Do you have 'Zero' swirl marks?

A

autoweenie

New member
I have a question for all of the A.R. type in this forum.

I am just curious - do you guys really achieve zero swirls/cob-web

on your paint?



I am asking this because I cannot get this kind of result

even if my life depends on it (I have a PC). :nixweiss

(fortunately, my life/sanity does not depend on it. :D )



On my paint, I don't see any swirls even I am a foot from the

car. However, under a strong sun (around the flare), looking 2

inches from the paint, I can see all these faint spider webs

all over the place (and I mean, "all over").

By the way, photographs will not show these swirls either.

(I guess my camera skill sucks as badly as my polishing skill :D )



I am certainly not losing sleep over this.

However, I am just curious whether they are people out there

who can really achieve polish nirvana.
 
Yep I've got some marring and I think I always will have some.I just have to look at the paint and it puts more in.:DI gave up on keeping black perfect.Today I just washed and was even more dissappointed,2 buckets -2 wash mitts,it doesn't matter.My water sucks no matter how quick I dry and in the shade of a car port there's water spots that none of my QD's will touch after.I hate to say it but I give up,I can't even put a coat of #16 on without polishing out the water spots or going over it with vineager first. :mad:
 
Its the nature of the beast no matter how hard you try you will get scratching/marring and unless you want to chase it and polish it everytime is the only way. I can do a full polish with a PC have it pretty much 99% swirl/mar free, seal and wax. A month later I will notice some minor cobwebbing or light scratches but they are minor so I just accept that my car looks better than 90%+ better than other vehicles and deal with it. I think even the most hardcore wash routine its still possible to mar it with one messup or a little grain of dirt. So save your sanity and hair and accept that it can't be perfect if its a daily driver especially:xyxthumbs
 
I've had the S8 totally swirl-free, kept it that way for over two years until the "deer incident". Had some damage from a rock (kicked across two lanes to hit *my* car), but nothing else. Nada. Zip. I kept my Mallett C5 that way for a few years too.



At present, following the repairs/repaint (and its having been washed by others :mad:), I have a few (four, each less than an inch long and nobody's gonna spot them) light scratches that I'm leery of rotary-ing away completely, but no swirls. I've examined it under all sorts of lighting, and if it had them, I'd see it. Took me maybe thirty hours, spread over six days, of polishing before I decided to just say "good enough" and apply my LSP. Lots of polish/check under different lighting and magnification/polish again/repeat indefinitely. If I stay with my "extreme wash technique" I'll be able to keep it that way, too. But I'm not gonna kill myself over it the way I did before the damage- if it gets marred it gets marred. Spending over three hours on every wash, with every single action being done *very* carefully, gets old fast. Keeping it perfect was such a pain that I seldom drove the car lest I would have to wash it. Same thing with my 'vette- that was one of the reasons why I sold it.



As best I can tell, our MPV doesn't have any swirls either, and I just wash that with a BHB (:eek:). I am, however, very careful how I do it. I've only polished that one once since we got it a few years ago.



Both these vehicles have *very* hard clear, which I figure is a huge factor in keeping them marring free. And I have my wash technique pretty well scienced out.



But for practical purposes, nah, you can't keep 'em perfect. Accumulatorette's A8 has minor swirls, and we just don't worry about it. Heh heh, only true Autopians would see 'em anyhow and only under certain lighting.



IMO, once a vehicle (especially one with b/c paint) gets marred, it takes a rotary to get it perfect again. And when it *is* perfect, it takes pretty extreme measures to keep it that way, especially if you treat it like a real vehicle. It only takes *one* slight movement while washing, where a piece of abrasive dirt gets pressed into the paint, to cause marring. Life's too short to actively avoid stuff like that.
 
My vehicles have nice finishes but they are driven daily. They aren't swirl free and won't be as long as they are daily drivers.
 
Agreeing with Accumulator. Just get the softest mitts and towels and try to keep it to a minimum. Yesterday was my first wash after polishing. Very minor swirls were already back. I said FORGET IT! But then, guess what. I get compliments on my car looking better than when I first bought it. Brought a smile back!
 
Rather than editing my previous post on this thread:



Oh gee, under close inspection the MPV *does* have the kind of marring CarWeenie's talking about. It's very light, and you need just the right angle of view and lighting to see it, but it's there.



