Are little scratches normal in clear coat

[asm505]

Are the little scratches or swirl marks that you see in almost 100% of the cars normal?

[MaximusZTS]

Re: Are little scratches normal in clear coat

Normal as in it occurs alot? Yes. Do you have to live with them? No!

[gofastman]

Re: Are little scratches normal in clear coat

Are the little scratches or swirl marks that you see in almost 100% of the cars normal?

you mean the ones that are circular and kind of look like spiderwebs?

[asm505]

Re: Are little scratches normal in clear coat

yes, in the sun they make a circular pattern. Now w/ my car (it is a light color), if I can see some really light ones in the right lighting that are straight lines, probably from normal washing. You can hardly see them but they are driving me nuts...

[Murr1525]

Re: Are little scratches normal in clear coat

They will occur over time no matter how carefull you are. The key is to be as safe as possible and use good products so they occur as slowly as posssible, then clean the paint every so often to remove the ones that do.

[asm505]

Re: Are little scratches normal in clear coat

I took my car to a local "Maguiar's Certified" detail shop and when the car came back, it was clean but it did nothing for the swirls. The swirls are not deep either.

[Zet]

Re: Are little scratches normal in clear coat

Many detail shops have different packages, and not all of them includes buffing the car with a cleaner/polish, which is the way to remove the swirls. But if you paid for them to remove the swirls, they should have been able to do so, and I would suggest to take the car back and show them the swirls.

You could also look into the PC/G100, which will enable you to remove the swirls yourself, including the ones the car will get in the future.

Using the G-100 to remove swirls with the Professional Line

[Jeepster04]

Re: Are little scratches normal in clear coat

Yup, normal. Im getting ready to remove them on my jeep. See my thread that I just posted for before pics..

[Tim Lingor]

Re: Are little scratches normal in clear coat

Hey

Swirls marks or cobweb effect is usually caused by normal day to day use as well as poor car washing technique. However, no matter how careful you are, you will usually still have the odd mark that came from every day use.

But yes, you can remove the majority of the marks. It takes time, technique and the right equipment. There is a wealth of information available here at MOL to help you achieve your goals.

Here is a truck I detailed last year:

Before after doing a test spot:




After shots in the direct sun with the swirls and scratches removed:







So again, while it is possible to remove most of the marring, some is just too deep and even using a rotary polisher may not be enough remove the marks.

Tim

[Jeepster04]

Re: Are little scratches normal in clear coat

Care to tell the method+stuff you used to do that 2hotford? That looks about like what I will be removing tomorrow.

[Tim Lingor]

Re: Are little scratches normal in clear coat

Sure, the thread to the Extreme Make-Over is here:

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11800

That was the "nice" photo. The real damage is shown in the photos in the thread. It required a LOT of rotary buffer work! The G100 (PC) would not touch the damage. But keep in mind, I was removing severe buffer holograms and scratches that the typical vehicle would hopefully never see.

Tim