Swirls Suck!! Swirls Suck!! Swirls Suck!!!--Say it with Me Now...

9

91LSMAN

2002 Chevrolet Corvette
:ticked :mad: :wall :beat :flamed

Well, as you may have guessed, I hate swirls. The sides of my Legend have so many swirls on them right now it makes me sick. I think I may be using too much pressure when using S&W or QD+. In the shade or if there are some clouds out, my Legend looks great, but say during a sunrise when the sunlight is direct, it looks like POOPOO. Just needed to vent.

Anyhoo, I'm off on Mondays and this coming Monday is the first Monday that I don't have plans-well I do now. Time to break out the SSR2.5, PP (possibly), EX and Natty's. Since I only have one day, there won't be any cure time, but I know it can't look any worse and if I end up needing another coat of Natty's in a couple weeks-OK.
 
tdekany said:
work that 2.5 at speed 6 and it will get rid of them!

make sure to get befores and afters!
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Oh I know-I love 2.5!!

I don't know if I want to take any befores, or if the lighting will show the swirls. I don't want you guys to see how bad it got. LOL
 
you will see mine! I will take before pictures to show the changes. I have lots of swirls on the doors (no clue how it happened since I haven't been washing my car much)

Unless it is cloudy, I'll take befores.
 
tdekany said:
you will see mine! I will take before pictures to show the changes. I have lots of swirls on the doors (no clue how it happened since I haven't been washing my car much)

Unless it is cloudy, I'll take befores.
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Sometimes I think car manufacturers use "I can't believe it's not butter spray" for the clearcoat. LOL :hah
 
get a silver legend :naughty

yea, swilrls do suck.... how many mfs do you usually use when you QD your car?
 
Welcome to the world of Honda paint. My EBP civic and the Accord that I use to have will mar if you look at them wrong.

I can S&W where others use QD's, anything past that...forget about it. A light rain or a drive longer than 50 miles=a water wash for me.

BTW, I would think that SSR1 or SSR2 at the most would tackle the swirls that you are talking about. No sense removing more clear then necessary.
 
zesty-man said:
get a silver legend :naughty

yea, swilrls do suck.... how many mfs do you usually use when you QD your car?
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People with silver cars are cheaters!!!!!!!!
I really like the shine of a deep color, but you can see everything on it.

When it comes to QDing, I try to use a clean spot with every section. I think I may use to much force also sometimes.
 
EBPcivicsi said:
Welcome to the world of Honda paint. My EBP civic and the Accord that I use to have will mar if you look at them wrong.

I can S&W where others use QD's, anything past that...forget about it. A light rain or a drive longer than 50 miles=a water wash for me.

BTW, I would think that SSR1 or SSR2 at the most would tackle the swirls that you are talking about. No sense removing more clear then necessary.
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Yeah, I know. I hear ya. :phone:

I really like SSR2.5 though. I always get great results with it-that is until I look at my Legend wrong. :hah
 
91LSMAN said:
People with silver cars are cheaters!!!!!!!!
I really like the shine of a deep color, but you can see everything on it.

When it comes to QDing, I try to use a clean spot with every section. I think I may use to much force also sometimes.
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When I s&w I find that using a larger towel with only the weight of the towel dragging over the surface seems to work great for the first pass. I like to use the large blue MF from wal-mart for this first pass, then follow up with a PB's velvet smooth.

Do you use standard terry 16x16 MF's?
 
EBPcivicsi said:
When I s&w I find that using a larger towel with only the weight of the towel dragging over the surface seems to work great for the first pass. I like to use the large blue MF from wal-mart for this first pass, then follow up with a PB's velvet smooth.

Do you use standard terry 16x16 MF's?
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I sometimes use:
16"x16" SUPER THICK & PLUSH TOWEL
16"x16" MEGA PLUSH
21"x36" VELVET SMOOTH-I would use these sometimes-are these better?
 
