Colorx stronger then Cleaner Wax?

[Beach Bum]

Re: Colorx stronger then Cleaner Wax?

Will UC will an agressive "elbow" remove swirl marks ? If I have to work as hard with UC as I did with (3 coats) of Swirlx, I will find another companies product.

Anyone have a cheap ($) not quality (lol) DA polisher ??

[k3ith]

Re: Colorx stronger then Cleaner Wax?

I think what we are saying is without knowing the degree of the swirls and type of paint, we don't know how aggressive you will have to get with it. All we know is that swirlx didn't work. So we are recommending trying UC in a test spot to see if it works and at what level of effort. It may be that all you needed was a little more than swirlx and it works with little elbow, or it may be that the marks are bad enough you need to apply more elbow or go to a machine. Either way, the point is that there is no direct correlation between the amount of elbow you used in swirlx to what you need in UC, it's about the paint and the swirls.

I was also pointing out that UC is not simply a stronger version of swirlx. It is a step up in aggressiveness but it behaves differently in application, again pointing out that a direct correlation of elbow is not really the way to look at it. It is going to need some elbow to be used properly - how much we don't know.

[bmrfan]

Re: Colorx stronger then Cleaner Wax?

Beach Bum - can you post pix showing the defects on your Sahara?

Pix of the defects will help us give you better advice on correcting the defects.

[Beach Bum]

Re: Colorx stronger then Cleaner Wax?

I will take pic's in the morning and post them. Looks great at night, which it is now, but in the sun, swirl galore.

[Beach Bum]

Re: Colorx stronger then Cleaner Wax?

*Language edit* went into the garage to take a picture and under the camera lens it looks like 20 million snake skins on the Jeep along with swirls. What the heck ? Looks great in the shade but WOW under the camera !!

HELP HELP HELP

[Markus Kleis]

Re: Colorx stronger then Cleaner Wax?

*Language edit* went into the garage to take a picture and under the camera lens it looks like 20 million snake skins on the Jeep along with swirls. What the heck ? Looks great in the shade but WOW under the camera !!

HELP HELP HELP

It is possible that the UC left some minor hazing of its own. It's normal depending on how much pressure you use and the paint you are working on.

Properly and fully removing deep swirls or defects is very, very rarely done with a single step of some magical product.

It takes time and hard work, especially when working by hand.

The next best step is to try a test spot of SwirlX where you used the UC. SwirlX is less aggressive than UC, so it effectively steps down the fine damage you may have left with UC.

From there, a cleaner wax is a great final step.

[Murr1525]

Re: Colorx stronger then Cleaner Wax?

Which step was the picture taken after?

[Beach Bum]

Re: Colorx stronger then Cleaner Wax?



My Jeep hood looks just like this with a little more haze. Since Swirlx didn't do much, guess I should step up to UC ??

Tried to find a video for applying UC by hand but couldn't find one. Is there a video out there for applying by hand ??

[Blueline]

Re: Colorx stronger then Cleaner Wax?

Looks great in the shade but WOW under the camera !!

HELP HELP HELP

"Black cars look better in the shade". Can't remember who sang it, but he sure was right on.

[TH0001]

Re: Colorx stronger then Cleaner Wax?

How hard is UC to apply by hand ? Does it take as much "elbow grease" as Swirlx did ? I started with the least agressive product as I have been told a "million" times on this forum. But the amount of work I put into using Swirlx with poor results I would hope UC wouldn't require as much "elbow grease".

Removing swirl marks means that you are abrading all of the paint surrounding the swirl mark away. Paint (even soft paint) is hard (relative to the task at hand). Removing paint by hand is not easy which is why people use machines that spin pads over 2,500 FEET per minute. Even with a powerful machine, the right products, and exacting techniques this process can take several days!

Will test it out and see what happens. Just because it's a JEEP doesn't mean it can't look like a show car going through the MUD.
The other comment about going more agressive in product doesn't mean less elbow grease was crazy to me. If I go stronger it SHOULD mean less effort not the same or more.

