I felt shameful today...

[Markus Kleis]

Re: I felt shameful today...

And can I replace SwirlX with M9? Will the results be the same?

You could try, but SwirlX will definitely remove more swirls and light scratches and with less effort (It's a stronger product). For what it is worth, a bottle of SwirlX is under 10 bucks...

[jfelbab]

Re: I felt shameful today...

Shine comes from the extreme smoothness of the paint. Compounding and polishing should help achieve that smoothness. Do you have much orange peel in your paint? The GM cars I've done had a lot and that reduces the shine as it scatters the light. You might even want to see a pro who could suggest if a wet sanding and polish is advisable to smooth out the OP.

[akimel]

Re: I felt shameful today...

If you want to maximize the gloss of your paint, you need to abrade and level the paint surface. You need to remove all the micro-scratches and swirls and make the surface as even, smooth, and flawless as you can make it. Neither glazes nor waxes are going to significantly increase the shine of your car. Polishing will. All the experienced detailers will tell this truth: it's all in the prep.

Are you really serious about this? Then start saving your pennies and buy yourself a G110. With the right machine with the right pads and products, you will be able to correct and perfect the surface of your car far more effectively and efficiently than you can by hand.

But if the purchase of a machine is impossible, then focus your energies and time on hand polishing your car well. It's a big job. You might want to break up the work over a period of weeks, working on one or two panels at a time. There is no quick and easy fix. You need to polish. Pick up a bottle of SwirlX and Ultimate Compound and a goodly number of foam applicators. Good luck!

[Andy M.]

Re: I felt shameful today...

All the suggestions here are good. One thing that I haven't seen anyone mention. In your original post you say that you may be able to borrow a rotary polisher. Do you have any experience with a rotary? Just asking because if you don't you could do more harm than good. I would invest in a G110 if you are going to get serious about keeping your car looking as shiny as you want.

Andy M.

[agp423]

Re: I felt shameful today...

All the suggestions here are good. One thing that I haven't seen anyone mention. In your original post you say that you may be able to borrow a rotary polisher. Do you have any experience with a rotary? Just asking because if you don't you could do more harm than good. I would invest in a G110 if you are going to get serious about keeping your car looking as shiny as you want.

Andy M.

Personally, I have no experience, but my neighbor (whom I can borrow from) has a lot of experience. He knows almost everything about cars.

[Blake Beamish]

Re: I felt shameful today...

Honestly, I think the picture is what is throwing you off. The really bright shiny areas are the clouds reflecting off their hood/bumper/fenders. There only seems to be one small cloud over your hood and they have some pretty big clouds over their hoods. Also, your car has very sharp lines and flat panels; your front bumper and grille area point straight out so it won't pick up any reflections from the sky whereas the Mercedes has very fluid lines that will pick up reflections from the sky.

My last car had a paint job VERY similar to yours. It was a light blue metallic that went from a crystal-ish blue during the day to basically silver at night. I loved the color but I just couldn't get a reflective finish from it, at least nothing like you would with black. I tried loading it up with #7 and then a couple coats of NXT and it looked like it did without using #7 and only one coat of NXT.

[Bunky]

Re: I felt shameful today...

You can have marring with or without swirls. This will cause a lack of gloss even more the swirls. You can remove most of the swirls but still lack lots of gloss if you do not finish it well.

I would start with M205 to see what that does. It may just need a good paint cleaning using a pre-wax cleaner (DC1 or equivalent).

[Rockit]

Re: I felt shameful today...

My 94 camaro has a deep wet look, and it's teal green.

Wash: NXT car wash

prep: M80 speed glaze

LSP: NXT 2.0

[agp423]

Re: I felt shameful today...

So what I really need is a layer of polish is what everyone's saying... I just picked up SwirlX, M7, and M26. Will work on the car tomorrow, if not then Wednesday. Will post some pictures after I'm done.

[Bunky]

Re: I felt shameful today...

So what I really need is a layer of polish is what everyone's saying... I just picked up SwirlX, M7, and M26. Will work on the car tomorrow, if not then Wednesday. Will post some pictures after I'm done.

You can add pure polish (aka glaze) to try to improve gloss or you can use a an abrasive polish to remove an ever so slight amount of the paint to remove any marring, etc in the paint. Is your car parked outdoors a lot? A chemical polish is the minimum before applying M07 ...etc.

[agp423]

Re: I felt shameful today...

My car is parked indoors on weekdays, in a parking deck during the day and in my garage at night. But on weekends, when I go to the country club, I have to park outside because there's no indoor parking, and at night the cars are parked in my garage at home.

[Tom Weed]

Re: I felt shameful today...

This is just my 2 cents,

I totally agree with what akimel said, you have to totally remove the surface defects to make your paint be all that it can be before a wax/sealant.

About the glaze, this is strictly my own opinion, but personally I only use it on SS paints where it's adding oils back into the paint. To satisfy your needs though, there's only one way to tell for sure if you think it helps, tape off a 2x2 area on the hood after you have polished it, apply the glaze and remove and inspect. This will save you from doing the whole car if you dont see that much of an improvement.

I would maintain it after a wash with UQW or UQD, this stuff is great!

[TH0001]

Re: I felt shameful today...

Cheap GM paint, IMO, but I cannot tell a big difference between the three...

[BigLeegr]

Re: I felt shameful today...

The options given for LSP all seem to lean towards darker/glossier looks. If you want a shinier finish (rolling mirror like) try using #20. Much brighter/more reflective than NXT/26. (IMHO)

[agp423]

Re: I felt shameful today...

Just picked up M7 and 26. SwirlX comes in tomorrow around noon. I'll probably have pictures of before and after tomorrow night if not then Thursday morning. I can't wait!