91LSMAN said:
I sometimes use:
16"x16" SUPER THICK & PLUSH TOWEL
16"x16" MEGA PLUSH
21"x36" VELVET SMOOTH-I would use these sometimes-are these better?
Click to expand...
I find that the Super Thick and Plush towel is not a good match with S&W. It saturates too quickly and then bogs down. The Velvet Smooth works well with S&W, but you have to be careful with dirtier surfaces since the towel has virtually no nap/pile to cushion larger particles. The Mega Plush is one of my favorite towels to use with S&W. As EBPcivicsi said, just let the weight of the towel handle the work on the first pass (fold the Mega Plush into quarters with the plusher side out). Then, flip the towel over to a clean section and make a second pass using very light hand pressure. There is no need to press down with the towel. If you can't remove the dirt with a light touch then you are either not using enough S&W, not allowing sufficient time for the S&W to soak in and encapsulate the dirt, or the car is too dirty for S&W alone.
 
awd330 said:
I find that the Super Thick and Plush towel is not a good match with S&W. It saturates too quickly and then bogs down. The Velvet Smooth works well with S&W, but you have to be careful with dirtier surfaces since the towel has virtually no nap/pile to cushion larger particles. The Mega Plush is one of my favorite towels to use with S&W. As EBPcivicsi said, just let the weight of the towel handle the work on the first pass (fold the Mega Plush into quarters with the plusher side out). Then, flip the towel over to a clean section and make a second pass using very light hand pressure. There is no need to press down with the towel. If you can't remove the dirt with a light touch then you are either not using enough S&W, not allowing sufficient time for the S&W to soak in and encapsulate the dirt, or the car is too dirty for S&W alone.
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Thanks for the tips. I appreciate it. :)
 
SilverLexus said:
I have been able to remove most swirls with SSR2.5. It is very effective for all but the deepest scratches.
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I know. I've used it before-at least 5 times. (Not all on my legend.) :)
 
Unless a car is very old and pretty marred up, I am not confident in my ability to use SSR's and/or the PC to really improve them. My experience today with SSR 3 and hazing (I hope!) and not getting it out is proof of that.

With a fairly new car, I'm not that confident in my ability to SSR an entire car, either by choosing the right SSR level and/or by "going back down the scale" to eliminate hazing or other imperfections caused by the higher grade.

I need to read more SSR threads and hopefully Poorboy or someone will hold a tutorial in the NYC area in '05. I really need to see someone who's knowledgeable with a PC apply the SSR's, get out scratches, eliminate swirls, use the bonnets, and apply polishes/sealants with it. Right now, I'm pretty much restricted to scratches and beat-up cars.
 
Cheap, thanks for the encouragent. Since I just do this for myself and family (or when someone asks me), it's not like I do this frequently and can improve myself like someone doing this daily. Keeping all the info straight in my head on every product when you go weeks or months between use is kinda tough. Today I had to stop and turn on the PC and hit my KLASSE link to see which applicator to use/not to use. I know it wouldn't have been a disaster if I used the "wrong" one, but why waste 30 minutes and then do it wrong, right?

I almost got freaked out today because the car I worked on had the hazing problem. I thought the SSR 3, the PC, or my motion/lack of motion had damaged the paint or clearcoat. I remembered specifically asking Poorboy and a few others and they did tell me not to worry but when you see that discoloration and then hit it with the water bottle and a MF towel and it's still there, you get a little nervous ! :) Like I said, the hazing wasn't terrible and I have to re-check it tomorrow since the sun went down and the lighting in the garage was terrible. My luck, tomorrow looks like rain...just great.

There's just alot more to using the SSR's than choosing PB or Klasse products: PC speed, SSR to use, pad to use, whether to go "back down the numbers" (as with SSR 3.0), polish (PB PP) or chemical cleanser (AIO) afterwards. Fortunately, from what I've been told, I can't damage the car so much as not improve it or use the product as well as it's been designed to help. That's encouraging, but hopefully continued reading on DetailCity and direct observance down the line of someone who's an expert will allow me to increase my skill on this detailing step and increase my confidence, too.
 
Just thought I'd bump this thread up to rant again. When I saw my Legend in the sunlight today, there were swirls on the side again. :bsflag :wall :wall :doubleduc :beat :brick

I was ticked off the entire day and could not stop thinking about it. Stupid freakin soft clearcoat.

I took SSR1 to the sides of my Legend and then did EX on the entire car. Hopefully, tomorrow when I see it in the sunlight, the swirls on the sides will be gone.

I'm also buying a new sponge for washing this weekend to see if that is the culprit. (It's sheepskin, but maybe something is stuck in it that I can't see.)
 
hmmmm...... you should get one of those natural sea foam sponges, i hear they are really good....... sorry to hear about your swirls problem. i think my brake dust problem is almost equivilant to your problem, except instead of busting out the extension cord and PC, i get to have a seat on my creeper thing and wash my rims....... its like self preservation for me :doh . maybe you can adapt like me.
 
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