What is marring exactly?

[imported_kgb]

I can not find a good definition of marring.



Thanks

 

[imported_rachelanne16]

More severe than hazing, less severe than swirling.

 

[imported_kgb]

What do you guys find is causing this? The pads or the product or something else?

 

[imported_eggroll]

I thought marring was from poor washing technique, swirls are rotary inflicted.

 

[imported_rachelanne16]

Anything abrasive that you rub on the paint will cause marring. 2000 grit wet sanding leaves marring that you remove with fine compound, fine compound leaves marring that you remove with polish. Even the polish probably leaves micro-marring that you remove with the glaze.



You can probably get marring from almost any product, pad, or towel if you are aggresive enough.



I still have a whole lot to learn about polishing, though, so I could be wrong.

 

[Accumulator]

"Marring" is a generic term for any below-surface damage (i.e., "gouges") to a surface film, such as paint. I've sorta pushed its use here at Autopia because it's a "catch-all" term for stuff you have to use an abrasive to fix. I've been discussing "marring" in various materials (wood, glass, plastic, metal, etc.) since I was a kid, so it's an easy way for me to refer to this sort of damage with regard to auto paint.



Scratches, "swirls", cobwebbing, hazing, "micromarring", etching, holograms- these are all examples of marring. They're "problems" because the thing in question is lower than the surface of the surrounding paint.



If you look at this stuff under magnification, you'll see that the mildest hologram or "swirl" is just a less-serious version of a scratch. So from a certain perspective, it's all the same thing and it's all "fixed" by abrading the surrounding area down to the level of the "bottom of the gouge".



It's generally caused by either chemical reaction (in the case of etching, like from bird bombs or other fallout) or, more commonly, by abrasion (in the case of "swirls", scratches, holograms, etc.).



It's different from "contamination", which is generally stuff that's above the surface of the paint (like tar), or stuck in it ("raildust", like a splinter in skin).

 

[imported_kgb]

Thanks accumulator!