removing swirl marks by hand?

[asm505]

Is it possible to do? Can you recommend a product (other than Scratch X)?

[Spali32]

Swirls are nothing more than light scratches from washing your vehicle. There are products either sold here or other online places that work awesome towards swirl marks. You can either tackle them by hand or machine. What I found is the polish and wax will fill in what the light is reflecting when it hits your paint. I personally use HI-Temp`s light cut leveler and Pizazz carnuaba wax. It works awesome. Check out my website for some before and after shots.

[mblgjr]

I`ve yet to find a good polish that actually removes swirls to any extent by hand.



For your efforts, you are better off to use a great glaze to fill them (so long as they are minor) and follow with a Carnauba based wax.



I`ve tried a LOT of products by hand through the years and finally bought a PC, it is WELL worth the initial investment.



Meg`s Deep Crystal #2, 3M Imperial Hand Glaze, Clearkote Vanilla Moose and Red Machine Glaze all work really well by hand for filling minor imperfections. 3M seems to fill the most and last the longest, RMG would be a close second and is a bit easier to use.

[asm505]

If you can`t remove them by hand, what would be the safest machine and polish to use?

[sQuashed]

Here`s the Safest Machine (http://www.guidetodetailing.com/articles.php?articleId=47) :waxing:

[BobD]

For hand work I always recommend Four Star 4-54 Sealant. It does an awesome job at filling in and hiding swirls.

[Accumulator]

For correcting marring by hand I always recommend 1Z polishes. Their Ultra/Extra is pretty aggressive, yet it does break down by hand. I use it to remove fingernail scratches behind the door handles on our Audis (very hard clear) and recently used it on a scratch my wife`s A8 had on one of the doors. Follow with something milder to remove the micromarring the Ultra/Extra will leave behind.



I`ve also used the discontinued (but still available) 3m PI-III RC 05933 and PI-III MG 05937 by hand. The 05933 isn`t as aggressive as the 1Z Ultra but it works OK with enough applications.



These approaches *work* if you put in the time/effort required. I once spent over half an hour with the Ultra on one 1/2" scratch behind the S8`s door handle before switching to a milder polish, and I spent plenty of time with the second product too ...the scratch *did* come out.



Note that ScottWax did some serious correction *by hand* on an almost daily basis for years before he finally got a PC and a Cyclo. IIRC he did most of his correction work with #83.