New black car owner

[Siren]

I just bought a used Cadillac CTS BLACK!!! I love the car but it looks like the previous owner took it through the car wash a lot. Lots of swirl marks. I love to detail cars and am up for the challenge. Want to stay away from a buffer so I don't get more swirls marks. I used the tech wax and it looks pretty good. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

[Shawn T.]

You're going to want to get the Ultimate System (ultimate compound, ultimate polish and ultimate wax/nxt 2.0)

Are you working by hand or machine?

[HCAD]

Re: New black car owner

Want to stay away from a buffer so I don't get more swirls marks.

My first suggestion is to correct your image of "buffers". No disrespect intended. Old school buffers are what you have in mind and in the wrong hands can indeed leave plenty of buffer trails, different from your swirl marks. New technology is the orbital buffer. You'll do yourself a favor by adding this to your arsenal along with Meguiar's new microfiber pad line-up for defect removal. Two easy steps and you'll have that Caddy almost like new again!

[Michael Stoops]

Re: New black car owner

Welcome to MOL!

Just so you know, we've moved this thread over to the "Introduce Yourself" section rather than our New 2012 Products section.

Congrats on the new to you CTS - awesome car! We'll second both Shawn's and John's comments. Using the wax you used was great but wax alone isn't really going to do much for those swirl marks because that's not what a wax is designed to do. Sure, it may conceal them to so degree, but it's not going to get rid of them. The Ultimate Compound that Shawn mentioned is what we use in all of our Saturday Classes (check pictures from those classes here) and you're going to need a dedicated paint cleaner like UC to eradicate those swirls. While this can be done by hand, there's a reason power tools were invented, and this is certainly as good a reason as any! That takes us to John's comments about buffers, and he's spot on. A good DA buffer like our G110v2 will make removal of those defects not only much faster and easier, but very safely too, even in the hands of a total novice. Check out D/A Buffing 101 - An Introduction to the G110v2 and similar tools for a full run down on proper use of these tools, and also read through the 5 Step Paint Care Cycle for a more thorough understanding of what's going on with your paint, how to diagnose issues, and then how to select the right products and use them properly.