trouble with paint

[Accident]

I recently went to Germany and left my car at the mechanics to get fixed. When I picked up my car today it was covered in pollen. I used some QD to get the pollen off of my car (it still has minor swirls so I wasn't too worried about that), and my paint looks dull and faided again. Before I left, I wet sanded my hood and followed with Scratch-x by hand. It got most of the scratches out, but there was still minor swirling. I ran out of clean rags for the scratch-x, so I polished and applied the GC wax. The next day I followed up with another coat of the wax. What I was left with was a high-gloss finish that you could see a very distinct reflection from. My question is why did my paint fade again after it had sat out for a week at the mechanics? What can I do to fix it? (DC #1 didn't help at all). Did I do something wrong before leaving? Also, it is covered in spots, maybe waterspots, but again, DC #1/claying did nothing. Is there anything else that I could try? I don't want to try sanding it again because it is an old paint and I won't have it repainted until next summer.

[Hammer03]

im sorry i cant contribute on helping fix the situation, but if long trips are the norm for you, i'd definately invest in a quality car cover, if it's not going to be garaged.

[Accident]

I've got a garage, but it was at the mechanic's for the trip.

[the other pc]

You tried to remove sanding scratch by hand over the whole hood with ScratchX?

Whose paper did you use? What grit?

My guess is that the a combination of lighting and the effects of oils in the products made the scratch pattern less visible but now that the oils have dried a little and you’re probably looking at it under different lighting conditions you’re seeing what was there all along.


PC.

[Accident]

It was a 3M sandpaper, 2000 grit I think. It was the finest that they had. I had done all this about three days before I brought it to the mechanic's, so the oils should have already been dry already, right? Should I go over it again with more scratch-x?

[gbackus]

Originally posted by Accident
It was a 3M sandpaper, 2000 grit I think. It was the finest that they had. I had done all this about three days before I brought it to the mechanic's, so the oils should have already been dry already, right? Should I go over it again with more scratch-x?

The oils can last for weeks.

There is no way you can get out those sanding marks with scratchX unless you're Popeye.

[Murr1525]

It sounds like things may have been hidden more than removed.

On another note though, what kind of shape was it in beforehand? I forget if you posted pictures.

Since you mentioned it is quite old paint, if it was in bad shape, it is possible the paint is quite unstable, and will not hold results anymore.

[the other pc]

A #2000 scratch pattern is awfully coarse to try and remove with ScratchX, especially if the finish is a clearcoat. Maybe it could work on a very small area, like a rock chip repair, if the particular paint is very easy to work. A whole hood is asking too much.

Normally, to remove sanding scratch, you'd expect to use a compound like #84, a rotary buffer and a wool pad (or at least a foam cutting pad) then follow with one or more polishing steps.

Meguiar's papers leave a much more consistent scratch that's far easier to remove than other companies' standard papers of similar grit would leave. They also go finer, #2500 and #3000 grit are available. Even with them Meguiar's expects you to use a rotary.


PC.

[Accident]

My paint is a very soft single stage paint. I could only imagine trying to do that on a clear coat. It is hard enough trying to remove swirls from a clear coat. It isn't that big of a deal, like I said I have to get it repainted anyway. Thanks.