The Return of the Holograms!

[Pete TSX]

Catchy title for a movie, huh?

When I bought my car, the dealer polished it and provided me with a lovely set of holograms and electric polisher swirls - especially on the hood. They corrected some but I ended up taking it to a professional detailer who removed the majority with hand-applied #80 Speed Glaze.

It's been about a month and a half and I've noticed that the holograms seem to be coming back again. I purchased some #9 Swirl Remover 2.0 and went to work on the hood today by hand. After 2 applications and 2 coats of NXT, the holograms and swirls are no longer visible - even in intense, direct sunlight.

I'm very pleased with the results but now I'm wondering if I can expect a return of them in another month or so. Anyone have any experience with this?

[steveo3002]

whats happening is theres oils in megs #80 , and some stay behind to help hide any defects and give the paint a nice look

what you could do next time is use the #80 until you think its right...then wipe down with a 50/50 alcohol water mix to remove any oils

if it looks good after the wipe down then carry on and wax or seal it....if the swirls re appear then you need to polish some more

[Pete TSX]

Thanks for the reply. Do you happen to know if the same oil situation exists for the #9 Swirl Remover as well?

[steveo3002]

ive not used #9 but id imagine it does have some oils in it...nxt also helps hide minor swirls etc

[Zet]

Products like #9 and #80 is meant for machine application, therefore if applied by hand they will require a lot of work to remove paint defects like swirl marks. You'll also probably not be able to generate the ammount of heat required to break down the abrasives properly, again resulting in the product not working as intended. This is likely what happened when the "pro" detailer applied the #80 by hand, in this case the #80 will be more of a "swirl hider" instead of a swirl remover. Then when the protective coating wears of, the swirls will start to reappear.

I'd say you should look into products meant for hand application like ScratchX and ColorX, check out the following thread: How To Remove Swirls By Hand

You could also consider upgrading to a machine like the PC/G100. This machine will save you a lot of time, and you will be able to achieve even better results. The PC is well worth its price if you plan to take care of the car yourself in the future.

[Zet]

Btw, that would indeed be a catchy movie title Although that movie wouldn't be one for me, as I'm no great fan of horror movies

[Accumulator]

If the #80 (as applied) was too mild to mechanically/abrasively remove the holograms, then it's a pretty safe bet that the milder #9 didn't do it either. I'd expect a reoccurrence of the holograms.

[Mike Phillips]

If swirls are re-appearing in your car's finish, then this is a sign they were not removed correctly from previous applications of any products.

Like already mentioned, if you want to remove the swirls, you'll need to remove some paint in a controlled manner and this will have to be done with either ScratchX by hand or M80 or some other cleaner/polish by machine.


Here are two popular articles on this subject that can be found in the Information Station

What it Means to Remove a Scratch

And,

How to remove swirls by hand.

[Pete TSX]

Appreciate all the input!

Given that the #9 Swirl Remover treatment is likely only masking the holograms, can I prolong the benefits that I've achieved so far by keeping a good coat of NXT on it?

I'm thinking it might be easier to slap on some NXT every few weeks than the effort of redoing it all with ScratchX... polish and then more NXT.