New Car..New Swirls

[army_eod]

OK. Just washed and waxed my new 06 Mustang. Clearcoat finish. I used Gold Class wash, wax, applicator, etc. All Gold Class products from the new kit I just received from Meguiar's. Now when I view my paint in sunlight, I new swirls.

What happened? Did I do something wrong? I followed Meguire's instructions and used Meguiar's products. PS. I have polished cars before.

I am not especially happy that I now see swirls and marks that were not there before I washed and waxed.

The car was built on 8 August 05.

Help!

[Superior Shine]

My best guess is the dealer prep guys slathered their favorite glaze all over you car and sent it down the road. It was maybe swirled already but the swirls were hidden by the glaze.

When you washed it you washed off the "make up" and boom- SWIRL CITY!

[Boss_429]

The dealer prep at most dealerships leaves a LOT to be desired, and they are probably the culprits.

However, you want to make sure you are using good washing and drying tools, and the proper washing and drying techniques. You can put swirls/spider web marks in a paint surface very fast if you are not doing it "right"!

[Mike Phillips]

There's a term used on forum like this called,

DISO

Dealer Installed Swirl Option


It's also a problem commonly brought up by members of this forum after purchasing a car and then seeking help to remove them.

How bad are they? Every car will have swirls to some degree unless you just polished and waxed your car.


Can you take a digital picture of the swirls in the sun so we can try to determine their cause? For example the swirls in the hood of the car below were caused by the mis-use of a rotary buffer and that's a brand new paint job!

[army_eod]

New Car

ALL

As I mentioned in my first post, used Meguiar's products and techiques.

I bought the car thru military overseas sales. The car was delivered to the local dealer for pickup. Local dealer specifically told me that in these type sales, the dealer does not do the regular prep. He told me they DID NOT wax or polish the car. They did wash it.

They didn't even put any fuel in it. Upside is that the car only had 5 miles on it. So, they weren't joy riding.

[Accumulator]

Even that *one* wash could've caused all the marring. My good car went years with no need to polish, but *one* wash, by people who were being very careful, resulted in incredible marring that took forever to fully remove.

Washing a car without marring the paint is much more difficult than most people could ever imagine. Think about the problem- how do you move potentially abrasive dirt off the paint without pressing said dirt *against* the paint? Let alone if the dirt is stuck to the paint, which is likely if there's no LSP on there.

[army_eod]

Swirls cont.

Well, you may be right about washing. I just took another look at the car and it is not so bad. The new Mustang is a blast BTW.

I will attempt to post a pic.



See if that works.

[Jeff Smith]

Sweet Ride.
I bet if you could snap a close up or 2 of those swirls some of these guys could give you some better informed insight into the problem.

[Mike Phillips]

Well truth be known, it's almost impossible to always have a swirl free finish without applying either some type of polish or wax.

Clear coat finishes are scratch-sensitive, this means while they are harder than traditional paints, they still scratch very easily and the nature of a clear coat finish is to highlight and reveal to your eyes these hundreds of thousands of fine scratches in the finish.

Because they are so fine, a coat of wax will usually fill them in and create the swirl free finish you're looking for. As far as starting with a flawless finish right off the assembly line or right out of the paint booth, as long as no one touches these finishes they will remain swirl free. So if you park the car in a garage and never drive it, or touch it, it will never get any swirls or scratches.

As soon as you begin to touch it however, car washing, wiping, drying etc., the truth is at some level, you will begin to instill fine scratches into the finish.

If this were not true, then all new cars would look good all the time forever. But a casual perusal through any parking lot will reveal to you that car finishes go down hill from the time the paint is applied and dried and only constant maintenance including either polishing or waxing and often times both, followed up with carefully maintenance, is the only way to maintain the finish.

You used all Meguiar's product to wash your car and now you see swirls. We make great car washes that lubricate the finish to help reduce the potential for instilling swirls, but that doesn't mean 100% guarantee you won't instill a scratch or swirl.

We offer what we think are the highest quality car wash mitts, sponges, and brushes in the industry, and while the quality is very high, it still doesn't guarantee you won't instill any scratches or swirls into your finish when you wash your car.

If you are very careful, use tools like the Grit Guard, use lots of water, and the absolute best technique for touching the wash mitt against the finish and pushing it along the paint, this is still no guarantee you won't instill a swirl or scratch into your car's finish because that's the nature of paint, that is it is a thin, delicate coating that is easily scratched, and easily dulled.

The most you can do is to do everything you can do to reduce the potential, than after that, apply a polish or a wax, and or both to restore the finish back to it's show room condition.

There is no way to merely wash and dry any paint system on the market and expect not to see swirls in the paint, it's going to happen. That's reality. In order to create that flawless, swirl-free finish, all of us are going to have to apply something and then wipe off the excess.


The day a paint company introduces a paint system that is swirl free from the time it is applied and dried, and will remain that way no matter how it's touched, then we're out of business. To date, that paint doesn't exist.

[army_eod]

Swirls

Just for the record, I am not complaining about Meguir's products. In fact, I am very pleased with them and just bought some more!

I think I am being overly picky. New car and all.

[Ranger72]

Took the liberty. Nice car.