How long can you keep your cars swirl free?
- Thread starter ADetailer
- Start date
I've had my car since new - about a year and a half now. I am fortunate not to have any "swirls" - however I do have the typical straight line towel scratches - they are very fine and invisible except under amber flourescent lights.
I am extraordinarily careful - and these things are just unavoidable - especially on the super soft C5 paint. :scared I think it is impossible to keep cars scratch free (towel scratch that is) for very long, unless you wash/wax in a bubble and use a new mitt or towel or applicator for every panel of the car.
My car is kept outside, but is not a daily driver. It gets washed 1-2 times/week with the two bucket method and cotton mitts.
Drying is done by sheeting, leaf blower, and white charisma select towels.
I use Zaino with foam pads, and Z6 quick detail with a microfiber towel.
I just got my PC - and am getting ready to get at these light surface scratches with 3M SMR. I figure it will be the only time I have to do it for a good while - I'm moving into a house with a garage next year and won't have to wash it hardly ever. I figure for the 80 or so weeks I've had the car, I've washed it 100 times, give or take.
I am extraordinarily careful - and these things are just unavoidable - especially on the super soft C5 paint. :scared I think it is impossible to keep cars scratch free (towel scratch that is) for very long, unless you wash/wax in a bubble and use a new mitt or towel or applicator for every panel of the car.
My car is kept outside, but is not a daily driver. It gets washed 1-2 times/week with the two bucket method and cotton mitts.
Drying is done by sheeting, leaf blower, and white charisma select towels.
I use Zaino with foam pads, and Z6 quick detail with a microfiber towel.
I just got my PC - and am getting ready to get at these light surface scratches with 3M SMR. I figure it will be the only time I have to do it for a good while - I'm moving into a house with a garage next year and won't have to wash it hardly ever. I figure for the 80 or so weeks I've had the car, I've washed it 100 times, give or take.
imported_Intel486
New member
I don't think you can ever keep a car 100% swirl free. (I'm assuming when you say swirls you are talking about any kind of fine scratches in the paint, since some people's def of keeping their paint swirl free is just never letting a buffer touch their paint. I guess we should be calling it microscratching or cobweb swirls.)
I've seen show cars with marks in the paint albeit fine ones. And anyone who says their daily drive is swirl free is probably a lier unless they've just finished polishing it. I always laugh at this one guy who tells us how his truck is swirl free and how he uses only diapers to wash it. He'll then talk about how almost monthly (usually more often) he uses 3m's SMR and wax. Yhea, polishing a lot will keep the swirls down.
I think the thing with swirls is just to minimize them to the best of your ability so every 3 months or every 6 months you can just use a light polish to remove them and not have to pull out the heavier compounds and buffers.
For a daily driver I don't believe swirls can be eliminated. Your car just is exposed to too much to not have swirls. Just the dirt running across your paint can scratch it. Washing it will scratch it. Waxing it will too. But you can minimize the amount you get by taking precautions. They are pretty much all common sense. The hardest part is just actually sticking with safe methods.
Make sure when you wash you rinse as much dirt off before you touch the panels. Use a quality wash mit. Use a quality, lubricating soap. While washing rinse the wash mit out often. When drying sheet the water off and then use towels to blot dry the panels. It is hard to cause scratches when something is just laid on the surface and pulled off!
For waxing and polishing use CLEAN foam applicators. Use only 100% cotton towels for buffing. etc.
I'm about to get some new sea sponge wash mits and then I'm gonna work on my truck and get it swirl free. I'll then see how well I can keep it swirl free and comment on it in 6 months or so. I think I'll be able to do a decent job. I mean the swirls I have right now aren't that bad and a mild polish will be able to remove them. Last time I detailed it was 4 or 5 months ago.
My truck is actually never in a full state of perfection though. I'm always testing something new out on it, stripping wax off it, etc.
I've seen show cars with marks in the paint albeit fine ones. And anyone who says their daily drive is swirl free is probably a lier unless they've just finished polishing it. I always laugh at this one guy who tells us how his truck is swirl free and how he uses only diapers to wash it. He'll then talk about how almost monthly (usually more often) he uses 3m's SMR and wax. Yhea, polishing a lot will keep the swirls down.
I think the thing with swirls is just to minimize them to the best of your ability so every 3 months or every 6 months you can just use a light polish to remove them and not have to pull out the heavier compounds and buffers.
For a daily driver I don't believe swirls can be eliminated. Your car just is exposed to too much to not have swirls. Just the dirt running across your paint can scratch it. Washing it will scratch it. Waxing it will too. But you can minimize the amount you get by taking precautions. They are pretty much all common sense. The hardest part is just actually sticking with safe methods.
Make sure when you wash you rinse as much dirt off before you touch the panels. Use a quality wash mit. Use a quality, lubricating soap. While washing rinse the wash mit out often. When drying sheet the water off and then use towels to blot dry the panels. It is hard to cause scratches when something is just laid on the surface and pulled off!
For waxing and polishing use CLEAN foam applicators. Use only 100% cotton towels for buffing. etc.
I'm about to get some new sea sponge wash mits and then I'm gonna work on my truck and get it swirl free. I'll then see how well I can keep it swirl free and comment on it in 6 months or so. I think I'll be able to do a decent job. I mean the swirls I have right now aren't that bad and a mild polish will be able to remove them. Last time I detailed it was 4 or 5 months ago.
My truck is actually never in a full state of perfection though. I'm always testing something new out on it, stripping wax off it, etc.
MnRiverman
New member
Or you can buy a silver car and just never have to worry about seeing them.
I always use Mothers Showtime after I wash... protects the wax and hides all the super fine spider webbing.
I always use Mothers Showtime after I wash... protects the wax and hides all the super fine spider webbing.
After I wrecked my car, I only washed it twice in 6 weeks and QDed it a couple times and really didn't notice any swirls or spiderwebbing...but about a week before I wrecked it, I polished it with Clearkote's Vanilla Moose (a real nice polish that should be available to the general public in about a month), followed by Meguiars Hand Polish (BSP line) and waxed twice with S100.
Normally, I wax my car every 4 weeks, wash it once or twice a week and QD every few days, so I really never have any noticable spiderwebbing or swirls.
Now that I mostly fixed the front end of my car...actually, a body shop pulled the radiator support back into place, along with the bumper, straightened the hood (amazing job considering they did no actual bodywork)..had a few dimples where they had to pound out a crease but a nose bra effectively covers it, and they also replaced my headlight...huge improvement...I actually felt like washing and waxing my car the other day.
Normally, I wax my car every 4 weeks, wash it once or twice a week and QD every few days, so I really never have any noticable spiderwebbing or swirls.
Now that I mostly fixed the front end of my car...actually, a body shop pulled the radiator support back into place, along with the bumper, straightened the hood (amazing job considering they did no actual bodywork)..had a few dimples where they had to pound out a crease but a nose bra effectively covers it, and they also replaced my headlight...huge improvement...I actually felt like washing and waxing my car the other day.