But then it has been years since I last polished it and I haven't even redone the SG since last summer. Guess I'd better start thinking about redoing it....dunno if I'll bother trying to get it perfect, though. The dogs aren't all that fussy about their vehicle's appearance :D
 
It is certainly 'possible' to have a mar free finish. However, if you take the flannel cover off of it, or take it out of the garage, or drive it to work, or anything else besides keeping it hermetically sealed, you will have marring.

Life is too short to try to maintain a perfect finish on a crappy OEM paint job. Only people like us would ever be able to point it out anyway.



If you look at most pictures posted here and read what products they use, you will realize most of those cars get 'glazed' with every detail. You really shouldnt start spitting up blood because your car doesnt look like those pics. If that doesnt help, buy some hand glaze or get a silver car.

;)
 
If you keep your car to Autopian standards silver looks as good as black anytime. I've got 3 layers of SG going on my silver car and it's just as reflective and "pops" just as well as my neighbor's black car I just detailed. I don't know why people think Black looks so much better than any other color when detailed. Sorry I just don't see it. The only advantage to having black is if it's your favorite color. As well as being a PITA to maintain it also hides the nice lines on most cars. Most sports cars I see always looks better in silver or lighter colors rather than black because it's not hiding the curves of the car.
 
A swirl free dark car is almost imposible, it can be done but in a few weeks the swirls will be back . When you wash a car dust it or qd it , in time you are making swirls. Park your car in the shade when you look it over and it will look better.
 
I've had the S8 totally swirl-free, kept it that way for over two years until the "deer incident".
Click to expand...
:bow



For some reasons, I believe you. :up

Aren't you the guy who wrote some Ph D dissertion

on how to wash a car without marring (something

like "Interjection of Fluid Dynamics In A Newtonian

Mechanical Washing System") :xyxthumbs



Thanks for the replies. It is always good to know

that there are real masters out there. :bow
 
I have a wt.diam. 04 CTS and even under the most revealing light I see no scratches or swirl marks.As close to a perfect finish as you'll get this side of Heaven.I had a 97 Eldorado very dark red(repaint) and I could just look at it and put a fine scratch in it.
 
blackcaraddict said:
Probably not...:down
Click to expand...



Im with blackcaraddict, a well detailed black car is in a league of its own. While you can get silver to look nice, is isn't, and never will be black.



And try as I might, there is always some marring in my metallic black paint ( it is a daily driver ), no matter what i do I cant get it "100% mar free". And if I want a real shock, I crank the 500W halogens on it.

:scared A series of small fine marring which seems to haunt me no matter what I do, but under sunlight the car looks well above average. Its bugs me cos *I* know the marring is there, even though others are dumbfounded as to why Im not happy with it.

:Sigh: Only a true Autopian knows what I mean, thats why I feel so at home here! :)
 
I have a black car and a black truck. It's almost impossible to keep them perfect but I do as good as I can and they still look better than 95% of the other vehicles on the road. I take that as a small victory.



Have you tried using an electric leaf blower to dry your car off most of the way before drying with a microfiber? QD after that and I'm spot free.
 
ENJOY IT, don't obess about every marr or swirl. My silver looks better than the day I bought it except for a couple of tiny road debris scratches that I've managed to diminish in appearance through trying different polishes. Now the '96 Cherokee is a totally different story, neglected finish except for claying and AIO. I've got priorities: my 2 year-old daughter and my husband, keeping my house clean, and then comes the cars....mine and the hubby's Jeep. I love clean things but I like to have fun too!
 
Im a daily Black SS driver and the one thing I really do enjoy is the battle to "try" to keep it swirl free. Call me sadistic:wall
 
CarWeenie said:
:bow



For some reasons, I believe you. :up

Aren't you the guy who wrote some Ph D dissertion

on how to wash a car without marring (something

like "Interjection of Fluid Dynamics In A Newtonian

Mechanical Washing System") :xyxthumbs



Thanks for the replies. It is always good to know

that there are real masters out there. :bow
Click to expand...



That's funny!!



I know you are alluding to the fact that a normal guy can't achieve and maintain that level of perfection. Hope nobody gets upset.



I think you mean 'non-Newtonian', but I am always getting them mixed up - being an electrical type.
 
This is a funny coincidence. I was in Louisville this weekend visiting the gf and was all hacked off 'cuz I took a look at my 4runner in the sun and noticed cobwebbing coming back/water spots. I was exceptionally depressed. Somehow I take it as failure of perfection on my part.



Glad to hear other black car owners can just accept *near* perfection. I have to learn to...
 
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