Dreaded Swirl Marks

[painmd]

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone could explain this or have a solution:
I have a new Audi B8 A4 brilliant black and I noticed around the second week there was this patch of holographic swirl marks on the hood that either I put there or the dealer? Anyway, I've tried to wax it out which seemed to help partially. I then tried MeGuiars Swirl X that actually appeared to work - the swirling was gone, so I waxed it. It looked good for about a week, it rained for the past few days and I noticed that the swirl marks re-appeared today....
Do I need to use a different remover like scratch x? Can these swirls be "hidden" only like with the swirl x?

Thanks for any advice!

[Murr1525]

Re: Dreaded Swirl Marks

holographic swirl marks on the hood that either I put there or the dealer?

You might want to do a search for something like buffer trails, holograms, and look for some pics. If they are holograms from a rotarty buffer, they could be hard to remove by hand.

Do I need to use a different remover like scratch x?

If you view the pics, and they look similar, then you would probably need Ultimate Compound at least by hand, to even try and improve them.

Can these swirls be "hidden" only like with the swirl x?

Yes, and espeacially with the wax. If you arent removing them, then you are hiding them.

[sanddrag]

Re: Dreaded Swirl Marks

Swirl marks and holograms are going to be defects (micro scratches) that are down into the paint. They are especially visible on black cars. To remove these defects, the surrounding paint must be leveled down. This cannot be achieved by waxing, which acts more as a filler/protectant on top of the paint. The goal is to remove all waxes/sealants from the paint, and then get it looking perfect, and then wax only to protect it, not to hide anything.

Removing these marks by hand will be very difficult. I would recommend a Dual Action polisher (Porter Cable 7336 or 7424 or Meguiars G110) with a backing plate and something like a Lake Country Orange light cutting pad (sorry, I am not familiar with Meguiars pads). Swirl X will work, but will take several passes by what you describe. I'd give a bit of Ultimate Compound a try, and if that doesn't work, move up to the Professional Series Fine Cut Cleaner. Note, the fine cut may leave a very slight swirl, easily removed by swirl x.