Do certain paints swirl more easily?

Corey Bit Spank

Active member
I was wondering this because I got a ride in my friend's 2001 Jetta yesterday, and she has no swirls. She's not real enthusiastic with keeping the finish up, other than washing it and the occaisional wax.



My mom's Stratus which is taken care of very well always has swirls. I fixed them in september, they're back again. The Honda's I notice don't have swirls, it's hard to tell on mine because it's metallic--same with my dad's ford. BMWs--nope, no swirls generally.



So my question is, do certain manufacturer's paints swirl more readily?
 
Corey Bit Spank- Yeah, you betcha some paints swirl easier than others! Our silver Mazda MPV is *VERY* resistant to marring. It gets *USED HARD*, it's our primary dog-vehicle. I am NOT too careful about washing it, either. But after last winter when I was all set to polish it, it did NOT have any swirls! Yeah, I know about silver, but I'm used to it and I can see 'em if they're there. All it needed was some AIO and then it was back to layering the SG. I bet I could run it through carwashes, not that I'm gonna try THAT.



None of our other silver cars even come CLOSE to that Mazda, including the Audis.



There's a VERY wide range of hardnesses when it comes to auto paint. Ever try to polish *WHITE* single stage? It's hard as a rock, especially stuff like Dupont's Imron. The single stage lacquer on the XJS, on the other hand, will mar if you look at it too hard ;)
 
Some paints are much more swirl and marring resistant than others. My paint mars just by looking at it, while other cars seem like you would wash them with sandpaper and they'd still look ok.
 
Accumulator said:
Corey Bit Spank- Yeah, you betcha some paints swirl easier than others! Our silver Mazda MPV is *VERY* resistant to marring. It gets *USED HARD*, it's our primary dog-vehicle. I am NOT too careful about washing it, either. But after last winter when I was all set to polish it, it did NOT have any swirls! Yeah, I know about silver, but I'm used to it and I can see 'em if they're there. All it needed was some AIO and then it was back to layering the SG. I bet I could run it through carwashes, not that I'm gonna try THAT.



None of our other silver cars even come CLOSE to that Mazda, including the Audis.



There's a VERY wide range of hardnesses when it comes to auto paint. Ever try to polish *WHITE* single stage? It's hard as a rock, especially stuff like Dupont's Imron. The single stage lacquer on the XJS, on the other hand, will mar if you look at it too hard ;)



MPV's are nice, I was checking them out one day when I was looking at the RX-8 and 6...I think I spent more time looking at the minivan. :o Thanks for the replies, everybody.
 
Ds01C5 - interesting, because I have a black firehawk, and it too swirls if you so much as think about the car, even if the car was in a vacuum sealed dust-free bubble it would swirl. Is your Z06 black? I wonder if it has anything to do with the paint GM uses? Do they use any different paint for the plastic bodies? (most of the firehawk is also plastic like the Corvette)



-Tom
 
I have the hardest time keeping my wife's Black Mustang swirl-free. I take extra care in maintaining the paint but nevertheless, swirls appear. When it is just detailed, it is the finest looking vehicle.
 
mirrorfinishman said:
Anyone think that maybe the swirls are actually in the wax?





After reading this in another post I now beleive this is true. Sometimes I'll see some scratches when my car is a little dirty and get po'd but after a wash and a fresh coat of wax and its gone. I don't think it's just covering it up either because when I prep for a full detail I never see them again.
 
madazskunk said:
After reading this in another post I now beleive this is true. Sometimes I'll see some scratches when my car is a little dirty and get po'd but after a wash and a fresh coat of wax and its gone. I don't think it's just covering it up either because when I prep for a full detail I never see them again.



So what happens when you remove all the wax? I never noticed. Maybe they go away? :nixweiss
 
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