removing swirl marks

[gypsy cab drive]

im new to detailing and have no clue where to start removing swirl marks on my truck.it has em everywhere. i tried the search and cant find a direct answer. plus all those product numbers and letters are confusing. can someone help.thank you.

[White95Max]

This should be in the Autopia University forum.

You will need a polish to remove the swirls. I don`t recommend attempting to remove them all by hand as it is very time-consuming and effort-intensive. Get a Porter Cable 7424 orbital polisher and some foam pads for it. Then you`ll be set to remove the swirls. I recommend the Poorboy`s SSR line of polishes.

http://www.poorboysworld.com

[toml]

im new to detailing and have no clue where to start removing swirl marks on my truck.it has em everywhere. i tried the search and cant find a direct answer. plus all those product numbers and letters are confusing. can someone help.thank you.



:welcome You are right about all the abbreviations ... they can be pretty confusing! There used to be a "Secret Decoder Ring" on the pre-upgrade site that worked really well ... the link is there in the upper right on the new home page (http://autopia.org/), but it doesn`t seem to have been made active yet :nixweiss I guess all in good time. If there`s a specific abbreviation you need help with, just ask.



Being new to detailing, you really should download David`s ebook. It`s FREE! Here`s the link (http://autopia-carcare.com/freeguide.html). VERY informative :2thumbs: It`ll answer a lot of questions. You can also check out the various articles posted on the site here (http://articles.autopia.org/).



In regards to specifics about swirl removal, do a search under swirl or swirls. I would have just suggested swirl* (where * is a wildcard), but search doesn`t seem to like it. For whatever reason, you have to do your search from the forum page (autopia.org/forum) and not from the home page (autopia.org) as the search from the home page doesn`t seem to work right now.



I`m sure others will chip in asking for more specifics ... are you looking to polish the swirls out by hand or by machine, do you want readily available over the counter stuff or stuff available via Internet, just how bad is the paint, etc. Please give us some specifics, and you`ll get some recommendations. A big factor is the hand or machine polishing question.

[Tasty]

Heh, I started out like you on this site. Wanting to get better, and now probably $500 later, I want MORE products. I am with White95 though. If you want to get serious about making your paint swirl free it will take something like the Porter Cable to do it. Don`t waste your time with any kind of Wal-Mart or Sears style buffer because they are useless. I threw mine in the garbage when I got my Porter Cable. If you don`t want to throw out a whole lot of money, but want your car to look better I recommend a couple of things. 1) Clay bar. You can buy these at almost any O`Reilly, Advance or Autozone. I recommended it to my friend for his Saab daily driver, and he thought I was crazy. Well, he recently clayed the entire car and was so excited about the results. 2) Glaze. Applying a glaze of some kind can fill/hide some swirl marks and can be applied by hand. There are so many products and methods out there, it`s all about what you want to achieve and how serious are you.

[gypsy cab drive]

thanks for all the replies,ill do my research and hopefully i can repair what ive done to my car.i just wanted to cry when i saw the sun hit my car.

[audipower]

Remember it`s almost impossible to remove them all. I just did a `37 Black Ford and had to have pro-painters tell this guy it`s impossible to keep it scratch free. Unless you want to take 3000 3m Rubbing Compound and take a layer of clear coat off. Not a great idea.



I suggest either Autoglym Paint Renovator or SFX series. I like the SFX series because you can screw up. easiest way to say it. You want to just bring some life back to your paint use SFX-3. SFX-2 works great for removing light swirls, water spots or stains from salt. SFX-1 is great for all swirl marks, scratches and after sanding paint. It will get out wet sanded with 1500 grit paper.

The pads are nice. Work alot better then the das blue pad. I use the orange das pad with the SFX1 aggressive polish. It removes swirls easier. But that`s what`s nice. You only take off enough clearcoat that you have to remove the blemishes. So you get flatter clearcoat for greater shine. Make sure if you always end with SFX-3 to restore shine.

Try #2 first. IF you have PC put it on 5 with pressure and work a 4"x4" area. Do about 4 passes, then crank to 6 and let off on the pressure. Stop when you see a dry haze or dust.

It takes practice. That normally gets fresh swirls and scratches. IF not use SFX-1. Same directions. That should get it out if not repeat. Sometimes you have to go over it twice or maybe 3 times. Then go back to #2 then to #3 to restore shine.

Well worth it. I go over my car after winter with #2 then after summer I use #3.

Need help reply.

[jasonmac]

Poorboy`s is a great choice. As you are first starting out, it will take a while to find a combination of products that work well for you and your car. For example, Menzerna IP and FP work real well on my VW Satin Silver Passat, while I typically use PB SSR2 (only when needed) followed by 1Z PP and Metallic Polish on my wife`s Jetta.



Try searching for swirl mark removal, a lot will come up!