Did I make these swirl marks? (Pic Inside)

T

theaznboywunder

New member
Alright, so i spent 5 hours washing/claying/polishing/waxing my car today. I ran into a BIG problem. See, I was trying to combat the light swirl marks on my car, but as I was washing it I decided just to neglect them.



The thing is, when i finished with the P21S GEPC, everything looked fine. The swirls seemed to disappear from the fillers...



When i was done waxing, the swirls came back. This time, they looked even worse than before. Question: Did I make these swirl marks, or were these here before?



I think it may have been the MF towels I used to wipe off the wax. I used a constant up-down or side-by-side motion to wipe the wax off. Could it be that the MF towels made the swirls?



These swirls are bugging me, even if you can only see them with a worklight at a 60 degree angle. I don't know whether I should buy a PC and polish them out or just leave them.



 
theaznboywunder said:
Alright, so i spent 5 hours washing/claying/polishing/waxing my car today. I ran into a BIG problem. See, I was trying to combat the light swirl marks on my car, but as I was washing it I decided just to neglect them.



The thing is, when i finished with the P21S GEPC, everything looked fine. The swirls seemed to disappear from the fillers...



When i was done waxing, the swirls came back. This time, they looked even worse than before. Question: Did I make these swirl marks, or were these here before?



I think it may have been the MF towels I used to wipe off the wax. I used a constant up-down or side-by-side motion to wipe the wax off. Could it be that the MF towels made the swirls?



These swirls are bugging me, even if you can only see them with a worklight at a 60 degree angle. I don't know whether I should buy a PC and polish them out or just leave them.



Click to expand...
If they are bugging you, get a machine and get rid of them.
 
theaznboywunder said:
Because you guys know whether or not MF towels can create swirls?
Click to expand...



any time anything touches you paint it CAN make swirls

but I don't understand how we are to know if they were there or not?
 
If the swirls are worse after you finished than before you started then chances are you created them while you where working. The other possible answer is that whatever was on the car before had more filler than what you ended with.



As far as if you should remove them or not it's up to you. If you are happy with how the car looks then live with them. If you are not then get ready to use some elbow grease or get a machine to remove them.



How about a list of everything you used step by step working on the car. Wash, mitt, clay lube, clay, towel to remove the clay lube, polish, towel used to remove polish, etc. That may help.
 
Heres a list of what I did/used:



Megs Gold Class two bucket with MF Mitt

Clay Magic Blue Bar with Clay Magic Lube/Megs UQD

Wash Again after clay

Air Dry with backpack blower

P21S GEPC with MF applicator/wipe down with Costco MF towel

P21S Concours-like carnuba wax with sponge applicator/wipe down with Costco MF towel.





btw, thank you for your response Jason M
 
theaznboywunder said:
Heres a list of what I did/used:



Megs Gold Class two bucket with MF Mitt

Clay Magic Blue Bar with Clay Magic Lube/Megs UQD

Wash Again after clay

Air Dry with backpack blower

P21S GEPC with MF applicator/wipe down with Costco MF towel

P21S Concours-like carnuba wax with sponge applicator/wipe down with Costco MF towel.





btw, thank you for your response Jason M
Click to expand...

Try wiping those Costco towels on a CD and see if they scratch the CD. Those towels may be the culprit.
 
BINGO! I suspect the Costco MF Towels as well....try that CD test or FWIW, just get yourself a few 'good' MF towels from Cobra for future use
 
King Nothing said:
Cant an agressive clay cause marring as well?
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Yeah, but clay marring doesn't look like that. It leaves a haze, or marr, on the finish. I see mostly straight line scratches which usually come from washing or wiping the paint with something that doesn't play well with paint. It could be from the clay if it had some larger pieces of debris stuck on the surface.



To the OP: Since you have a good way of looking at the scratches (your light, angle, etc.) try wiping the paint at a 90* angle to some of the straight line scratches with your current towels. If you see new scratches then you found your culprit. No scratches? Could be your applicator pads, some grit in your product, maybe some grit stuck in the clay, or maybe they where already there.



If it is from the towels then it's time to make an order. A lot on here like Cobra...actually I don't think I have ever read a bad thing about them now that I think about it. If you are on a budget try the Micro's from ADS. I have dozens of them and have never had an issue with them on even very soft SS black paint.
 
GS4_Fiend said:
MF towel does not create swirls, unless, they've been dropped or dirty. But you do should get a PC 7424.
Click to expand...





Actually they can and do create swirls on a regular basis without being dropped or dirty.
 
Jason M said:
Actually they can and do create swirls on a regular basis without being dropped or dirty.
Click to expand...



Yup, that's for sure. There's been a few cars I've done where even a clean Eurow MF (the softest MF I've seen) would mar the clear. You know you're in for a long day when that happens.
 
I tried my applicator pad on a new CD-R. No scratches no matter how much pressure was applied. Same went for the Costco MF. I used brand new MF towels yesterday to buff out the GEPC and wax. I took a brand new one out today and tried it on the CD, no scratches.



I inspected the clay and there was nothing stuck to it. No visible grit was removed by the clay, mostly just some thin tar-like spots and what looked like rust dots from leaves.



Do the swirls look like they are from drying with towels of some sort? The previous owner of this car was an 86 year old elderly woman. I could visualize her taking it to the car wash and can picture the guys drying her car with those yucky rags they use.



Perhaps these towels made the marks? Then they were filled in by some filling compound? Then the filler was removed when I used the GEPC?



That's my guess. Because after looking at the car at so many angles throughout cleaning the car, I didn't see those bad swirls. It was only till I was done waxing that I saw them.
 
theaznboywunder said:
Because you guys know whether or not MF towels can create swirls?
Click to expand...







Take that same Microfiber towel and wipe off a blank CD, see if it scratches it. If so there is your answer.
 
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