car we suggest that Ultra Deep Shine is used in one process. There is no need to add Extra Gloss Protection. If you are using Super Resin Polish then Extra Gloss Protection can be applied for extra protection

So it seems you cant put EGP over which seems nuts. Hmm, i wonder how durable UDS is. I was given a bottle myself and have tried it once on my bonnet ages ago but couldnt see any benefit over SRP. It was very dusty aswell.

i've just picked up some SRP on recommendation from this thread................i'll try it out on sunday.

[Vee_Cee]

I'm giving Poorboys Blackhole a try at the moment.... its a pre wax glaze that has good reports over on detailingworld for reducing marring/swirls.....

[thewizardhunter]

I've had excellent results with ClearKote Vanilla Moose Glaze. Had a red car that turned pink over the years and had bad swirling. After browsing the web I thought I'd give ClearKote Vanilla Moose Glaze a try. Washed and dried car then applied the stuff and used Collinite No. 915 Marque D'Elegance to finish off. An hour and half later of hard work I drove car round to mate's house and he thought I had the car resrayed. It was back at its briliant red colour and a show room shine all swirl marks polished out.

Thing is the following week I decided to was it again... weather was nice so why not. I did the same routine only this time didn't have to spend that long. The results were even more amazing. It had reached it's original factory colour and the shine was brilliant. I've stuck with those two products since and haven't looked back... well with the Alfa now I do look back... at the sweet glossy shine after a wash that it.

[GIZTO29]

Originally Posted by Vee_Cee

I'm giving Poorboys Blackhole a try at the moment.... its a pre wax glaze that has good reports over on detailingworld for reducing marring/swirls.....

Dripping wet finish aswell!

Originally Posted by thewizardhunter

I've had excellent results with ClearKote Vanilla Moose Glaze. Had a red car that turned pink over the years and had bad swirling. After browsing the web I thought I'd give ClearKote Vanilla Moose Glaze a try. Washed and dried car then applied the stuff and used Collinite No. 915 Marque D'Elegance to finish off. An hour and half later of hard work I drove car round to mate's house and he thought I had the car resrayed. It was back at its briliant red colour and a show room shine all swirl marks polished out.

Thing is the following week I decided to was it again... weather was nice so why not. I did the same routine only this time didn't have to spend that long. The results were even more amazing. It had reached it's original factory colour and the shine was brilliant. I've stuck with those two products since and haven't looked back... well with the Alfa now I do look back... at the sweet glossy shine after a wash that it.

I have Red Moose Glaze which is more for machine use but can be used by hand and its wicked. It has some correction abilities also and some mix it with Vanilla Moose to create Pink Moose Glaze. I have used their Carnauba Moose Wax aswell which is amazing and also yellow moose wax which strangely is a glaze for prepping before using the Carnauba Moose Wax. Love the CK gear, very well priced aswell cyc.co.uk say that Red Moose Glaze is the best product theyve used on red cars. It can be used on plastics aswell.

I recently used clay bar and afterwards used Megs tech wax and all bad swirl makes had gone and even now the paint work is very glossy looking and swirl free

[Ali C]

Originally Posted by Sparkywills1

i've just picked up some SRP on recommendation from this thread................i'll try it out on sunday.

I have achieved excellent results with SRP. Whenever I polish the car I always tend to pre-treat the surface with a paint cleaner (Meguiars Paint Cleaner for example), then apply the SRP, and then to finish it all off I use AG's High Definition Wax, which is great.

As with all polishing though; the results are only as good as the work you're willing to put in!

[tess]

Originally Posted by Vee_Cee

I'm giving Poorboys Blackhole a try at the moment.... its a pre wax glaze that has good reports over on detailingworld for reducing marring/swirls.....

i have that and tho it makes the babe extra it didnt really do much for the swirls, but it smells nice..