I used swirlX and now my paint looks worse..Advice please?

[RPPM]

Maybe try this?? http://www.drcolorchip.com/

[dtuna42]

I think the most important for thing to learn from this whole situation is "DO A SMALL TEST AREA!!" Do ALL steps in a small area and see what is working and what isn't working - BEFORE doing a complete panel, and especially before doing the whole car. I know the tendency is to want to open a bottle and get instant gratification, but the experienced guys are always preaching test areas, and this is a great example, because the original OP was ready to give up, but eventually found success...

[ZaksZ31]

Yes and no with the success haha..Ya it was dumb not to do a test area..As for the white swirls the eventually came back but not as bad im assuming the color x covered them up..Sadly I dont think this can be fixed by hand overall..

[PPLd]

Yes and no with the success haha..Ya it was dumb not to do a test area..As for the white swirls the eventually came back but not as bad im assuming the color x covered them up..Sadly I dont think this can be fixed by hand overall..

zaksz31,
It appears that those white swirl marks are removed!
great job!
now if you are willing to spend time and some elbow grease for getting the best results by hand, try this:

Get the meguiar's S3HP:
http://www.autodetailingsolutions.net/s3hp.html

a 4 inch polishing pad like the yellow Meguiar's, white Lake Country, or green Buff and Shine.
then a 4 inch finishing pad such as black Meguiar's, red Lake Country, or white Buff and Shine.
http://www.autodetailingsolutions.ne...foam-pads.html

Ultimate Compound, or get a kit like:
http://www.autodetailingsolutions.ne...ation-kit.html

1. wash
2. clay
3. use Ultimate Compound with your polishing pad (when needed)
4. use Swirl X with your finishing pad
5. your favourite protection

[ZaksZ31]

So summer is back again and not only did my initial paint issues no 100% go away but I have much more marks then before. I was thinking of getting the meguiars DA buffer. If you have went through my pics you know my paint is soft or scratchs very easy. I was wondering if I pick up the DA what kind of pads should I use and should I use scratch x or ultimate coumpund to remove all the swirls and scratchs etc?

[Michael Stoops]

Had to re-read the whole thread to get a refresher on this whole situation!

In most cases, really delicate paint like yours tends to be much easier to deal with when using a good buffer. You completely do away with pressure point issues, which seems to be the real problem you're having, and with a gentle approach you can get a very nice result rather quickly. The danger when using a buffer on really delicate paint is in using overly aggressive products, whether liquid or pad, that create a DA buffer haze. If you're able to make the sort of progress you have just by adjusting your hand application technique with SwirlX, then you should get even better results using SwirlX with the G110v2 and a yellow pad to start, and maybe an easy go over with SwirlX on the black finishing pad prior to waxing. Or, maybe better yet, SwirlX/yellow pad, Ultimate Polish/black pad, then wax.

[ZaksZ31]

Should I wax with colorx or use that at all? Or just regular wax?

[Michael Stoops]

These really soft paints seem to love the mild cleaning ability of ColorX so it can be an excellent choice. But if you clean things up nicely with SwirlX on a foam pad with the DA then you can use any wax you like. Just make sure to use a clean finishing pad, slow speed on the tool and light pressure when applying a nice thin coat, and then wipe off with a clean, quality microfiber towel once the wax dries.

[ZaksZ31]

These really soft paints seem to love the mild cleaning ability of ColorX so it can be an excellent choice. But if you clean things up nicely with SwirlX on a foam pad with the DA then you can use any wax you like. Just make sure to use a clean finishing pad, slow speed on the tool and light pressure when applying a nice thin coat, and then wipe off with a clean, quality microfiber towel once the wax dries.

When applying the swirl X with a yellow soft buff 2.0 pad what speed do you suggest? They did not have a black pad locally only a lighter brown pad that says it was meant for applying just wax..Will that do? Its this one - http://www.amazon.com/Meguiars-6-5-I...8348604&sr=8-1
And I assume its best do steer away from ultimate compound completely right? Unless there is a major defect I can hope to correct? Last question..Is it good to always go up and down or left to right but never cross? Or is it ok to to buff vertical then horizontal? Thanks

[Michael Stoops]

You quoted my post on ColorX but then mentioned SwirlX..... typo on your part or are you really asking about SwirlX?

What the heck, we'll address both for you!


SwirlX: for defect removal odds are you're still going to need the extra bit of cut provided by the W8xxx yellow polishing pad. But you should then be able to use speed 4 to 5 and only light to moderate pressure to remove those defects (harder paints would require a more aggressive liquid, more speed, and more pressure).

ColorX: this should be applied with our W9xxx finishing pad - this includes our W9207 Soft Buff 2.0 black finishing pad or the W9006 Soft Buff tan finishing pad. Both pads are designed for finishing use, and about the only time you'd notice any performance difference between the two is on a rotary buffer at slow speeds - the tan one may have a tendency to skip a bit. If you can't get the black pad but the tan one is easily accessible to you, grab it.

As for the Ultimate Compound on your car, it may come in handy from time to time, and with light application on a yellow polishing at slow speeds with light pressure it may leave almost no marring at all. But it could also leave a bit of marring, although that should be fairly easy to clean up with a less aggressive liquid/pad combo. So, if you need it, you need it. If you then need to clean up some marring, then so be it. That's the price you pay for having really delicate paint. But if you know that going in and know how the paint will respond, really delicate paint can actually be pretty darn easy to care for.