How long does it take you to remove heavy swirl marks on a midsize sedan?

kyazh · 08-24-07, 08:32

I probably spent 6 hours today on my 2006 Dark Blue Infiniti G35, and only got the hood and fenders done

. This was my second time using the PC. I started off with Orange pad and Meguires Scratch X on the hood... after about 30 minutes on speed 6 applying little pressure (using mostly weight of machine) I noticed very little difference. So, I switched over to 3M rubbing compound... I had some dried sap on my hood, so I sanded it off with 2000 grit wetsand. It took me about 40 minutes, 3 qtr size droplets of Rubbing Compound and maybe 15 pounds of pressure on the PC for it to get 95% of the sand paper scratches off... but a few small ones remained.... I did the fenders and switched over to SFX 3 with the Green pad on speed 5, and topped that off with SFX-1 with the Blue Pad on speed 4. I covered that up with 3M liquid wax and put another layer of P21s over that (I know its redundant but I like the depth and shine)...

After about 6 hours of work, I shine my 500w work light on the hood, and at an angle some scratches are still visible... but its no where near what it was before that .. but it's not perfect either...

I work on 3'x3' sections so I just divided the hood into 4 sections, and did the fenders in one... I plan to attack the roof and doors tomm and if I can make the process faster the trunk and qtr panels too... suggestions?

brwill2005 · 08-25-07, 08:03

Everyones definition of heavy is different. An experienced rotary user could spend 8-10 hours to completely rid a car of heavy swirl marks. With a PC it may not even be possible to completely remove the heavy swirl marks.

White lexus 23 · 08-25-07, 09:25

i agree if a car has really bad or deep swrils or depending on how hard the clear is it might not be possible to tottaly remove all the defects in the paint with a pc

David703 · 08-25-07, 09:27

I was never successful at removing 2000grit sand marks with a PC, I needed my rotory. I"ve spent 10 hours easy on a bad car when i first started with my PC.. Practice will yield quicker results.

themightytimmah · 08-25-07, 10:44

With a PC...forever. I never actually got a badly swirled car perfect until I made the changeover to a rotary. Nowadays, I can do a 3-step (Presta UCCL/Black wool, SIP/Orange foam, P085RD/Black foam) in 7-8 hours that will perfect pretty much anything out there - but it took me several years to get to this point.

Edit: try 4" pads on your PC. They speed up swirl removal quite a bit, and help with the breakdown of heavier compounds.

White lexus 23 · 08-25-07, 11:03

Nowadays, I can do a 3-step (Presta UCCL/Black wool, SIP/Orange foam, P085RD/Black foam) in 7-8 hours that will perfect pretty much anything out there - but it took me several years to get to this point ??????????????? are you talking about with a rotary or pc with this combo?

kapinnn · 08-25-07, 12:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by White lexus 23

Nowadays, I can do a 3-step (Presta UCCL/Black wool, SIP/Orange foam, P085RD/Black foam) in 7-8 hours that will perfect pretty much anything out there - but it took me several years to get to this point ??????????????? are you talking about with a rotary or pc with this combo?

Amen to that combo with the rotary. I use a white lc pad and 106FF, though. Almost the same.

themightytimmah · 08-25-07, 03:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by White lexus 23

Nowadays, I can do a 3-step (Presta UCCL/Black wool, SIP/Orange foam, P085RD/Black foam) in 7-8 hours that will perfect pretty much anything out there - but it took me several years to get to this point ??????????????? are you talking about with a rotary or pc with this combo?

I run a rotary (and the wool step *really* requires a rotary), however you could definetly do the last two steps via PC or UDM, and I generally do the 85RD via Cyclo if I don't have full sunlight to check my work in.