Lots of swirl marks on gloss black painted exterior trim after a week or two.....

[mjr24]

I had my black trim pieces painted with a gloss black color and then sprayed with a clear. However.....the day I picked it up from the dealer that did this (this was a BMW dealer who actually did the work....I thought naturally they would do the best job)....I noticed lots of fine scratches/swirls on the trim pieces. I can't feel none of them so they are in the clearcoat I assume.



What is the best way to remove these? And more importantly....to keep from coming back. I have a white car with black rims...and it is pristine (3 months old)....yet my trim looks 10 years old. Not acceptable.

 

[Street5927]

You can polish them out with a good polish and somehing like a PC/GRIOTS/ETC or a rotary. I have had great success on black trim removing swirl marks using these products.

 

[Accumulator]

....I noticed lots of fine scratches/swirls on the trim pieces. I can't feel none of them so they are in the clearcoat I assume.



What is the best way ....to keep from coming back..

IF the scratches are prep-related you might have to have them redone or else just live with them. If they're just surface marring you need to compound/polish themout just like any other marring on a painted surface.



Keeping them from coming back will require a marring-free wash technique, which is a rather involved subject beyond anything I can get into here/now.



Heh heh, white cars can be very easy to keep great-looking, but having that gloss black trim is gonna make it rather difficult instead!

 

[extrabolts]

I'd start with a finishing polish if you try to buff them out. Painted trim seems to polish up a lot softer than paint on hard metal surfaces for me. Plus its a really small area, so if a finishing polish and pad doesn't work, I'd probably go to a finishing polish and slightly more aggressive foam pad, then to a mild-cut polish, etc, working up.