Swirls and Scratches Don't Exist

[Mike Phillips]

Swirls and Scratches Don't Exist

Technically, you don't remove swirls and scratches because they don't exist, they are voids in the paint. You see, swirls and scratches have no physical substance or material, they are the visual appearance of missing paint.

In order to restore a flawless, swirl and defect free finish you need to gently, and in a controlled manner, remove a little paint off the surface which has a leveling-effect. You don't actually remove swirls and scratches, you remove the paint surrounding swirls and scratches.


Same thing goes for Type II Water Spots. You don't remove Type II Water Spots, your remove the paint surrounding Type II Water Spots.

Two Types of Bird Dropping Etchings


Because factory paint is thin, the approach you want to take when removing below surface defects is to use the least aggressive product to get the job done. By using this approach you remove the defects while leaving the maximum amount of paint on the car and this will help the exterior paint to last over the service life of the car.

All the UV protection for the basecoat is in the clear coat, so the more clear paint you remove off the surface, the less UV protection you have to protect the paint.

See this article,
"Use the least aggressive product to get the job done"

[Murr1525]

Re: Swirls and Scratches Don't Exist

Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead... only try to realize the truth. There is no spoon.

[wifpd4]

Re: Swirls and Scratches Don't Exist

Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead... only try to realize the truth. There is no spoon.

At long last, existential concerned car care. This must be the next step in my apprenticeship training!

Quote:
And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.
Friedrich Nietzsche

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Swirls and Scratches Don't Exist

Actually, this is part of another article for the forum and for another project and the other article hasn't been posted yet and the the other project isn't finished yet.

[Lee Yoder]

Re: Swirls and Scratches Don't Exist

Am I flashing back from long ago LSD trrip? Oh wait, I never used LSD, it must have been that nasty bump on the head!

Later,

[Keebler]

Re: Swirls and Scratches Don't Exist

Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead... only try to realize the truth. There is no spoon.

You are the one.

[Andrew C.]

Re: Swirls and Scratches Don't Exist

Technically, you don't remove swirls and scratches because they don't exist, they are voids in the paint. You see, swirls and scratches have no physical substance or material, they are the visual appearance of missing paint.

Your argument is that scratches cannot be removed as they do not physically exist since they have no physical substance, but rather exist as just visual observations. Well a scratch cannot necessarily be deemed to having no physical substance just because it is not a separate entity from the paint. We are using scratch as a noun in this instance, where it can be defined as: "a slight injury, mar, or mark, usually thin and shallow, caused by scratching."

Scratches do exist. They are simply composed of the uneven areas of the paint. The whole panel is a bunch of paint, and the scratch is just the specific bits of paint that are uneven. In this case, scratches can be considered a subset of the paint. The scratch cannot exist without the paint, or for that fact, whatever other material you are looking at that is scratched. While not completely on the same scale, its like how a nose is a subset of your face. You can't say your nose doesn't exist, its just your face. Your nose does exist.

It may be hard to visualize, but imagine a large long flat countryside plane and randomly in the middle there is a huge crevice. Yeah, that crevice is composed of all that same dirt the countryside is composed of and yeah it is still considered part of the plane, but it is still a crevice, not just a visual appearance of missing dirt in the plane.

Not trying to start any arguments by the way, just my opinion on the matter.

[Andrew C.]

Re: Swirls and Scratches Don't Exist

You don't actually remove swirls and scratches, you remove the paint surrounding swirls and scratches.

And isn't the scratch in existence because of uneven paint? So wouldn't removing the surrounding paint remove the existence of the scratch, so you are removing the scratch as you are having it cease to exist anymore.

Yes you would be removing surrounding paint, but it also removes the scratch, as you are making the properties that compose a scratch to no longer hold true. Say someone is debt since they owe money. The property that puts them in debt is that they owe money. If they no longer owe money, then their debt no longer exists. It has been removed, it's gone, erased, however you wish to say it.

[paulcr39]

Re: Swirls and Scratches Don't Exist

Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead... only try to realize the truth. There is no spoon.

.....and my family thinks I'm nuts when I tell them this is my Zen?!?!



.....I am the walrus....

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Swirls and Scratches Don't Exist

Andrew, you're an engineering student, aren't you?

.....I am the walrus....

goo goo g'joob

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: Swirls and Scratches Don't Exist

It all makes sense, I think.

[Andrew C.]

Re: Swirls and Scratches Don't Exist

Andrew, you're an engineering student, aren't you?

Yep

[schctrg]

Re: Swirls and Scratches Don't Exist

Andrew awesome write up!

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Swirls and Scratches Don't Exist

Not trying to start any arguments by the way, just my opinion on the matter.

And a great opinion...

Like I said, this little short article was extracted from something else that's not ready to post yet and it was mostly something I posted just for fun as I've come to learn and expect that not everyone will agree with or even like what I write.... but that's okay...

The cool thing is just seeing people read and then reply with their thoughts and opinions.... on that point... the article is successful.

[k3ith]

Re: Swirls and Scratches Don't Exist

on that point... the article is successful.

Heck, it may be the best thread I've ever read. Question though, when I make this post, am I really moving the thread back to the top of the list, or are the other threads being sanded down so this one sticks out and rises to the top?