Avoiding swirls from waxing

[squelchy451]

Hi. I had a question about avoiding adding more swirl marks to my car while I was detailing.
I do the two bucket wash method and use clean towels all the time to avoid scratches from the dirt on the car.

After the car is cleaned up, what would be potential sources of scratches/swirls on the paint?

My specific concern is foam wax applicator pads. Granted, there should be a thin film of wax between the applicator pad and the paint, but I recently bought a pack of cheap no-name foam pads from Amazon with good reviews, but they don't feel any better than some cheap foam I find inside toys or backpack paddings. It seems odd given microfiber is so much plush and soft compared to regular fabrics whereas this foam feels like it came from a shipping & packing store.

Am I being too paranoid about this?

[Joe Dragon]

Re: Avoiding swirls from waxing

'Cheap no-name pads' are just that, good reviews or not. It's worth the extra cost to get something decent. Reviews on here or other detailing forums are more reliable than Brand X sites with who-knows-who writing the reviews. Dump them or use for non-critical jobs.

[davey g-force]

Agreed ^^

But there are lots of things that can cause swirls.

Essentially, every time you touch your paint, you are at risk of inflicting swirls, especially if you have soft or dark coloured paint.

[Nick Winn]

Re: Avoiding swirls from waxing

In my opinion during the washing process, any wiping of the paint with a microfiber towel like wiping off compound, polish, or wax, using a spray detailer, spray wax, or waterless wash, etc., are the times when the user is most likely going to inflict swirls or scratches. Premium quality, clean, microfiber towels & wash mitts, along with good technique will assist in reducing the chance of inflicting swirls & scratches.

Even if we do everything right during our washing & maintenance, we still see light swirls being inflicted over a period of time. That period of time can vary for everyone depending on the sensitivity of the paint & how careful you are being, among other variables. Light defects can appear every couple of months, we see users which do not have to do any defect removal for several months all the way up to a year or more, BUT, there is a difference between very few or light swirls & scratches compared to moderate to severe swirls & scratches. Light swirls & scratches can be easily cleaned up with a very non-invasive process, such as a mild cleaner polish like our Ultimate Polish or M205 Ultra Finishing Polish in a relatively short amount of time, applied once or twice a year prior to your favorite wax/protection product applications.

When working by hand, I haven't run into inflicting defects very often, but then again I don't work by hand much & when I do, always use our W0004 Soft Foam Applicator Pads. If you are worried about sections of your applicator pad being dry & rubbing against the paint upon first application, you could always prime or saturate the pores of the foam with whatever product is being used, to ensure the foam surface has lubrication from the compound, polish, or wax, compared to dry foam rubbing against the paint. Microfiber material is soft & gently compared to foam to the touch, but we typically find that when microfiber is used for applying products especially to paint, it is more aggressive, sometimes much more aggressive than foam, (i.e. Meguiar's Professional DA Microfiber Correction System).

Hope this helps! Feel free to post further questions & let us know how everything is working out.

- Nick