What`s up with this fresh paint?

[stewsco]

Read this forum alot, really enjoy and have learned volumes. I`ve got one here that has me stumped though. Recently had a run in with a shopping cart in the Office Max parking lot. Basically a large door ding with scratches thrown in for good measure. PDR not a possibility so into the body shop. (car is only 3 months old so I HAD to fix). Body work came out OK except for the finish job on the paint. Swirl City. Know not to wax or seal, but did decide to polish out the Body Shop`s finishing touches. Used SSR1 and polishing pad with pc. Cleaned up perfectly. After next wash swirl on this panel returned. Thought maybe the SSR1 had some filler and I just covered up the mess. Washing technique good, couldn`t imagine that I put these back only on this one panel. Next tried FPII and polishing pad. Again cleaned up perfectly. Next wash swirls back on this panel. This time I only hosed of panel and came behind with S&W and some good MF`s as car wasn`t really dirty just rained on. Anyone help me with what is going on here. Are my polishing routines hiding scratches temp. or is this paint so soft that washing it marrs the paint. After polishing the MF`s don`t seem to marr. I can`t figure out how they would after washing. Any suggestions would be welcome and appreciated.

Thanks,
Stewart

[cwcad]

I do not believe that SSR1 has any fillers in it.

It sounds like the process that you are employing is correct. I know on my Black truck that if I put a little pressure on my truck I can induce marring. Only light pressure on the paint.

If your process is correct it would seem that the problem is with the paint. It is funny that it clears up then returns after each wash and only on this section.

Do you have any before and after pictures?

[Brenton]

Did you pay full price for the paint job?
If so, have them finish the job.

[glen22]

I agree with PEI.

[stewsco]

Update: Thanks for replies. New info maybe problem solved. Decided to lookl at finish this morning with the help of a 3 million candle power spotlight that I have. Under this light the marring looks more like scuffs in the paint in straight lines. Tried to remove with S&W thinking it might just be residue. No noticeable change. Took some FPII and a foam pad by hand and with almost no effort the defects are gone. Almost as if water or soap induced staining. Followed with a 50/50 alcohol/H2O wipe to see if just hiding. Still gone. Paint looks perfect, glossy, smooth, shiney. Something about this fresh paint causes some sort of bonding with something, either hard water soap or who knows. I just know that the polish by hand just practically wiped it off. As I said in the initial post, this marring or scuffing or staining or whatever it is only shows up on this one panel. After the FPII by hand all paint on the car matches excellently. Who knows! I`ll just be glad when another 30 or so days goes by and I can put some cover on this new stuff (paint is now about 30 days old). Frying my brain trying to figure out why washing does this. Any way came off too easy to be anything too serious. Again thanks for the replies

[budman3]

Well why don`t you wait until you wash it again. You already told us that you can polish it out fine but the swirls reappear when you wash it. You just did another polishing step and still looks good. If you go wash it and the swirls are back, you should check your washing tools and/or technique. The paint is going to be soft so a little thing could produce swirls. As time goes on the paint should gradually get harder as the paint bakes onto the car and maybe after that you`ll be fine. Or maybe that`s what you are noticing now. Good luck.

[Eliot Ness]

......I`ll just be glad when another 30 or so days goes by and I can put some cover on this new stuff (paint is now about 30 days old)......You can use a glaze that is safe for new paint (allows it to cure) like Meg`s #5. Granted it doesn`t offer a durable protection (I reapply after a wash), but it`s better than nothing until that paint cures. There are other glazes that are also safe, but #5 is easy to find and also very easy to use.