swirl finder lights

[renewit]

Do you use swirl finder lights? If so what do you use or recommend?

[Nikku]

Fenix Tk10, Sun Gun, halogen work lights, Ultrafire. You have ton of options :)

[GoCubsGo]

The Brinkmann is another cost effective option.

[termigator]

I use the Brinkmann. I got it at PepBoys for $30 ($40- $10 off coupon).:)

[renewit]

Thanks,I going with the Bringman and a couple work lights. I checked out 3M`s Sun Gun you should be able to find any swirls,scratches,etc. for over $400 bucks.

[JoeGravelle]

Thanks,I going with the Bringman and a couple work lights. I checked out 3M`s Sun Gun you should be able to find any swirls,scratches,etc. for over $400 bucks.



oh boy is it a nice unit. I had to go out and purchase one with someone elses card so we could get the paint perfect on an R2D2 using automotive paints. Best thing ever but stupid expensive

[LICamaro85]

I use the brinkman as well, I think the biggest thing is too use "swirl finder lights" under low light. Meaning when in the garage and you are going to use the light shut off the rest of your halogens etc. and just use the "swirl light" this makes it much easier to actually see the swirls IMO.



What I usually do is polish the whole car "blind" under my normal halogens then when I complete an entire step I go over the car in the dark with the brinkman and see if I need to correct anything else than go on to my next step.





- LI 85

[Tony1]

None of the lights I have tried beat using the sun with sun glasses on. No matter what light source I use the sun always finds something I can`t see in other lighting conditions.

[Accumulator]

I seem to be the only guy in the world who doesn`t like the Brinkman all that well :o Don`t get me wrong, it`s a good light and for what it costs I`d say people might as well have one.



But I generally do a lot better with my incandescent lights (ceiling-mounted and hand-held).



Some stuff still shows up better/*differently* under halogens, but the incandescents are my overall faves.



And even the fluorescents that I always disparage can be great for checking gloss levels and certain types of texture issues.



I`ve been using the 3M SunGun more and more ever since I *FINALLY* got the hang of it. It`s still the only thing besides natural sunlight that will show holograms and *VERY* light micromarring. I oughta credit Dave KG here, as I had initially thought the SunGun didn`t work all that well, but his insistence motivated me to keep working with it until I learned just how to use it correctly.



IMO the *BIG* thing is to turn out all the other lights. Whatever light you`re using for a given task should be the only light that`s on.



The halogens will usually give me a good idea about how severe the marring is and make for decent in-progress inspections. Then, once I think I have things pretty well corrected, I turn out all the other lights and inspect with the incandescents. Once everything passes muster under those, I turn *them* out too, and start inspecting with the SunGun (which can be such a big long job that I`ll have to stop and recharge it), which shows stuff I simply can`t see under any other lighting (e.g., think M105 finishes out OK? So did I until I got the hang of the SunGun, then it was "yikes!").



Heh heh, Mike Phillips and I sorta have a running joke between us regarding my over-the-top approach to inspection lighting. He`s pointed out, quite sensibly, that nobody`s walking around in real life inspecting cars with special lights, looking for flaws that would never bother a normal person in real life situations.



Mike and I have both found that under some conditions, the SunGun (used properly) is even more demanding than natural sunlight. Guess it`s a question of what you`re aiming for. There`s a lot to be said for not looking for problems that you don`t know you have ;)

[black03mach]

Im saving my pennies for a sungun but accumulator`s post really has me thinking...if with my brinkman i can get the paint corrected to the point where there is nothing in the sun then why bother to go forward...I`ve seen some of the discussions and im still hung up because if there are still swirls that can bend and refract light then there is still more gloss to be found imo...but who know...damn this website! I miss the days when cars looked good after washing with dawn and an old towel and then waxed with a tshirt

[Accumulator]

Im saving my pennies for a sungun but accumulator`s post really has me thinking...if with my brinkman i can get the paint corrected to the point where there is nothing in the sun then why bother to go forward...



Well, I will point out that *I* can`t get things "sunlight ready" under the Brinkman. I can come close enough (holograms and super-light micromarrng excepted) with the incandescents though, and a hand-held one is only ~$25 at Lowe`s.




I`ve seen some of the discussions and im still hung up because if there are still swirls that can bend and refract light then there is still more gloss to be found imo...but who know...damn this website! I miss the days when cars looked good after washing with dawn and an old towel and then waxed with a tshirt



Heh heh, I know exactly what you mean :D And once I get something *really* nice, keeping it that way can be such a PIA that it can take some of the fun out of the ownership experience.



It`s kinda a relief for me to have my `93 Audi for just that reason. The previous owner let it get so bad that only a repaint will fix it, so I just try to *not* look so closely and/or let it bother me. There`s something to be said for a "20/20 car" (i.e., it looks OK from 20 feet away when it`s going 20 mph).



Funny thing is, people are always complimenting me on how nice it looks, but nobody seems to notice the condition of my nearly-perfect minivan :think:

[Tony1]

Sounds like many people spend a lot of time looking for defects that are invisible to people under normal circumstances. I can tell you one thing for sure. The clear coat failure you will eventually end up with by chasing every little invisible defect will be visible to every body in every lighting condition.



Don`t give me the BS about a PC or other dual action machine not being able to damage paint. If it can remove swirls it`s removing clear coat. Remove too much clear coat and you have a problem period.

[Accumulator]

Sounds like many people spend a lot of time looking for defects that are invisible to people under normal circumstances. I can tell you one thing for sure. The clear coat failure you will eventually end up with by chasing every little invisible defect will be visible to every body in every lighting condition.



Don`t give me the BS about a PC or other dual action machine not being able to damage paint. If it can remove swirls it`s removing clear coat. Remove too much clear coat and you have a problem period.



Right, taking off paint is taking off paint no matter how you do it, and you can only take off so much before you get issues. If you park in the sun a lot, I wouldn`t want to take off more than half-a-mil, and that`s not much.



IMO, unless you can go at least a year without needing to repolish, there`s not much point in going for (near-) perfection. And by "repolish" I sure don`t mean getting out orange pads and aggressive products!



Heh heh, look at how Barry Theal and I do our good-natured :argue about just this very topic.



But once you *can* go years without having to do any real correction, I see no problem in doing the light burnishing required to keep things really nice. Look how over-the-top I am about this stuff, yet non of my vehicles have paint failure (except that `93 Audi and I got it that way), not even my `80s cars with original single stage metallic (very, *VERY* fragile paints there folks).



And IMO you can have a residual RIDS (well, maybe it won`t be so *deep*, but it will be isolated) in the middle of a panel, but that doesn`t mean that having the other 99.99% of that panel nicely polished is pointless. All my vehicles have flaws like that, and there`s no way I`m gonna take off enough paint to correct them. You have to decide what you`re gonna fix and what you`re gonna just live with.

[LICamaro85]

I can not agree with you more Accumulator. All of my cars have a RID here or there but that does not stop me from making the rest of the panel perfect. Unless you are using a heavy compound with a PFW or heavy cutting pad every 6 months for years and years I do not think you will get any paint failure. The depth of the majority of swirls is so minimal that most PTG can not even pick it up when you measure before/after when you correct with a PC.



That is the only reason I like to go with my DA`s instead of my rotary because you take "just" enough clear off to fix that panel without going overboard. Sure it does it slightly longer to correct a car via PC but IMO it is worth it to have that extra paint on there.





- LI 85

[Pats300zx]

I just picked up a Fenix TK11. I love this thing :)