Is it possible to buff a car w/o swirl marks?

[ACC]

I have tons of scratch all over my black 1999 saab (looks like car went through a dirty automatic car wash 100 times). They are not deep enough to catch a fingernail, but they make the finish look very dull.

I went to a very experienced detailer and he said he would use Macguires #3 (with a foam pad and high speed buffer), then a glaze, then a wax to get the scratches out.

What worries me is that he said if I ever don't have the car waxed and glazed I will see swirl marks from the highspeed buffer.

He said it is impossible to buff a car and not leave some swirl marks behind. Is this true?

[BradE]

What worries me is that he said if I ever don't have the car waxed and glazed I will see swirl marks from the highspeed buffer. He said it is impossible to buff a car and not leave some swirl marks behind. Is this true?

Well, yes and no. If the person using the rotary has very little expierence coupled with a black car; it's probably going to be swirl city. But, if the person is very expierenced he should be able to polish the car and leave little if any hazing or swirls. Since your car is black it *might* require a few passes with an orbital and a machine polish to remove any haze.

To answer your question, there is no excuse for leaving a car a swirled mess. You SHOULD NOT have to constantly glaze and wax the car to cover his mistakes. If this guy is already making excuses, and more or less saying he will swirl your car with a rotary buffer, I would look else where. Chances are this person has no idea what they are doing and probably should not be using that machine in the first place.

Good Luck!

[JustinTRW]

I've seen a few cars that have had rotaries used on them without the final steps and they did have a few buffer marks. However, I also feel that when a rotary is used properly, it should not leave any marks. I would go to another detailer because it sounds like he is trying to use a rotary and does not know how to. A few marks would be acceptable, but him saying the entire car wil be swirled is unacceptable.

[bretfraz]

The best detail jobs I've ever seen have been done using rotaries. If you went to Pebble Beach Concours last week the detailers there were using rotaries. The best painter I know of, Junior Conway, uses a rotary to polish out $15,000 paint jobs.

It's all about the operator, not the machine. Used properly a rotary will outperform any other machine. Either the guy can get results from it or he can't.

I agree with the others; get more opinions and estimates. This guy sounds a little flaky.

[Lowejackson]

Your paying for skills, if he informs you he has not got the skills and so will cause swirls, go elsewhere.

Steven

[blackntan]

On the same token...

I have a black mx5, just repainted.. It had no swirlies when it came back from the booth.. How do I keep it from getting them?? I do most of my work by hand, and just the basic wash so far has caused swirlies...

How do I stop em from occuring? I buff with the car panels, never in a circle motion, use MF clothes, and so on and so forth, but slowly and surely, they are coming...

I also know there are products that hide and fill them, but id like to stop the problem at its roots if possible...

[JustinTRW]

MF does not scratch, but dirt does. You should only be wiping the surface when it is clean. PM me if you want to talk more.