You are correct in your reasoning that a more aggressive product will need less effort to produce the same results (in theory). If you are happy with the results of swirlX, then stepping up to Ultimate Compound might give you the same results with less effort. However you are not talking about achieving the same results, you are looking for better results. You can't add 1 to one side (product aggressiveness) and subtract 1 from the other side (your aggressiveness) and expect better results...

Will UC will an agressive "elbow" remove swirl marks ? If I have to work as hard with UC as I did with (3 coats) of Swirlx, I will find another companies product.

Anyone have a cheap ($) not quality (lol) DA polisher ??

Regarding other companies hand polishes, I think you are going to find yourself dissappointed if you travel down that road.

Meguiar's consumer polishes use technology that is derived from their professional line, and use abrasives that remove maximum material while leaving behind a great finish. This is ideal for hand polishing.

You have two choices to reduce the appearance of your swirl marks.

Remove them by mechanically by abrading the paint or by covering them up with products that temporarily hide the imprefections.

Abrading the paint by hand is very hard work and exhausting, but Meguiar's polishes give you the necessary tools to perform the task. However the end result is going to come down to you and how much energy, time, and effort you are willing to invest into the project. If you are looking for a miracle product that is going to save you time and effort you are best off saving your money and paying a professional detailer to remove the swirl marks or consider purchasing a machine polisher.

Since removing swirls means abrading paint and it is hard to do, the only other option would be to fill in the marks with a product designed to do so. While the results won't last, the trade off in effort might be worth it. This is what most miracle scratch removers do anyways.

If you elect to try it by hand further get Ultimate Compound, a foam applicator pad, and work a small test section first. Apply a quarter sized amount of product to your pad, spread it out over a 1x1 foot square then rubbed with pressure vigorously until your arm feels like it is about to fall off (a minute or more) or the product dries. Wipe off the residue and inspect that area. If there is still swirl marks, then repeat until your arm falls off or you are happy with the resulting finish.

It is a daunting task to create a show car finish by hand on today's modern clear coats (even with excellent products such as Meguiar's Ultimate Compound) so I would consider blocking off a couple of hours a week to sit down and focus on perfecting one area at a time until you can get the whole Jeep perfect. Best of luck.

[Beach Bum]

Re: Colorx stronger then Cleaner Wax?

You have two choices to reduce the appearance of your swirl marks.

Remove them by mechanically by abrading the paint or by covering them up with products that temporarily hide the imprefections.

Since removing swirls means abrading paint and it is hard to do, the only other option would be to fill in the marks with a product designed to do so. While the results won't last, the trade off in effort might be worth it. This is what most miracle scratch removers do anyways.

How can I hide them as you mentioned and with what product ?

[bmrfan]

Re: Colorx stronger then Cleaner Wax?

The hood has a good quantity of swirls & possibly some etchings from water or bird droppings (at least it looks like that in your picture).

Ultimate Compound (UC) by hand will likely give better results than SwirlX by hand but you're still in for a lot of work if your entire truck is in this condition - especially if you want a truck with very few swirl marks.

It wouldn't surprise me that UC with a polishing pad on a DA might require 2-3 applications (assuming you want a virtually swirl free finish).

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Colorx stronger then Cleaner Wax?

Listen well to Todd's (TH0001) advice because he knows his stuff inside and out. He also moderates a detailing forum run by a distributor that sells a very wide range of products so he's used tons of products other than Meguiar's. There is no magic potion for removing the sort of defects you have, whether working by hand or with a buffer of some sort.

Hiding these defects is only very temporary at best, and you won't achieve 100% concealment anyway.

If you look through the threads with pictures from our Saturday Classes you'll see plenty of vehicles where we did a test spot using UC by hand and while the overall results vary, they are usually very good indeed. But we aren't going to lie to you here - attempting to do all of this by hand is hard work and it takes elbow grease. Period.

But the notion of a test spot brings up another concern here - how large of an area are you working on at a time? If you're attempting to do half the hood, or even just a quarter of it, by hand you're likely never going to see the results you want. All of the test spots you see in the Saturday Class images threads are about 1' x 1', no more. And if we were to do an entire vehicle by hand, we would do it one square foot at a time. That's because, as Todd so eloquently stated, the process you are undertaking is one of removing paint, and paint can be very hard.