What causes swirl marks?

I

imported_Yosemite Dan

New member
My current car is about a year old and I've taken pretty good care of it with frequent washes and waxes. Since I've joined this board I've brought it up a notch with claying, Klasse twins and MF.



Now what causes swirl marks? For the life of me I can't find any swirl marks on my car looking at it all angles under all lighting conditions. My car is silver but still I've looked at it close enough that the colour can't hide it and it's also a daily driver thru Canadian winters. What am I doing right or am I extremely lucky? I do use the 2 bucket method for washing and never wash or wax in a circular motion. Is that the secret?
 
Your taking all the right steps IMO, but you need to go park under the gas station lights @ night, and see what you can spot. My dads vette is silver, no swirls by day, but there there by night!
 
I've tried that, put my bigass flashlight to it at night but the paint is clear as day.I have to make a correction to my washing method, it's not the 2 bucket method per se. After every panel I take my hose and basically sandblast the chenille washmitt until it's clean so it never touches dirty water. My soap bucket is always squeaky clean when I'm thru so I guess that works pretty well.
 
Blueranger is pretty much right on. Your car color hides swirls, scratches and marring, especially in daylight.



Swirls are mainly caused by the leading edge of buffer pads. You notice them more in dark colored cars, look like 3D holograms and if you ever watch many of the car dealer make ready guys they buff a glaze over the cars to make them shiny but they are humming that buffer across the paint and usually do so with an edge of the pad lifted up.



Swirls are usually introduced with machine polishing but marring is introduced with improper washing and drying due to dirty wash mitts, grit in drying towels are using something rough on the paint. Others may call these spider webs, which, IMHO, are different from swirls.



Keep up the good car care:xyxthumbs



Anthony
 
~One man’s opinion / observations ~



The most common causes of scratches to a paint film surface are:



·Using an automated car wash or using a brush to clean the vehicle or remove snow etc

·Placing or dragging an object across the trunk lid

·Using too much pressure with a car duster on a dusty / dirty surface

·Pulling a car-cover over a very dusty / dirty vehicle or dirt /grit on the inside of the cover

·Wiping a dry surface with a dry cloth

·Infrequent rinsing of brush or wash mitt when washing vehicle

·Using a dirty towel (dirt / grit trapped in fibres)

·Using a towel or cloth that is unsuitable for paint film surfaces

·Not thoroughly rinsing away roar grime before drying, when washing vehicle

·Using a car wash concentrate that doesn’t suspend grit / dirt before it gets rinsed away

·Using an automated car wash or using a brush to clean the vehicle or remove snow etc.

·Wiping a spot of dirt / dust with your hands to maintain a ‘pristine’ look (most common cause of surface scratching)



Experience unshared; is knowledge wasted…/



justadumbarchitect *so I question everything*
 
Anthony brings up a good point- the need to clarify our jargon so that everyone knows what we're talking about.



Anthony's description of "swirls" is the classic one, and it figures that, as a professional, he'd use the term "correctly". Since most people think that swirls, spiderwebs, etc. are all the same thing (and that scratches are just extreme examples of the same thing too) some of us use the catch-all term "marring".



To some extent, it's all the same thing- depressions in the paint caused by something pressing against it (or etching it, like bird bombs, acid rain, etc.). It's a "below the primary surface" issue that needs to be removed with an abrasive.



Heh heh, wonder if that made things more or less clear :o



Yosemite Dan- Sometimes things just work out, consider yourself fortunate.



Most of our vehicles are silver, and I've found that if I look the right way, I can find even the most minute micro-marring. Just takes time, practice, the right lighting, magnification, etc. etc. But paint is paint and marring can be found if it's there. But if you have to look *very* hard, then it probably won't be too noticeable to others ;)



The direction (circular, front-back) you do things doesn't matter *unless* you're inducing marring. Think how a rotary polisher and the PC/Cyclo work- no problems from *them* if they're used right. But if you *do* somehow induce marring (contamination on the applicator, for instance), then front-back marring will show up a lot less than circular damage; there's always a "best angle" for seeing this stuff, and a straight line only has that one "best" angle while a circular scratch *always* has *some* part of it at that viewing angle.



Sorry, I'm not wording things well today :o
 
Thanx for the info guys. If I do have marring there then I probably have a better chance of finding Jimmy Hoffa so I can live with that.



What do you guys use for wiping snow off? I use a brush but make sure that I don't take all of it off and leave a thin layer to avoid scratches. Is there something better to use where I can take it all off without worrying?
 
Taxlady has a photo of a snow brush with a MF wrapped around it. Now I'm wondering maybe even a MF mitt over the brush
 
Bill D said:
Taxlady has a photo of a snow brush with a MF wrapped around it. Now I'm wondering maybe even a MF mitt over the brush
Click to expand...



I like that, Autopians can be so resourceful. It may add to my angst with my smirking neighbours (see smirking neighbours thread).
 
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