I give up! On Swirls and Swirl X

[gmitch23]

I give up on removing swirls. I concentrated on a small area by hand and by orbital buffer using swirlx and it did nothing! Foam applicator, wiped off with micorfiber and nothing! Only thing i may have done wrong was that i was not in the shade. I might have even added more scratches. I used it on my wife's white eclipse and i tried to take pictures of it but the cobwebs will not show up in the pictures. I dont know how you guys do it but its impossible. I must say i am dissapointed in the product. I love the rest of Meguiars but swirl x is useless. Makes me hesitant to buy plasticx.

[Andrew C.]

Re: I give up! On Swirls and Swirl X

Hey gmitch23. First of all, always work in the shade and on a cool body panel or the product may not work properly. It may also be the case that SwirlX is not strong enough to remove the swirls on your wife's car. It is probably time for you to step it up to something a little more aggressive such as ultimate compound. And remember, work it on a cool surface not in the sun!

Go ahead and get PlastX, you will be very impressed!

[MortalDays]

Re: I give up! On Swirls and Swirl X

If you don't apply the product under shade, it would just simply evaporate or even do harm to your paint since you are applying chemical like the Swirl X (or any other products) on to your paint w/ the hot sun shining on top of you would result in a chemical reaction. If your condition of your paint is really severer, Ultimate Compound really does a good job; here is one of my photos taken right after using UC on my 4Runner w/ before and after:



Good luck.

[Murr1525]

Re: I give up! On Swirls and Swirl X

Not sure why you would be comparing SwirlX and PlastX.

But more to the point, removing swirls is not a matter of wiping a product around. It has to be worked in well. Unfortunatley, many of the cheaper buffers simply wipe the product around, and dont work it in.

You didnt mention what kind you were using, but if it is a cheaper one, you may need a stronger product, and that may or may not do it.

[fzr confused]

Re: I give up! On Swirls and Swirl X

an orbital buffer does not help remove defects. you need a d/a polisher or a rotary buffer to get correction out of it, that or you gotta use your hand.

[rinosaur]

Re: I give up! On Swirls and Swirl X

^ yeah a plain orbital buffer wont do much cutting. you need the dual action polisher minimum to do any cutting

[Markus Kleis]

Re: I give up! On Swirls and Swirl X

I give up on removing swirls. I concentrated on a small area by hand and by orbital buffer using swirlx and it did nothing! Foam applicator, wiped off with micorfiber and nothing! Only thing i may have done wrong was that i was not in the shade. I might have even added more scratches. I used it on my wife's white eclipse and i tried to take pictures of it but the cobwebs will not show up in the pictures. I dont know how you guys do it but its impossible. I must say i am dissapointed in the product. I love the rest of Meguiars but swirl x is useless. Makes me hesitant to buy plasticx.

Orbital buffers are definitely not recommended for use with SwirlX, for the exact reason you are frustrated. Orbital buffers lack the power needed to perform correction, and you would actually achieve more with an applicator and some elbow grease.

It is also possible that some paints are too hard for SwirlX to be effective, in which case a product like Ultimate Compound becomes a better fit. Also make sure to work on a cool surface and in a small area, maybe 16x16 inches, or possible just a square foot.

Give that a shot and report back.

[Fly Bye]

Re: I give up! On Swirls and Swirl X

^ yeah a plain orbital buffer wont do much cutting. you need the dual action polisher minimum to do any cutting

An orbital and a dual action polisher are the same thing. I've corrected plenty with a PC, which is an orbital, that also spins due to centrifugal force.

[Bunky]

Re: I give up! On Swirls and Swirl X

Mortaldays. The before picture looks like it has more gloss. I cannot tell if this is the camera angle or not.

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: I give up! On Swirls and Swirl X

Ditch the orbital for doing paint correction. Swirl-x is a great product. You have to use a lot of elbow grease to make it happen. Don't give up. Try a small section in the shade. Work the product in vigorously. You shouild achieve good results.

[gmitch23]

Re: I give up! On Swirls and Swirl X

I'll try again next weekend by hand, early morning so that it is not hot. Thanks for the advice but as of now im still a bit skeptical. Hey Murr, its not that im comparing swirlx and plastix, its that i'm reluctant to try another product since i didnt have luck with swirl x. I absolutely love pure polish #7 followed by deep crystal wax. Does anyone have any other products they reccommend?

[akimel]

Re: I give up! On Swirls and Swirl X

Polishing out an entire vehicle by hand is hard and time-consuming work, gmitch. A couple of observations:

1) It is wrong for you to jump to the conclusion that something is wrong with SwirlX just because you were unsuccessful in removing swirls in your first attempt. As others have pointed out, traditional orbital buffers are useless for swirl-removal. You need to either work by hand (use a foam applicator) or invest in a dual action polisher and pads.

2) The more likely explanation for your lack of success is that the problem lies either with your technique or the hardness of your paint system or both. SwirlX, for example, does a good job for me on my soft original Honda paint; but it ain't worth spit on the panels that have been re-painted--on the re-painted panels I always have to use Ultimate Compound to achieve decent correction. Just as one needs to find the right tool for any job, so one needs to find the right polish or compound for every car.

3) Always do a TEST SPOT: it allows you to find the right product for your particular paint system and to refine your technique.

Read through the various forum articles on Working by Hand, especially these:

How To Remove Swirls By Hand

Tips for removing swirls by hand with SMA Technology

Bottomline: be patient. Work on your technique and find the right products for the job.

Good luck!

[fzr confused]

Re: I give up! On Swirls and Swirl X

An orbital and a dual action polisher are the same thing. I've corrected plenty with a PC, which is an orbital, that also spins due to centrifugal force.

No. It would appear as though I have not used enough words to make it clear that the dual action polisher is dramatically more aggressive than a traditional orbital buffer because of it's optional higher OPM's and because it utilizes a smaller back plate, you can use a smaller foam pad and thus increase the amount of pressure applied over a smaller area.

OPM Speed and smaller pad size are two of the greatest features the dual action polisher provides over fixed speed/slow moving traditional orbital buffers.

http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1395

http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41001&highlight=Traditional+Orbital+Buffer+aka+Wax+Spreader

read through those links, and it will show you that a traditional orbital and a d/a are "the same" but drastically different at the same time.....now, do i know what type of machine was actually being used? no. but most of the time if someone is using a d/a they wont call it an orbital buffer.

[fzr confused]

Re: I give up! On Swirls and Swirl X

http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23332

which were you using OP?

[Poki]

Re: I give up! On Swirls and Swirl X

I too was haveing trouble gettng the trunk and spoiler on my 02 Saturn to look right. The rest of the car is GREAT using Color X and NXT2. No swirls! So, I tried more aggressive use of Color X with a foam pad, Cleaner WAx...nothing. The finish looked splotchy,cloudy. I was afraid I was seeing the start of clear coat failure. I picked up a bottle of Ultimate Compound and used a foam pad by hand. WoW!!! looks like a new paint job! That's why Megs offers so many different products....