Need Help With Swirls

[DailyDrivenCoupe]

as the title states i need help trying to remove some swirls. the car is a 2004 infiniti g35 coupe, obsidian black and has some swirls marks from the previous owner. i have never wet sanded or buffed a car before however i am very good at waxing and other detailing aspects so i would like to give this a try myself.

yes i understand the risks of what i am doing here. i am fully aware i can damage the clear coat if not done properly and with the right speed. i do not plan to use a rotary buffer at all. i might consider using a DA but i was going to see what i could do by hand at first.

from what i have read a 2000 grit to 2500 grit will be good to get out the defects followed by the meguiars m105(ultra cut compound) in order to get out the sanding marks. i just want to confirm if this is going to be the best way to get rid of swirls and scratches within my paint. also considering chip repair in two small places if this is deemed to be the best method

[Murr1525]

Just no....

Have you tried anything at all to fix them yet? If you want to work by hand, you want to start with some Ultimate Compound and a smooth foam applicator.

[DailyDrivenCoupe]

yes i have tried the meguiars mirror glaze swirl remover, also tried the fine cut cleaner, and ultra cut cleaner. none of them would completely remove the swirls. tired of looking at this crappy paint!!!!




ive had the car for three years now so these have all been tried over time. not right on top of each other or back to back to back.

[Michael Stoops]

yes i have tried the meguiars mirror glaze swirl remover, also tried the fine cut cleaner, and ultra cut cleaner. none of them would completely remove the swirls. tired of looking at this crappy paint!!!!




ive had the car for three years now so these have all been tried over time. not right on top of each other or back to back to back.

But you've only done this by hand, correct? If you think removing, or trying to remove, these swirls by hand is hard, wait 'til you try to remove sanding marks by hand! Sure, back in the '60s and earlier when everything had single stage lacquer it was only "difficult", "tiring" and "time consuming" to do. With a modern catalyzed clear coat, it's closer to impossible. At the very least, it's impossibly difficult.

There are many, many possible steps between hand application of the products you've mentioned and proper DA buffer application of something like Ultimate Compound. Yes, UC is a consumer product whereas you've been using some of our Pro products, but that is totally immaterial. The consistent power of a good DA like our G110v2 will make the correction go so much faster, so much more effectively, and so much more efficiently that you'll kick yourself for having waited so long to pick one up. And if you start wet sanding, we guarantee you'll kick yourself even harder.

[DailyDrivenCoupe]

i have tried it with a orbital as well as by hand. im much better detailing by hand but even with the orbital the results i was looking for weren't achieved. i am not a newb when it comes to detailing ive just never run into a paint that hasn't been able to be fixed like i am dealing with right now.

im beginning to wonder if it just needs to go ahead and be repainted. the swirls have not gotten worse since i have owned the car and aren't visible unless intense sunlight is on it. however it doesn't seem to want to come out with any of the methods i have tried. ive read on this forums for years and only used meguiars products however i have decided to sign up today due to the struggles with this one car

[Michael Stoops]

If you've been taking even reasonable care of this car there's no way it should to be repainted this soon. If the swirls aren't getting any worse and you need some really serious light to see them, then we're pretty confident that you should be able to remove them with a proper buffer - a good DA and not just a low power orbital - especially since Infiniti paint is usually so workable. One of the women who works in our Events Marketing department has a dark gray '04 G35 Coupe that I recently buffed out. It was pretty rough but it easily cleaned up completely with Ultimate Compound and a W8207 pad on our G110v2.

Any chance you can get us some pictures of your car?

[DailyDrivenCoupe]

yea i will try and get some close up pics of the paint. i figured the paint would be very workable like you are mentioning but that hasn't been the case.

just to make sure you are supposed to buff "the way the wind would blow against the car" if that makes any sense to you, correct?


i have not tried the combo of the foam polishing pad/ultra cut compound combination on a orbital. i do have a quality speed adjustable orbital that i can attempt this with.

what is the speed to start out with to make sure i can remove imperfections without burning/scarring the surface? ive always heard arond 1,800 to 2,000 rpms

[Michael Stoops]

just to make sure you are supposed to buff "the way the wind would blow against the car" if that makes any sense to you, correct?

Yes, it makes sense (in the sense that we understand what you're saying).

But, no, it doesn't make any sense (in the sense that there's no reason whatsoever to do this, whether waxing or compounding or polishing or anything else for that matter).

Swirl marks are not circular in nature, they are tiny little scratches that go in every conceivable direction; some are straight, some are short, some long, some have a bit of a curve to them, etc. When you look at them with a bright light, including direct sunlight on a cloudless day, you do indeed see a circular pattern in the swirls. But move the light a little bit to one side, or move your head to one side when looking at direct sunlight (it's a bit tricky to actually move the sun!) and you'll see that circular pattern follows the moving light source. You know those swirls in the paint aren't actually moving, yet the circular pattern remains around the light source. This is due to the almost pinpoint nature of the lighting, the fine scratches going every which way, and the strong light bouncing off the sharp edges of these tiny little scratches.

Now, it's been said that the reason you want to apply a wax in straight lines is so that if you do create any fine scratches they'll only show up under very specific lighting conditions. But if you're creating any sort of scratching at all when applying a wax, we just think you're doing something wrong - most notably you're using a dirty applicator, too much pressure with your fingertips, etc.

Of course, as you soon as you start to DA polish, straight lines are totally impossible to create so moving "in the direction the wind blows" is impossible. And again, as long as you're using clean pads, and have proper housekeeping techniques when buffing, you're not going to create any swirls. It is possible that a very aggressive product/pad combo on very delicate paint can create a DA haze, but that's a different issue with a different solution. But it doesn't sound like that's what you're getting.

[DailyDrivenCoupe]

ok well thanks for all the tips. i plan to pick up the pad this week and so hopefully ill be able to try out these techniques next week on my days off