Going insane....

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efinirx7gt

New member
Myself being a perfectionist I want everything to be perfect. Anyways I seem to always see really light swirls with my low wattage halogen light. In sunlight or hi wattage halogen I don't see any swirls. I've tried SSR1, Hi-Temp Light Cut and Optimum as my lsp but I can always see light swirls. The only succesfull polish that completly removes it is the 1z metallic polish, but I hate how it contains wax. Is there any polish that is silicone and wax free that doesn't leave behind light swirls? Btw my car is black..



Thanks
 
I'm using the blue finishing pad and micro fiber from excel. Like I said with the 1Z MP I get a perfect finish, just looking for a product that is pure finishing polish.
 
efinirx7gt said:
...I've tried SSR1, Hi-Temp Light Cut and Optimum as my lsp but I can always see light swirls...
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Polishes as LSPs??? Certain Last Step Products can hide your light marring without question, but we all want a perfect surface. Optimum Polish has always worked for me, but the Menzerna PO85RD or its alternatives (look around at www.menzerna.com) will do the job. Just ensure proper breakdown, enough working time, and correct pressure.



3M PI-III products can be effective on extra-soft paints, too.
 
How often do you and others see your car under your low wattage halogen? Seriously, if it looks great in the sun and under all other lighting you should be pretty happy. Trying to maintain your car at 100% under all lighting conditions will drive you nuts.



Optimum and Menzerna polishes are for all practical purposes, filler free.
 
Scottwax said:
How often do you and others see your car under your low wattage halogen? Seriously, if it looks great in the sun and under all other lighting you should be pretty happy. Trying to maintain your car at 100% under all lighting conditions will drive you nuts.



Optimum and Menzerna polishes are for all practical purposes, filler free.
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Well said!!!! :xyxthumbs
 
If you're topping with wax anyhow I don't see the problem with the waxes in 1Z MP :confused:



Anyhow, the finer Menzerna polishes ought fit the bill. If you can still find the 1Z Pro MP that'd be my choice. It does leave some stuff behind but I get a better finish than I did with FP. I use it after 3M PI-III MG 05937, another discontinued product and one that doesn't leave anything behind.



As best I could tell, FP (I used FPI not FPII but I bet they're similar) has more cut than the 1Z MP.



Unsolicited opinion: If you want to keep a driver perfect you need to find out what's marring it and solve that problem first. I'd suspect the wash/dry regimen myself. Note that I'm an absolute fanatic about keeping two of my vehicles marring-free, one of which is the minivan, which gets used hard year-round. No problem now that I have my wash regimen scienced out, I don't even polish once a year. But unless you're gonna *keep* it marring-free, I'd say you oughta say "good enough" as ScottWax suggested. Other than the MPV and the S8 I settle for "good enough" on all our vehicles; life is short and plenty hard enough. For instance, are you *really* gonna *never* touch the paint when it's dirty? Figuring out how to close the doors/trunk/etc. without touching the painted surfaces can be tricky and that's *every* time you use the car. Most people won't bother taking a few seconds to carefully open/close stuff properly, at least not every single time same as they won't take a few hours to wash- and I don't blame them.
 
Thanks guys, I guess I'm way too anal. I asked my friend to see if he could see any swirls with the flash ligh and he said no....I could see it but I'm just way too fastidious.
 
I had a similar problem at about 4:30am this morning... :shocked



I can't see any swirls in the direct sunlight nor could I find any under the halogens in the garage but for some reason when I was pumping gas, I saw some slight swirl marks under the gas station lights on the rear deck.



I don't really follow this because I would have thought I had enough light from the other sources to see this but.... Anyway, my plan was to come home and strip all my layers of wax and sealant and at any cost, fix those swirls. Well, I can't for the life of me find them again but I was gonna just polish blind in the hopes of busting them. I came to my senses and just said no. Who knows what kind of damage I might have done polishing away like a madman on something that I couldn't see. I'm just gonna live with it and try to be happy.

And I'll only get gas in the daylight from now on. :hifive:



Eric
 
EMazda...I had that happen to me on my dark metallic red car. Next day I was all gung-ho to "fix" it, but I couldn't find anything.



I washed it and put another coat of wax on to admire it again.
 
If you gotta work that hard to spot 'em just wait until the next time it needs redone anyhow.



To spot that sort of stuff, turn off all the other lights and inspect using a high-wattage incandescent light (I use a 300W clear bulb in mine). Illuminate the paint with the light from different angles and distances while also inspecting from different viewing angles (having a helper makes this easier but you can do it by yourself). Spend whatever time it takes; I literally spend almost as much time inspecting as I do polishing, and I spend many hours on this stuff when a car needs correction.



I'm able to spot *everything*, even on silver. Now I'm the guy standing there grinning like an idiot about how great his paint looks at the gas station at night.. well, at least on two of our vehicles.



Or just accept imperfection, as I do on the vast majority of our vehicles ;)
 
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