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Help needed removing swirls and scratches

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  • Help needed removing swirls and scratches

    Hi all

    Well yesterday my wife accidentally let the cat into my garage and while trying to jump onto the car's sunroof, the dumb furball failed badly and left a series of vertical light scratches (~1 inches by 3 inches, 2 spots, not very deep ) on the c pillar of my 10 merc W212, i need some advise to properly remove those scratches and bring back the shine ( by hand)

    Here's what i got : yellow & microfiber pad, Ultimate compound, ScratchX 2.0, SwirlX, some Sonax Xtreme nano No.1 and No.3 mild Polish & Wax (yeah, i don't know which to get, so i brought them all..)

    ---
    Here's what i already tried:

    1,washed and clayed the c-pillar.

    2,Applied and workd UC onto the paint (3 tries) with the yellow pad plus much passion, maybe too much passion in fact because while UC removed most scratches but also left the clear coat kinda dull plus millions of tiny swirls

    3,in a panic, i gently worked several goes of SwirlX then followed with some wax.

    Now the paint is no longer dull but im not quite satisfied with the result. So im planning to try again.
    ---

    Questions:

    1. What technics shall i use to avoid unnecessarily damaging the clear coat while working on the paint?

    2. Which product is the best bet?

    3. If i use UC or ScratchX, do i need to finish up with some mild polishing wax or is there a way to avoid those nasty swirls while working on the paint??

    Thanks!

    PLEASE! There must be a way to cure this, or i'll bone my wife's cat!

    The Bucket.
    Last edited by the_mighty_bucket; Oct 18, 2010, 12:31 PM. Reason: typo

  • #2
    Re: Help needed removing swirls and scratches

    btw, W212's clearcoat is quite soft, so soft infact that it can even catch a light scratch from falling leaf.. well, i saw it in person, i saw the leaf elegantly glides across my bonnet in a light autumn breeze, and guess what, scratched it!

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    • #3
      Re: Help needed removing swirls and scratches

      Buy a D/A. I have a G220. It has reduced the swirls and scratches on my deep black pearl. Its the best product I have purchased in a long while.

      Also purchase a brinkman dual xenon light. Both are great products

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      • #4
        Re: Help needed removing swirls and scratches

        I got D/A and 3 pads( 2 polishing and one waxing) making their way to me. I really hope the machine can make a difference because after all the positive comments i heard from others, my anticipation is pretty high. lol.

        I'll try using it on my Audi first as a test bed.

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        • #5
          Re: Help needed removing swirls and scratches

          Originally posted by the_mighty_bucket View Post
          I got D/A and 3 pads( 2 polishing and one waxing) making their way to me. I really hope the machine can make a difference because after all the positive comments i heard from others, my anticipation is pretty high. lol.

          I'll try using it on my Audi first as a test bed.
          I have 6 polishing and 3 finishing pads. I tend to use 3-4 on a large saloon and 5-6 on a 4x4. Also I still prefer applying wax by hand with a soft foam applicator. The only thing my finishing pad will see is DC02 polish or Swirl X.

          Have you got a paint depth gauge or a swirl light? I find the Brinkman excellent. Also the paint depth gauge has been a great tool for finding very thin paint or accident repairs on detailing jobs I have had in the past.

          As for a test bed just remember no 2 cars are the same.

          Hope that helps,

          Rappy.

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          • #6
            Re: Help needed removing swirls and scratches

            thanks Rappy, i never played with machine polish before (im more of a hammer guy, machines scares me ha ha ha) , that's why im testing it on the 13yr old audi first, just to find out how firm i need to press it against the paint. better safe than sorry, lol and i always apply wax by hand, no tools, pads,towels used, it's easier to achive an even,thin coat.

            i use a 65lumen flashlight to spot the swirls, quite happy with that one. And nope, never even heard of a depth gauge.. i'll try google.

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            • #7
              Re: Help needed removing swirls and scratches

              Same here I was bit nervous about using a machine. Its very addictive when you get use to it

              I got my paint depth gauge from paint detective. Also a great tip get a permenent marker and draw a line on the yellow part of the backing plate that way you can see the revolution on the d/a

              Hth,

              Rappy

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