Panicking, Please Help

D

Divi996TT

New member
Guys, I just bought last week a 04 Black 996TT. The car had only 3000 miles on it and was inmaculate. The paint is in excellent condition, just like out of the dealer. The car was a little bit dirty and I decided to wash it for the first time. I bought the Meguiars soap and used this microfiber glove that supposely dont leave any streaks or marks. Then I used a microfiber towel to dry the car. The car look very clean and shiny!!!

Later in the day , Under the sun and on an angle , I noticed hundreds of swirls??? or streaks? What can I do to get rid of those marks???



Thanks

Divi
 
It could of been that the car was buffed with products that have alot of fillers and oils in them. So once you washed it, you washed all the fillers away.



Sounds like a PC (porter cable 7424) would come in handy. Some good polish too. I use menzerna IP and FPII, bu there are plenty others out there that are very good.



Start doing some reading here about it and maybe post some pics of your car in the sun where the swirls will show. You might get more help that way.
 
Divi996TT- Welcome to Autopia!



Sorry to hear about the marring on your TT. It's hard to say whether your wash uncovered marring that was already there (but hidden by the dealer using a glaze/etc.) or whether you put the marks in while washing (washing without marring is much harder than people think). Probably a little of both.



To remove the marring you'll have to use an abrasive polish. And, sorry to say, it won't be easy as Audis have *very* hard clear (I have two at present and have had maybe a dozen total). This is something a layman *can* do, but it'll take a bit of research to learn how to do it and what stuff you'll need.



You could try some Meguiar's Scratch-X and work on the marring by hand, but IMO that'd take forever and a day and wouldn't work all that well anyhow. You could try some other product by hand (and I bet somebody will chime in with a suggestion or two), but IMO it'll almost certainly need to be polished by machine, so you'll have to either get a polisher/pads/polish or hire a (hopefully competent) pro to do it. I think that the short-term answer is to hire the pro for now and the long-term answer is to research this whole detailing thing so you can take care of it after the pro fixes the current issues.



Try searching on "foamgun" or look in the Hall of Fame forum here and check out my Non-marring Wash Technique. The toughest part of owning a black car is washing it without marring the paint. It's virtually impossible to do using "normal" wash techniques.



Hope my "find a pro" and "do a search" don't sound like blow-off responses, but fixing a black car's finish and keeping it nice is something I can't really cover in one post.



See what others post, I know of a few people here with black Audis.
 
I will post some pics later in the afternoon. I was thinking that maybe the marring was there when I bought the car but they were covered with a glaze or something because the car look perfect. I was so excited about the car that I didnt look on an angle(Under the sun light) for marks. I would hate myself If it was me who did it.



Thanks



Divi
 
It's possible to create plenty of swirls by improper washing methods. Use a two-bucket method and rinse the mitt frequently. The longer you wipe that dirt on the paint, the more likely it is that you'll damage the paint.

I am also suspicious of the dealership prep though. Often dealers use a glaze before selling vehicles, and the fillers will make the car look great until the first wash.



:welcome to Autopia! :wavey and nice car!
 
I actually think that calling a professional would be a smart idea. All of the european cars I've worked on have very hard paint. It's kinda difficult to correct european paint with a PC. A rotary is almost mandatory and I doubt you want to take that leap. I second Accumulator's idea, get a pro. Ask around here to see if an autopian is in your area.
 
Neothin said:
I actually think that calling a professional would be a smart idea. All of the european cars I've worked on have very hard paint. It's kinda difficult to correct european paint with a PC. A rotary is almost mandatory and I doubt you want to take that leap. I second Accumulator's idea, get a pro. Ask around here to see if an autopian is in your area.
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Well Neo, I follow your posts with admiration and agree with you big time since you are a real top notch pro detailler.

