Light Swirls: Am I worrying too much?

[scanlessfool]

Hello, everyone.

I'm about to begin a full detail on my car now that I have a daily driver and have found a product that I'm comfortable working with. The pictures of the purple car show a before and after with Griot's Machine Polish 2 after one pass with an Orange LC pad. The last picture is 50/50 shot of a test panel I did on a friend's car. My question stems from the last picture. Above the tape line in the last picture is the test panel after I worked the product. You can however see very light imperfections still which is what I'm seeing on my purple car. Am I worrying to much that the product isn't fully removing the swirls or is it okay and those light marks should go away after I polish it? I hope it all makes sense the way I attempted to explain it.

Thank you.

[Murr1525]

Re: Light Swirls: Am I worrying too much?

The first thing would be to try a second pass.

[ChevyNick]

Yeah like Murr said, definitely do a second pass. I've had to do multiple passes before to get all the swirls out.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Light Swirls: Am I worrying too much?

Definitely do a second pass - if you've made huge progress with the first pass that means you're on the right track so a second pass should finish it off. Going with a lighter finishing polish likely won't remove these last remaining swirls as they may be a bit deeper than the majority that were removed in the first pass, or at least as deep. A finer polish would then have to be more aggressive than the first one and, obviously, that doesn't make any sense.

So, give it another pass, and maybe even increase the pressure and slow down your arm movements - both of which will increase the overall cut.

[scanlessfool]

Re: Light Swirls: Am I worrying too much?

I've finally had an opportunity to do a second pass and I can not get rid of the light swirl marks. I have tried a orange LC pad at speed 5 with Griot's Machine Polish 2, a orange LC pad at speed 5 with Wolfgang Total Swirl Removal, and lastly a yellow LC pad at speed 5 with Wolfgang Total Swirl Removal. I made sure to work all 3 products in real well and what appeared to work best was the Wolfgang Total Swirl Removal.

I know it is best to use the least aggressive method, which is why I don't want to use the yellow pad, but I'll take another crack at it when I get home. Other than that, does anyone else have any advice?

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Light Swirls: Am I worrying too much?

If these last remaining marks are being that stubborn, you should try stepping up to a more aggressive liquid. Ultimate Compound should take things up a good notch from the Wolfgang Total Swirl Removal - use it on the yellow pad at speed 5 with moderate pressure and see where that takes you.

[STRIFE]

Re: Light Swirls: Am I worrying too much?

Hey Michael, can you ban me from buying more stuff...anyways lol

I have the following products in my inventory
2 bottles of SwirlX
2 bottles of Ultimate Compound
1 gallon M66
1 bottle D300 (16oz)
1 bottle D301 (16oz)
Megs foam 4" & 7" pads (polish & finishing)
Megs MF 5" pads (cutting & finishing)
Griot Garage 3' & 6" (polish & finish)
Buff & shine 4" foam pads (polish & finish)

I need to tackle something similar but not as bad as the pics above (2011 Subaru)...what is my best bet?

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Light Swirls: Am I worrying too much?

If the swirls aren't as bad as those shown in scanlessfool's posts above, you shouldn't have to get too terribly aggressive with it. That means holding off on the DAMF System for the time being. Our first test spot would be Ultimate Compound, W8207 yellow polishing pad, speed 5 on the tool, moderate pressure, and covering the 2' x 2' test spot in side to side and up and down strokes, repeating both directions and then wiping off the residue. Give the finish a really critical look with good light at that point and gauge your progress. Just for giggles, if you've got the time to experiment a bit, try using the D300 on another W8207 foam pad, same speed, etc and see where that gets you. Depending on the paint, one may outperform the other, or you may get identical results.

[STRIFE]

Re: Light Swirls: Am I worrying too much?

Hmmm, I think I may use my smaller foam pads and test a few combos to see how well the various finishing pads do with all my products....along with the various polish pads I have.

I may start using M135/UQD in place of UWWA so i can increase my chances of causing swirls, so i can break out my DAMF pads .......still sitting on 2 gallons of M135 and a case of 6 UWWA just arrived.....life is hard