inspecting for swirls

[chip douglas]

Hey all,



I`d like to know, when you inspect the finish for swirls :



a) Do you do it under bright sunlight only ?



b) Do you wipe off any excess filler oil, after polishing, to *make sure* some swirling isn`t hidden instead of removed ?



Best...

[travisdecpn]

When i check for swirls i like to use QD or FI to make sure the surface is very clean. Then i look at it at various angles making sure that they are gone. Floruescent lighting, or the sun are the two best sources for catching any left-over swirls.

[Bill D]

I wipe with alcohol mix, look under flourescents, 1000 watt halogens, a 75-100 incandescent light bulb and natural sunlight. I`m more or less satisifed if it looks ok then. I`ve found looking for swirls/defects on white under flouresents to be ineffective though.

[chip douglas]

If I look at my finish under natural sunlight it looks perfect, but if I bend over and make sure the sun shines directly in the paint, looking at various angles, then I see them, they`re there lurking in the shadow ......SWIRLS...dreaded swirls :(

[Bill D]

Yeah can take longer to inspect if you have lots of swirls than it does to polish them :(

[Accumulator]

I can`t seem to spot *everything* unless I inspect under different lighting conditions.



Bright sunlight is almost a must, some things like holograms are only visible under this.



Otherwise, I see more problems under high-wattage incandescent lighting than I do under halogen, let alone fluorescent. I have a *LOT* of 8` fluorescent tubes in my shop (dozens of `em), but when I need to inspect, I turn them off.



Sometimes, halogens almost seem to "wash out" what I`m looking at, especially with metallics :nixweiss I find it very surprising, but for me, it`s incandescents when I`m looking for marring.



On the S8, I drove myself *nuts* trying to spot every flaw in the (repainted) silver...spent days on it and thought I had it as good as I could get it. But with the bare incandescent bulbs in our "regular" garage (not the "shop"), I still see some things I wish I`d spotted before :o If you look under sunlight/halogen/fluorescent, you *DO NOT* see them.



Whether I remove fillers depends on the job and what stage I`m working. I generally do my rotary work, and the first pass with the Cyclo, with 3M PI-III stuff, no fillers. When I`m satisfied with how things look with that, then I move to 1z stuff. Filled/removed/combination of the two, I just accept it. I`ve tried doing the 50/50 spritz and finishing up with FP, but for my situation, those measures are unnecessary overkill.



FWIW, I find I`m sorta getting away from a "purist" approach, where I would insist on really *removing* all the marring all the time. Now, I just want the vehicles to look good for a long time, and I`m OK with products like 1Z polishes that might do a little "hiding".

[Bill D]

Originally posted by Accumulator

I still see some things I wish I`d spotted before :o If you look under sunlight/halogen/fluorescent, you *DO NOT* see them.





Accumulator--I bet many Concours Delegance cars are just like this too.



I`m positive your polishing approach is world class, A+, top notch. It`s good to see the 1z polishes are around to kinda save up from the brink of insanity huh? ;) :D

[chip douglas]

Bill,



insanity huh LOL.....I`m slowly getting there, in fact, girlfriend is shpoing round for deals on straight jackets :D :eek:

[loco]

I`m glad this thread is here. I`ve been looking for swirls on my car and am having a hard time finding them. Don`t get me wrong - I`m glad of that! But I`m sure it`s not because they aren`t there. I think the metallic paint is hiding them.



I`ve looked under fluorescent and natural sunlight and have so far only found a couple scratches. I don`t have access to a garage with bright incandescents. Maybe I`m just looking from the wrong angles. But I`d like to find them since I plan on doing a big exterior detail next week.

[Bill D]

I`ve been finding a simple 75 to 100 watt light bulb, like a trouble light helps surprisingly well

[Accumulator]

What Bill D said about the trouble light :xyxthumbs But as to his "[Accumulator`s] polishing approach is world class, A+, top notch" :o I dunno. Between the repairs and everything related to them and my attempts to detail it, the previously perfect S8 sorta mocks my abilities :( I sometimes think I should`ve kept working it, but after many days of hour-after-hour of staring at silver paint I`d just had enough and life`s just too short. Heh heh, if not for those bare bulbs in the garage I`d probably feel quite satisfied with it.



loco- Some Mazda clears are really hard, my MPV is almost mar-proof. Honestly, if you have to work *that* hard to see something, I wouldn`t sweat it on a "real" car. I don`t worry about such flaws on the MPV, and even though it`s a minivan :rolleyes: it sure is one well-detailed vehicle by any measure.



A variation of Bill`s trouble light technique (those old-style things are getting hard to find!) is to just cobble one together out of a regular lightbulb socket with switch and an extension cord. I find that the bare bulb (no reflector) works great if you have someone else hold it, moving it around until you hit *just* the right combination of lightsource angle and viewing angle. Suddenly, all kinds of stuff you didn`t *really* want to see jumps out at you, and then you`ll *always* see it :o



But again, what`s the point, unless it`s just something that turns your crank. And unless you`re gonna use something like my extreme wash technique, it`s sorta all for naught anyhow.

[Bill D]

Believe me Accumulator,



I`m confident your techniques are exactly such:xyxthumbs. It sure seems some paint can just be incredibly demanding even to the best approaches. He he, how many priceless museum quality cars really are so flawless? I mean I`m sure there are some but they are extremely rare. If you can approach that level of quality that some of these exceptional show cars are in, that`s an A+ in my book, an "A++" for striving to transcend beyond that too :D

[Accumulator]

Thanks, Bill. Ya know, you`re right about *so* many "show cars". And yeah, a lot of cars in museums make me want to jump the rope and start polishing :D But I`ve seen a few that *at least under the conditions present* looked absolutely flawless. But who knows what they looked like at other times under other conditions. Still, once you`ver really had something *perfect*, you realize how imperfect 99% of your efforts really are.



We *are* crazy to be so AR about drivers...when some of our most particular members say how they don`t sweat it on their daily drivers, it lends a certain perspective to those of us who consider virtually *every* car we have to be a "driver".

[Gonzo]

Chip Douglas,

I`ve found that a nighttime visit to the neighborhood grocery store will embarrass my polishing skills. The high (sodium vaopr ?) lights will show off EVERY place I missed.

[loco]

Thanks for the info and tips, Accumulator. I didn`t know that some Mazda clearcoats are real hard. Maybe that is the case with my car. I think I`m going to try with a reading lamp and a brighter wattage bulb and see what I can see. Truthfully, I really want to know if my wash techniques need improvement. If there are lots of swirls that are just well hidden by the metallic paint, I obviously need to be more careful. If not, well ... cool!