I messed up. I know it's fixable. How?

[GLOCKer]

I had three small shallow scratches on my black car in different areas that I attempted to clean up yesterday before I washed the car. I used a quick detailer to knock the dust off these areas before I took Ultimate Compound to the scratches by hand on a foam applicator pad, After wiping off the compound, I then applied Ultimate polish on a microfiber applicator pad by hand. After applying the Ultimate Polish, I saw I had created swirl marks in my black paint. I applied some more polish by hand, and it took some, but not all of the swirls out. A hand application of Ultimate Wax further diminished the appearance of the swirls, but if you look for them, you can see them. And the end result is that the faint scratches I initially set out to correct are still visible.

So my questions are:

• What did I do wrong to create the swirls?
  
• How do I fix the swirls?
  
• What do I need to do to fix the light scratches?

I usually use an orbital buffer for polishing and waxing my car, but I didn't have any clean bonnets yesterday. I've tried removing the scratches with polish and my orbital buffer in the past, but didn't have any luck. Should I step up to the Mequair's DA system and polish? DA system and compound?

[Eldorado2k]

Re: I messed up. I know it's fixable. How?

I think you kinda picked the wrong applicators for each step.. Ideally you should've used the microfiber applicator for the compound and foam for the polish..

Microfiber applicators are more aggressive which could be the reason you inflicted the minor scratches while polishing. Try to compound again with the foam applicator. If that doesnt work then try a clean microfiber applicator. Then follow up with the polish using a foam applicator and dont use as much pressure as you would during the compound step.

[GLOCKer]

Re: I messed up. I know it's fixable. How?

I think my message got crossed up a little. I did use the foam for the compound and the microfiber for the polish. Should I reverse that? The compound felt a little gritty; just barely perceptively so. I imagine that's why it does the job it does. Could that have left the swirls? All the applicators I used and any cloth I removed residues with were clean and uncontaminated. I actually got concerned because I inspect all of my clothes before use and found what looked to be a metal bristle in one!

[Eldorado2k]

Re: I messed up. I know it's fixable. How?

No your message didn't get crossed up.. I understood what you meant.
Yes, you might want to reverse them. Or if possible use foam for both steps if you find that it works to remove the scratches/swirls while compounding. But if you have a choice of foam or microfiber for the polish step, choose foam, just in case your paint is on the soft side. Heck it's black, you want to be as carefull as possible.

And I hate those little metal bristle bits too. I'm guessing they might come from pads. That's why I always inspect at least the face of towel before I use it to wipedown the paint

Before/after laundry is another good time to spread your towels out and inspect them.

[The Guz]

Re: I messed up. I know it's fixable. How?

Foam works fine with both liquids. You want to put a little pressure but not a lot. You want to avoid installing any other defects. Search cheetah spots on the forum.

[GLOCKer]

Re: I messed up. I know it's fixable. How?

To correct the issues I caused and hopefully fix the minor scratches, I just picked up a Meguiar's DA Power System, a UC kit for the DA Power System, and some Scratch X. Hopefully this will do me well!!!!

[davey g-force]

Re: I messed up. I know it's fixable. How?

Nice, let us know how you go!

Some pictures would be helpful too.