Possible to remove these swirls with PC and DACP?

[dailo]

As you can see from the pics, its pretty bad. Its almost like this all around the car.

Thanks again guys. :nixweiss

 

[hirosh]

has that car been detailed before by someone else, like a professional detailer? it kinda looks like rotary holograms to me. i think rotary holograms can only be seen in certain lightining conditions like sun light.



hopefully someone else will chime in here about the DACP removing those swirls. i have no experience with DACP or swirls like that. maybe try doing a search for 'holograms.'



and is that a mercedes? do you know if it has that cerami-clear clear coat? that type of clear coat might make it harder to correct.



good luck.

 

[imported_pugoman]

DACP on a cutting pad would certainly make a vast improvement... you'd have to make quite a few passes tho' on paintwork that bad and even then I reckon you may have take a rotary to it to make it perfect.



What on earth has the owner been doing to it to get it into that state?

 

[jimmybuffit]

I agree, #83/cutting pad/PC/#5 will make an improvement, with several passes.



If they are rotary 'holograms', you MAY be able to see them with dueling halogens at facing 90 degree angles... maybe.



Inspect in the direct sunlight.



G'luck.

 

[RedondoV6]

dailo:scared Holy Moly! I see why you were asking about a PC in another thread! How did the car end up in that state?



Buffit's advice is good, all I would add is that you might want to use a glaze/wax combo or a final wax with good filling ability to hide any swirls you cannot remove by PC.



Also, in another thread we were talking about pads; you will definitely need the orange pad from Sonus, yellow pads from LC or the burgundy pads from Meguiars . IMHO the LC yellow and Meg's burgundy are slightly more agressive than the Sonus orange, which may be a good thing in your case (as long as you are careful with them).



If you have not already done so, take a little time to read the Autopia guide to polishing (click the learn link at the top of the page) and read a few threads here in the forums to take in advice from others.



Good luck! Let us know how you get along or if you run into problems

 

[Magellan498]

DACP should do a world of a difference. From what I remember about Benz paint on the S600 Cody and I used to do, it's very soft. Don't get too aggressive.

 

[dailo]

The owner, my mom, has had it detailed a few times by Mercedes. I never really paid attention to it till I started checking out autopia for fixing the swirls on my car. The other day when I washed I was like holy smokes!!! You can only see those swirls in the suns, in the garage it looks nice and smooth. As soon as you take it out to the sun it looks like that . Hopefully the PC will be able to fix that up. Sonus kit hurry up and come

 

[Bill D]

Yikes!



I saw many classics today at a show with paint like that :scared:



It might take some excruciating work with DACP and a cutting pad making several passes, may want to follow with a polishing pads in the end, but I highly suspect you will see ample improvement. You'll likely be dead tired after it all too.

 

[dailo]

Haha. Some of you might remember but I was going to tackle this by using hand at first. Which I did, I did like 3 passes on the hood, but I was in the garage and I thought it did the trick. It was definately more glossy, take it ouside and realize it didn't do a single thing. Boy was I drenched in sweat, I worked it in really hard. Guess I should of posted pics earlier, I'm thinking I shouldn't even bother with trying #9 and a green pad. Probably will go directly with orange and #83. Then blue with #9. Then NXT. Then #16 the next day You guys are awesome by the way, I will post pics up, hopefully it will be nice and smoooooth.

 

[RedondoV6]

Haha. Some of you might remember but I was going to tackle this by using hand at first. Which I did, I did like 3 passes on the hood, but I was in the garage and I thought it did the trick. It was definately more glossy, take it ouside and realize it didn't do a single thing. Boy was I drenched in sweat, I worked it in really hard. Guess I should of posted pics earlier, I'm thinking I shouldn't even bother with trying #9 and a green pad. Probably will go directly with orange and #83. Then blue with #9. Then NXT. Then #16 the next day You guys are awesome by the way, I will post pics up, hopefully it will be nice and smoooooth.

dailo: I was swapping emails with david B regarding the Sonus green and blue pads (I was trying to work out how many of each to order) and he pm'ed the following"



"The green pad has some polishing power to it, where the blue does not. The blue pad has more body than the black, but not by much. The purpose of the blue pad is very fine polishes/glazes and waxing. The green pad has about the same denisty as the LC white foam. It will do a better job if you have any visible swirls or micro marring."



