inspecting for swirls

C

chip douglas

New member
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...
 
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.
 
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.
 
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 :(
 
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".
 
Accumulator said:
I still see some things I wish I'd spotted before :o If you look under sunlight/halogen/fluorescent, you *DO NOT* see them.
Click to expand...



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
 
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.
 
I've been finding a simple 75 to 100 watt light bulb, like a trouble light helps surprisingly well
 
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.
 
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
 
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".
 
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.
 
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!
 
Gonzo- Yeah, that's the sort of effect I'm referring to. Interestingly enough (well, at least to me :D), I hear that the same kind of lights, when mounted inside (garage ceiling) don't show stuff *nearly* as well :nixweiss
 
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