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**Mike Phillips** · Dec 23, 2004, 06:19 PM

Re: HELP!!! PLEASE. Swirls on my BMW

Originally posted by tosatosa
Hello guys,

i m new here, from sydney...

I am going to spend tomorrow all day to fix up my car by myself.. since I am new about fixing swirls (first time ever), I would really love to hear (and appreciate your help very much) about your suggestions...

Many Thanks...

Ryan

Hi Ryan,

Sorry for the late reply, sometimes posts get buried by a lot of activity.

To remove the swirls in your car's finish, the best thing to do would be to invest in a dual action polisher, some foam pads and a few products from our Professional Line. Not only will these product do a better job than you can do with hand applied products, but the machine will also take out much of the work for you.

You can however do a lot with hand-applied products, here's what you want to do with the products you have purchased.

Here's the basic steps for any good detail. You can skip any if you have already performed the step. For example if the car is clean and you have clayed it previously, then you can skip steps 1 & 2.

Washing
Before detailing your car, first do an extremely good job of washing it. Remove all the dirt from all the nooks and crannies. This prevents any small abrasive dirt particle from entering into the machine polishing process and potentially instilling a swirl. Get the Car Sparkling Clean to start with and everything will be downhill after that.

Claying
After that clay the car, at least the horizontal surfaces. Again, do a good job of claying to insure you remove all above surface contaminants. The level of gloss you can achieve from your car's finish is mostly determined by how smooth you can make your paint. Claying will make your car's finish as smooth as glass.

Cleaning
Cleaning is different than washing. Cleaning is removing both above surface defects like oxidation and below surface defects like swirls, scratches, etchings, and dirt that has embedded itself under the surface. Choose the appropriate paint cleaner for the condition of your car's finish and your application process. If you're unsure of which paint cleaner or cleaner/polish is right for your car, describe your car and if possible post a picture and we'll be glad to make some recommendations.

Polishing
Polishing after removing the defects is typically using a pure polish that is non-abrasive to restore brilliant high gloss and deep, dark reflections. This is an optional step and one best used on medium to dark colored car.

Protecting
This is where you apply your choice of wax or paint protectant. Adding a layer or two of wax creates a sacrificial-barrier on your car's paint to protect it and also add shine and gloss. Generally, two thin coats will insure even coverage with a uniform appearance.

Maintaining
Maintaining is the use of products like a quick detailer or a spray wax to maintain that "Just detailed look" in-between regular washings, and the regular application of a normal coat of wax.

Note: To remove a below surface defect, you must remove some paint until the highest points of the surface are level with the lowest depths of the defect you're trying to remove. This means removing paint.

This is a simple drawing that I made in MS Paint to try to depict what blown-up view of hundreds of thousands of swirls would look like in a cross-section of your paint. As you can see there are high points and low points. In order to make the paint flat, smooth and swirl free you need to level the surface.

How deep of a defect you can remove is determined by how thick you paint is. Often times you can improve a defect, but not completely remove the defect as to do so would remove to much paint and in the case of a clear coat, expose the color coat and in the case of a non-clear coat finish, you will expose the primer under the color coat.

How much paint you can remove is hard to know because you can never know exactly how much working film-build you have to work with. Experience in this area helps a lot and sometimes luck is a factor to. Remember this, light swirls are generally pretty safe to remove, but deep scratches like key scratches etc. you will probably be better off merely improving the way they look so they don't stand out like a sore thumb, the to attempt to completely remove them.

When working on light swirls by hand or with a dual action polisher you're pretty save as both of these methods are not very aggressive in their cleaning action.

Out of the products you have listed, the most aggressive and most effective from removing swirls will be the ScratchX. The Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner is a chemical paint cleaner only and in and of itself will not remove a swirl.

The ScratchX on the other hand contains microscopic diminishing abrasives and when worked against the finish will gently abrade the paint. This will act to remove the high points on the surface and with the right touch, level them with the low points of the swirls. Below is a link to a how-to article on how to correctly use the ScratchX product. Note: This is not a WOWO product, (WOWO stands for Wipe On, Wipe Off), you with your hand must work the product against the finish to be effective. Here's the link,

How to remove a defect by hand with ScratchX

It is also important that when removing below surface defects with ScratchX by hand that you only tackle a small area at a time. If you try to apply the product to one half of the hood at one time, you will not be able to focus enough concentrated energy and attention to the entire area and you will not be successful. Work small areas at a time and overlap into each previously worked area for uniform defect removal which will equate to a uniform look at the end of the process.

The cleaning step is the most important step. If you do not remove the defect in the cleaning step, it will be there when you wipe off your last application of wax. Here's the good news, while the cleaning step takes the longest, the other steps are pretty quick.

The Polishing Step
After you have applied and removed the ScratchX to the entire car, next is the polishing step. For this step, use the Deep Crystal Polish and simply apply a thin application to the entire finish. Work this product in well like you would when you apply skin lotion to dry skin and then move on. It's important to do a good job, but you in no way have to work this product or take as much time as you do the ScratchX step.

You can either apply to a section at a time and then remove, or if your skill level is high and you're comfortable with removing this product then you can apply to the entire finish and then remove.

You don't need to let either the ScratchX or the Polish dry before removing.

Compounds, Paint Cleaners, Cleaner/Polishes and Pure Polishes do not need to dry before removing them. Letting them dry will only make them more difficult to remove. In the Meguiar's line, the only products that need to dry are our waxes.

After you have applied and removed the polish, you can now apply your choice of wax. Meguiar's recommend two thin coats for uniform coverage and a uniform appearance.

If you apply your products correctly you can do this,

Hope this helps...

Mike

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HELP!!! PLEASE. Swirls on my BMW

HELP!!! PLEASE. Swirls on my BMW

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