B Pillars swirlsssss!

F

flickshake

New member
So I've had my car for 3.5 weeks now and have given it about 4 or 5 washes since I've been layering on KSG. Everything looks great in the sunlight except the B pillars. They are already showing swirls. I have read that the B pillars on my car scratch up easily.



1) My question is if I use abrasive products on B pillars to remove the swirls, is the plastic going to be okay? I am still new to detailing and from my understanding, abrasive products remove some of the clear coat taking swirls along with them. I am not 100% sure but I don't think there is clear coat on my B pillars (could be totally wrong).



2) I'm going to be more careful washing the B pillars from now on and I'm wondering if KSG would help protect the plastic B pillars like it would help protect paint.
 
flickshake said:
1) My question is if I use abrasive products on B pillars to remove the swirls, is the plastic going to be okay? I am still new to detailing and from my understanding, abrasive products remove some of the clear coat taking swirls along with them. I am not 100% sure but I don't think there is clear coat on my B pillars (could be totally wrong).
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Generally, you can polish them but not too much. Whether pigmented plastic or (especially) "wrapped" with a black, adhesive-backed film, the plastic is often quite thin and fragile, and if you get too aggressive you'll mess it up.



The vinyl wrapped pillars on my MPV (I thought they were single stage paint for a long time, but no...) withstood two very gentle polishings (3M PI-III Machine Glaze 05937 on a gentle pad with virtually zero pressure) before they started to become compromised.



The plastic "B" pillars on our Audis have been polished a few times and they're still OK, but I don't obsess over trying to keep them perfect as I sure don't want to replace them.



2) I'm going to be more careful washing the B pillars from now on and I'm wondering if KSG would help protect the plastic B pillars like it would help protect paint.
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Yes, at least IME. YMMV, but for me, heavily layered (and I mean at least six coats), KSG *has* provided a little protection against marring. Not much, so don't expect a miracle, but it's done better at that than any other product I've ever used.
 
flickshake said:
Good to know! I will maybe try some SwirlX and then seal it up with KSG.
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See if you get pigment transfer with the SwirlX (I bet you will), and consider stopping a little short of where you'd *like* to stop, just to be on the safe side.
 
Now there is a term I am unfamiliar with, pigment transfer. I assume it's just the black color coming off of the plastic onto the pad? If that's the case, I don't think I will go through with the process at all. Sounds dangerous! Although the light swirling is disturbing, it isn't going to kill me. I may just wait for a year or so and let a professional handle it.
 
flickshake said:
Now there is a term I am unfamiliar with, pigment transfer. I assume it's just the black color coming off of the plastic onto the pad?
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Right, or the color could be from paint if the pillars are painted with single stage. Note that the same thing happens with clearcoat but you just don't see it because, well...the clear is clear/unpigimented.



If that's the case, I don't think I will go through with the process at all. Sounds dangerous! Although the light swirling is disturbing, it isn't going to kill me. I may just wait for a year or so and let a professional handle it.
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I didn't mean to scare you off the whole idea...but I will say that there are worse things than a little marring (and one of those worse things is having to fix damage from well-intentioned, but ill-advised, attempts at correction).



Hm...if it were mine I'd go at it with a very mild (but still slightly abrasive) polish and see what happens. I bet the SwirlX would be fine for this.

I'd be *VERY* leery of letting a pro do it unless you know for certain that he knows what he's doing (hey, I'm no inexperienced dolt yet I messed up the pillars on the MPV a little). I can imagine it going haywire a lot easier than I can imagine things turning out swell.



Wonder if somebody here has worked on your specific vehicle and knows about this one...I bet some pro here could answer this a lot better than I can.
 
Cool. Thanks for all the info. It is much appreciated Accumulator.



Anyone have any experience polishing MK6 GTI B Pillars? I would love to hear suggestions/tips/experiences.
 
You may want to try Klasse AIO or something similiar to cover/remove the swirls. It adds a bit of protection and mild filling ability.
 
longdx said:
You may want to try Klasse AIO or something similiar to cover/remove the swirls. It adds a bit of protection and mild filling ability.
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Huh, I've never had any filling from KAIO :think: Some people here have reported some filling with heavily layered KSG, but it never did that for me, and I was using it on the pillars of the MPV that I mentioned. SO...YMMV and I'll be interested to hear what flickshake's experience is.
 
Didn't end up getting to it as it was raining last night. Hopefully I'll get around to it during the weekend. I have read on another forum that someone was able to get the swirls out using KAIO but using a pad with a little bit of cut.
 
flickshake said:
... I have read on another forum that someone was able to get the swirls out using KAIO but using a pad with a little bit of cut.
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FWIW, I don't like "forcing" mild products by using an aggressive pad; I'd much rather use the product to do the work and have the pad merely facilitate that (so I lean more towards having a more aggressive product on a milder pad).



If you want to try it don't let me be a wet blanket, but make sure the pad you choose isn't so aggressive that it'll be likely to cause additional marring in-and-of itself.
 
Accumulator said:
Generally, you can polish them but not too much. Whether pigmented plastic or (especially) "wrapped" with a black, adhesive-backed film, the plastic is often quite thin and fragile, and if you get too aggressive you'll mess it up.
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Good advise. They might look good, but could expedite premature failure if buffed aggressively multiple times.
 
flickshake- I have those surfaces PPFed on the Yukon, but not the other vehicles...see how things look after you Scratch-X 'em.
 
This 09 M3 was scratched up more than any other car I have ever detailed (and ended spending nearly 70 hours on it). The scratches were all very deep. One needs to know when to stop with correcting the pillars, but even here you have to hit the areas hard.



BEFORE

2010m3002.jpg




2010m3003.jpg




AFTER

2010m3004.jpg




2010m3005-1.jpg
 
tdekany said:
This 09 M3 was scratched up more than any other car I have ever detailed (and ended spending nearly 70 hours on it). The scratches were all very deep. One needs to know when to stop with correcting the pillars, but even here you have to hit the areas hard...
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Wonder what they use on those pillars :think: There's *NO* way you could correct that kind of marring on, say...the MPV.
 
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