Question about swirl removers

Y

yOyOYoo

New member
The first time I washed my new black Lexus IS 2 months ago, I did it under the worst of circumstances.



1. I washed in the blazing hot sun at 85 degree temps

2. I did not use a grit guard.

3. I dried with a california waterblade (a used one at that!)

4. I dried the rest of the car with regular old full sized cotton towels

5. I waxed with Zaino (i forget which kind, but I did put 2 coats on)

6. I left the wax on the hot black car for 30 minutes before removing, which was very difficult since much of the wax was melted to the car.



What a nightmare, eh?



Anyways since then I have purchased ONR and Optimum Wax. I was my car with microfiber mitts and sometimes a chenille mitt. I dry only with waffle weave microfiber towels (put the towel on the car and let it soak up the water, trying to avoid rubbing the towel on the car too much. I also now use a grit guard, and 2 bucket method. I use a California car duster almost daily with Meguiar's ultimate quick detail every few days. I'm thinking about stopping use of the CCD except maybe on my fully wrapped clear bra front.



I think I learned my lesson.



Now for my main question, obviously I do have some small micro swirls that can only be seen in sun light from certain angles. I have a few longer deeper scratches, but still not too deep.



Is it bad to use swirl removing products too frequently? I found a great article on this website testing swirl removing products and I am looking to purchase something.



Does a swirl remover damage the car's clear coat or wax?

Should I use a swirl remover anytime I see micro swirls? or should I wait for the swirls to "build up" and then use the swirl removing product?



Thanks for helping a newbie out!:nervous2:
 
swirls are pretty much litle scratches in your paint.. they can be deep, or not deep at all(less visible). getting rid of swirls is done by leveling the surface (your paint) with abrasives, which do remove paint.. polishes, compounds, swirl removers etc etc all vary in how abrasive they are.. you should start with the least abrasive, and work your way up in abrasiveness (to a degree) until you get your desired results

(remove your swirls)

swirls can be temporarily hidden if they're not too deep using something with a lot of fillers , such as a glaze.. for light swirls, you could probably go grab a bottle of meguiars mirror glaze #9 swirl remover... its a veryy lightly abrasive product. and it contains a lot of fillers.. so whatever swirling it doesnt remove after the first application will be hidden pretty well.. remember, polishing isnt like waxing, you dont just apply and wipe off, you rub in, and follow instructions ont he bottle.. i assume you're trying to work by hand? its going to be some real work unless you want to get a machine. btw, meguiars #9 is supposed to be a product you can use every few months to get rid of micromarring (really light swirls and scratches) and fill in the rest (to a degree), so unless you want your results immediatley, i think #9 would be good, by machine especially



heres an article about it

Meguiars #9 Swirl Remover a powerful cleaner and polisher in one excellent product! #9 Swirl Remover pulls up dirt and grime and reduces the appearance of swirl marks and minor scratches.



meguiars swirl X is also another good option. you could always use scratch x is neither of those are agressive enough for you...



you would have to use a really agressive rubbing compound to really do any damage by hand by the way... if you use any of the above products, use quality applicators, even pressure (dont use finger tips, your a flat hand), quality microfibers (i like viking microfibers from autozone), and follow the directions on the bottle, you should do good.. but like i said, working by hand is hard work.



of all the things i suggested #9 would be the least agressive, followed by swirl x, then scratch x 2.0..

sorry my post is so long, and all over the place, hope it helps
 
its not ideal to over use anything abrasive(like swirl removers) on your cars finish... swirl x is a consumer product, a big company thats been around for as long as meguiars isnt going to put a product out to the general product that would do damage if used properly. the question is how much paint are you removing to get rid of the defects (scratches, swirls etc etc)?you need to know when to stop. general rule of thumb, if you can feel a defect with your fingernail it cant be removed with abrasives, it would need paint... .. take a look at some of the posts people have put up on this site about bring a trashed cars paint back to life.. they use buffers that spin a pad at several thousand rpms, with heavy compounds, several times, lots of polishes, etc etc... a few applications of swirl x wont do any damage unless your paint is already rediculously thin... working by hand with a consumer product is pretty safe..
 
I know this is an older thread but a continuing concern so here's what I experienced, all with hand application.



Swirlx- didn't seem to do much even after 4 or 5 applications.



Scratchx 2.o- slightly better but still not great results.



Mirror Glaze #9- although it's supposed to be less aggressive than the other 2, it did a good job of removing or hiding most of my swirls with one application. Haven't washed it again yet so can't speak to how long the fillers will last but topped with Meg's Gold Class Carnauba + it looks noticably better.
 
The applicator plays an important part in this process. I have had very good success removing swirls by hand using Scratch X and the orange side of an HD Duopad foam applicator. Just make sure you take your time, make lots of circular passes and let the abrasives do the work. Once finished I generally apply AutoGlym resin polish, which helps to remove some of the finer scratches and holograms left by the Scratch X and then I apply a good quality wax on top. All of this can be easily done by hand.
 
bill57 said:
You won't be disappointed with Meguiar's Ultimate Compound.
Click to expand...



HUGE +11111111 on this. I'm assuming you have a hard clear coat since you have a brand new car (but hey I could be wrong) and as I'm still using OTC products, Meg's Ultimate Compound has been terrific on swirls, but does little for oxidation / other minor surface imperfections.



You didn't state whether or not you have a DA / RO polisher. Are you planning on doing this by hand or by machine? My recommendation was based on machine application, although you most likely can achieve similar results by hand. But I can't speak for how well this product works via hand application.
 
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