However, as a person residing in Europe and almost always owning euro-cars, I have to disagree this time. Euro made cars have to have this paint formula which has to be free of several chemicals say from lead to certain "heavy metals" (let aside Iron Maiden which you listen to while you polish and wax) and other solvents and ingredients. So the paint is not as tough as before. You can easily compare a european with an American by testing a small portion with a very simple water etching effect test. The european' s paint almost gets DENTED !! :lol where an American (or Japanese etc) simply etches...

Koreans are the same with euros because they comply with the euro standards 100%...



As for Merc, Audi (in this case I suppose from the "TT") and other high classers have a very tough clearcoat... If the clearcoat is SO bad yes, he needs a pro' s help. But if evaluation proves that not to be the case, then he may get thru with a bit more sweat and his PC...



No offense meant; just my humble opinion...
 
I think he's talking about a Porsche. A 911 twin turbo. 996 is the body style. Am I right here, Divi?
 
bumpus said:
I think he's talking about a Porsche. A 911 twin turbo. 996 is the body style. Am I right here, Divi?
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Oh OK... I did not notice that sorry... still yet I stick to my words of euro paints being much softer / weaker than American...
 
Hi Guys, Thanks for all the help. Yes, it is a Black Porsche- 996TT. The paint looks awesome and very glossy, but if you look close and on an angle, you see them. The car is almost brand new and the conditions are excellent. So, I'm inclined to think that it was me who did it. I used microfiber towels, 2 buckets technique, so I really not sure what happened. I might try to do some buffering(Buy a pc and so forth) on a section and see if I am going to be able to get them out . If not, I will find a professional detailer( I am a little bit concern that the detailer is not up to the standards of this forum).

I've seen pictures in this forum of Black cars and WOW!!!!

Hopefully I can get my car to look good without those marks.



Thanks



Divi
 
It's kinda scary how easy it is to spider swirl paint...I was perusing some new cars on a dealer lot in the spring, which were all dirty. There was a dark blue metallic car which just had no pizazz. I was curious if it was just a dull looking color or if it was just because it was dirty, so I rubbed my finger gently back and forth through the dirt on a small spot on the fender--swirl city!



To quote Accumulator from above: "The toughest part of owning a black car is washing it without marring the paint. It's virtually impossible to do using "normal" wash techniques." I believe it!
 
Murat said:
Oh OK... I did not notice that sorry... still yet I stick to my words of euro paints being much softer / weaker than American...
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Don't worry about it bud. I now know that all european paint is NOT created equal! In this case I knew porsche had hard paint, plus I knew a few other manufacturers (namely VW, Audi, and some bmw's and benz's) had really hard paint so I just generalized the whole continent together! My mistake, thanks for the information.
 
Divi996TT said:
Hi Guys, Thanks for all the help. Yes, it is a Black Porsche- 996TT...
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OOPS :O I thought "Audi TT". Still, same family of cars so I'll assume the clear will be tough to correct.
 
When you have learned the proper way to wash and dry your vehicle you can also learn the proper way to correct the paint. Buy a PC with all the appropriate pads and products. Start off real slow. Use the least aggressive polish that you have. The more you do it the better you will become. This is not rocket science but time, procedure, products, and technique.



If time is of the essence then a pro would be the course to take. If you have caught the bug, as I have, you will be able to learn how to make paint corrections with a PC, that will give you that Autopian paint finish. After a time you will graduate to a rotary buffer which will also give you great results if you understand the techiques that you will read, learn, and apply from the threads thru this forum.



Since you have such a nice vehicle I am sure that a few hundred dollars(or more) is a small price to pay for the protection of your vehicle. Plus the pride and satisfaction that will be instilled in you.
 
I'm posting some of my first pics. I will try to get a picture of those spider marks a bit later.

Thank you again for your help.



Divi
 

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LightngSVT said:
I dont know, the Imola red paint on my M3 seems to be a bit on the soft side.
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All German paint isn't created equal. BMWs have a reputation for being a little soft, Audis are very hard....it's risky to generalize too much.
 
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