DISO = The Dealership Installed Swirl Option

**Mike Phillips** · 09-02-2010, 09:44 AM

DISO = The Dealership Installed Swirl Option

Sad to say but all to often after you`re car is "prepped" by the detail shop at some New and Used Car Dealerships, you get what we all call DISO or the Dealer Installed Swirl Option.

Cars with perfectly good paint are machine buffed by a detailer using or rather mis-using a rotary buffer. It`s completely possible in the eyes of the detailer that the results they are producing look great! That would be because the product they`re using is masking or concealing the swirls they are instilling as they are buffing.

The unsuspecting owner is happy to pick up their bright, shiny car but then after washing the car a few times, the wax or polish begins to wear off and the unsightly swirls show up. I call paint in the condition you see in the before pictures in this thread... horrendous.

The owner is usually distraught and heartbroken at the sight of the horrendous looking paint on their car and at a loss as to how to undo the damage and restore a showroom new finish.

Horror Story
The above scenario is called a "Horror Story" and it`s a story that plays out everyday in the dealerships, body shops and detail shops across the land and is at this moment... happening somewhere right now...

How to remove swirls using a Discussion Forum
That`s where the Internet and specifically detailing discussion forums like this one, excel in that we can help just about anyone recover from DISO. Simply register with the forum and then share your horror story and our helpful and friendly forum members will go above and beyond the call of duty to see you through to success!

If they can`t do it right the first time...
The honest truth is... if the shop that abused your car`s paint couldn`t do it right the first time... they won`t be able to do it right the second time. In most cases if a customer complains the dealership or detail shop or even body shop will offer to detail the car again and the manager will tell the detailer to do whatever it takes to fix the problem, but if the detailer doesn`t know how to do it right the first time then they actually don`t know how to fix the problem.

Masked and Concealed
Usually what they will do is simply apply more glaze or wax or both till the swirls are masked and concealed again and they feel confident the customer will accept the car. But as soon as the owner starts to wash the car the wax or glaze will wear off the the swirls will become visible again.

More and more doesn`t necessarily mean better and better
Even worse, if the detailer buffs it a second time, the same way they buffed it the first time, they will remove even more of your car`s thin, precious paint leaving less and less for you to work with to actually correct the problem the right way. Paint is thin so be careful who you let work on your car.

The never ending story...
I cannot count how many times someone has come to the forum sharing their "Horror Story" looking for help. The sad thing is that with all the education and advancements in the detailing world, the problem continues undeterred. There`s a lot of reasons for this, enough that I could write an article about all the reasons but suffice to say, the people in charge of the detailing process at most body shops, dealerships and detail shops just don`t care... often times the person doing the work cares but the products and tools they use are out of their control.

Luckily, in most cases the swirls can be removed using any of the popular dual action polishers currently on the market and a quality compound or swirl remover. In fact, DA Polishers are so safe and easy to use... even a child can get professional results with just a little bit of training...

It`s actually quite easy to get professional results the first time...
For example, my son Rand is 9 years old in the picture of him using a Meguiar`s DA Polisher to work on Nate Truman`s recreation of the 1966 Batmobile and in the picture on the right he`s using the Cyclo polisher to remove swirls out of a Rental Car at one of our Detailing 101 classes.

Photo courtesy of LacViet Photography

A Real Life Horror Story
Now that you know what DISO is and that it can be removed by just about anyone willing to learn just a few basics of machine polishing, lets move on to a happy ending to a real-life Horror Story!

Here`s our "Horror Story" Rob`s 2006 Mustang GT Convertible

Rob purchased this Mustang from a local dealership withe the DISO already installed at no extra charge.

DISO = Dealer Installed Swirl Option

Here`s a few shots taken in the sun. Note how the swirls in the paint closest to the windshield have an almost floating or 3D effect, this is where the term hologram comes from in the context of talking about swirls instilled by a rotary buffer.

Here`s a section of the above photo cropped out and in full size...
Often times you`ll hear or read about "Holograms" or "Buffer Trails". These are both interchangeable terms for Rotary Buffer Swirls.

If you look at the below swirls they almost seem to have a 3D or floating in the paint affect, this is the appearance characteristic from which we get the word hologram.

Mustangs are beautiful cars but not when the paint shimmers with swirls... the paint is supposed to shimmer with a swirl-free shine....

Here`s the same car but now we`re using the flash from our camera to light up and reveal the horrendous swirls...

I don`t think I`ve ever seen a car so swirled out by the mis-use of a rotary buffer...

The zillions of swirls in the clear layer makes the paint look hazy and blocks your view of the black paint under the clear top coat. This reduces the darkness of the paint making the true black look gray.

In this shot we`ve actually only buffed out just the passenger side of the hood using just a DA Polisher. After getting some before and after shots we then buffed out the driver`s side.

Here are the end results...

And here`s Rob, the happy owner in his swirl free black Mustang...

The techniques used to remove the swirls are taught at all our Detailing 101 Classes and via our how-to videos and fortified with our in-depth how-to articles.

For more information on how to learn the art of polishing paint join our forum and interact with car and detailing enthusiasts like yourself. It`s fun, it`s free and you`ll make a lot of new friends...

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