I think it may be a good idea to use the green pad between the orange and blue and save the blue just to add a touch more gloss with a fine polish.



Good luck and like BillD said, be prepared for a long days work with the PC. At least you will stand a a good chance of reducing the mess the dealership made of the auto using a PC, by hand I just could not imagine If it were my auto, I might be taking pictures and raising kane at the dealership for the mess they made of your mom's car; what they did was nothing short of criminal!!!



Good choice on the NXT, it will do a good job of filling anything you cannot remove.



Best of luck!! :xyxthumbs :xyxthumbs :xyxthumbs

 

[dailo]

Thanks, I will definately try the green pad first

 

[Don]

Dang, my post got lost....anyway, using LC pads, DACP on a cutting pad, #82 on a polishing pad and NXT on a polishing pad, I turned a 1994 Beretta Z-26 from THIS:

To THIS:

So I would say your swirls a definately fixable

 

[dmatre]

Yup, definitely do-able. Just work slowly and deliberately.



My Benz wasn't quite that bad, but after 18 months of ownership, it was swirled (can't help but see it on black - especially black that is as dark as MB black).



I worked using the PC on 6, moving slowly, with very light pressure (only the weight of the PC - no pressure added), using Griot's Garage #3 polish (the mildest that they make). After a couple of hours work, the car was PERFECT.



Word of warning: Now it's only about 2 months later, and the swirls are returning. Even using 2-bucket wash, and all recommendations found here, black will swirl. I guess that there's no way around this with a daily driver.

 

[stevet]

Nice work on the Beretta. That is some serious paint correction:up . Where are the people who say you can't correct paint with a PC? Why don't they respond to threads that have pics like this? You obviously can correct paint with a PC. It will take some time but it does work.

 

[Accumulator]

You obviously can correct paint with a PC. It will take some time but it does work.

Yep, and that Baretta proves it. But I will add that some paints (Audi clear, Bill D.'s Cadillac's clear) are just too hard to fix without a rotary. All depends on the paint. Neoprufrock (an old-time Autopian with a lot of experience) has some holograms on his Audi that he's spent many, many hours on (with a PC and various products) without any success at all.



dmatre- You might want to check out my "Non-marring Wash Technique" thread in the HOF. It might not be any easier than just polishing out the marring, but you *can* wash without causing such stuff.



But if you can remove marring with MP#3 you have some pretty soft paint there! Might be awfully hard to avoid marring it no matter what you do. Only thing I can fix with MP#3 is the lacquer on my Jag. I originally figured out my wash technique to avoid marring that car, which is running out of paint after years of polishing.

 

[dailo]

Picked up my PC today and being anxious I took that baby out with the polishing pad that comes with it and went ahead to apply some #9 to my hood. Took out some minor swirls and left a nice finish, can't wait till I get my sonus pads and attack the better swirls with 83 and cutting pad. Although the PC was extremly shaky, it was vibrating like crazy at 6. Is it the backing pad, will the sonus one be better? Or is it the way I'm holding it, because I can only hold the thing for so long until my arm starts to hurt.

 

[hirosh]

Picked up my PC today and being anxious I took that baby out with the polishing pad that comes with it and went ahead to apply some #9 to my hood. Took out some minor swirls and left a nice finish, can't wait till I get my sonus pads and attack the better swirls with 83 and cutting pad. Although the PC was extremly shaky, it was vibrating like crazy at 6. Is it the backing pad, will the sonus one be better? Or is it the way I'm holding it, because I can only hold the thing for so long until my arm starts to hurt.

it could be the way you are holding it, although i don't feel it's all too hard to hold on to it at 6. what PC model did you get? if it is the 7424, it has the 5" counterweight. if it is the 7336, it has the 6" counterweight, which is the preferred one to have as it will work well with both 5" and 6" backing plate.



btw, here's a good article on PC accessories.

http://www.autopia.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14421



have fun with your PC! :wavey

 

[stevet]

I use my PC with a 6 inch counter weight, 5 inch backing plate, and 6 inch pads. I find this to be the best set up to minimize vibration. Also I don't use the handle. I hold the machine by the head with one of my hands and the rear with my other. This really cuts down on the vibration. I can run the PC at 6 for long periods of time with no discomfort.

 

[dailo]

I have 4 black cars, looks like its gonna be one heck of a detailing party this weekend!! Although not all of them are as bad as the benz, hopefully 83 will work well so I don't have to go buy somethin else.