HELP with SwirlX!!!! Its SCRATCHING my car!!

[be2112]

Hi, i'm new here to Meguiars. I've been checking the site out for about a week now and you guys convinced me to switch to your products.

I bought swirlX the other day and used it today for the first time. That was after I washed and clayed the whole car. I used a nickel sized dab and a brand new foam applicator pad to apply SwirlX to a portion of my hood. This happened!



The rest of the hood looks like this




What happened? Did I do anything wrong? How could my paint be that thin? My car is a 2007 Honda Odessy so its not that old.

[Markus Kleis]

Re: HELP with SwirlX!!!! Its SCRATCHING my car!!

What are you referring to? The thicker white lines/triangles?

Those are known as crow's feet, and it is basically where paint dries and cracks - typically from extreme heat and sun exposure, as well as a lack of proper paint care over time.

What you are likely seeing is the SwirlX product getting stuck in those cracks.

[fzr confused]

Re: HELP with SwirlX!!!! Its SCRATCHING my car!!

honda hoods (in the USA at least) are extremely prone to crows feet ....it wasnt the product. like said above its prob product stuck in the cracks, use an IPA wipedown and it should clean it up a bit...but the problem was there before.

[Andrew C.]

Re: HELP with SwirlX!!!! Its SCRATCHING my car!!

Get some Isopropyl Alcohol and mix it 50/50 with water, go over the area you did and it should take the product out of the little cracks. Look closely at the area you didn't treat with Swirl X. You'll see those little cracks, there just won't be product stuck in them.

[Aeolis]

Re: HELP with SwirlX!!!! Its SCRATCHING my car!!

Anyway to get those crows feet out? no im guessing.

[be2112]

Re: HELP with SwirlX!!!! Its SCRATCHING my car!!

No its not swirlx stuck on the paint. I went to PepBoys and asked someone there about it. He told me it was orange peel (Im not familiar with orange peel so i don't know if he's right). So theres actually paint missing on the white areas. I think when I used swirlx i actually took the paint off those "line-shaped bumps". So I guess Im going to have to take it to the dealer.

(The second picture doesn't really capture it, but those bumps are all over the hood.)

Edit: Aeolis, yeah its crows feet.

[SVT Lightning]

Re: HELP with SwirlX!!!! Its SCRATCHING my car!!

Usually those lines are the first indicator of clear-coat failure. That's NOT orange peel.....

[Markus Kleis]

Re: HELP with SwirlX!!!! Its SCRATCHING my car!!

No its not swirlx stuck on the paint. I went to PepBoys and asked someone there about it. He told me it was orange peel (Im not familiar with orange peel so i don't know if he's right). So theres actually paint missing on the white areas. I think when I used swirlx i actually took the paint off those "line-shaped bumps". So I guess Im going to have to take it to the dealer.

(The second picture doesn't really capture it, but those bumps are all over the hood.)

Edit: Aeolis, yeah its crows feet.

It's definitely not orange peel... whoever gave you that diagnosis certainly isn't an automotive detailing expert

Orange peel is the texture that paint gets when it is painted too thick, which is found to some degree on all new car finishes, and looks - as the name suggests - similar to an orange peel.

Does your camera have a macro mode? The pictures are fairly though to see, but I still believe you are dealing with some form of crow's feet.

[fzr confused]

Re: HELP with SwirlX!!!! Its SCRATCHING my car!!

yeah, that is def NOT orange peel....someone actually thought it was???? man....while i dont doubt you have orange peel (almost every car does), those marks are NOT it....

it is def crows feet and like i stated earlier the US hondas are known to have this all over their hoods.

[Blueline]

Re: HELP with SwirlX!!!! Its SCRATCHING my car!!

This is orange peel.

http://www.ronjoseph.com/expert_witness/auto_paint_orange_peel.htm

[Michael Stoops]

Re: HELP with SwirlX!!!! Its SCRATCHING my car!!

We have a forum member who drives a red Ford Focus with that exact same problem. Interestingly, it is only on the hood of his car and if you look closely at it, there is a definite large "X" pattern on the hood that has none of this defect. When you open the hood, directly under that "X" pattern is the cross bracing for the hood. The hood also lacks a fiber mat underneath so it appears he's got a heat issue causing this problem. It exists nowhere else on his car.

That said, did you apply SwirlX to the whole car and only see this issue on the hood? If so that should be enough to convince you that it isn't the products fault - if something is going to damage paint, it's going damage all the paint, not just in one confined area.

[Andrew C.]

Re: HELP with SwirlX!!!! Its SCRATCHING my car!!

Have you done an IPA wipedown yet to see if the product comes out of the crows feet?

[SVT Lightning]

Re: HELP with SwirlX!!!! Its SCRATCHING my car!!

We have a forum member who drives a red Ford Focus with that exact same problem. Interestingly, it is only on the hood of his car and if you look closely at it, there is a definite large "X" pattern on the hood that has none of this defect. When you open the hood, directly under that "X" pattern is the cross bracing for the hood. The hood also lacks a fiber mat underneath so it appears he's got a heat issue causing this problem. It exists nowhere else on his car.

That said, did you apply SwirlX to the whole car and only see this issue on the hood? If so that should be enough to convince you that it isn't the products fault - if something is going to damage paint, it's going damage all the paint, not just in one confined area.

Thanks for the heads-up Michael! I could never figure out why my MIL's car has crows feet on the hood...and no where else. I'll have to look closer for the X pattern. It's a Chevy Impala.